USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -Quakers were not only to refrain from fighting in any war, but enjoined toward living their lives as peacemakers. Friends have affirmed that “our witness is not narrow and negative but far-reaching in its scope and intensely positive in the active service for Christ’s peaceable Kingdom to which it calls us."(3).

Detailed explanation-2: -Since the 1660s, when English Quakers decided to abstain from wars, Quakers have used non-violence as a powerful tool for seeking peaceful solutions to conflict. This doesn’t mean that Quakers are passive in situations of injustice. Instead, Quakers resist with nonviolent tools rather than outward weapons.

Detailed explanation-3: -Pacifism and violence Quakers believe that war and conflict are against God’s wishes and so they are dedicated to pacifism and non-violence.

Detailed explanation-4: -1 Chester Dunhan in The Attitude ofthe Northern Clergy Toward the South, 1860-1865 asserts that when actual fighting commenced in 1861 Friends maintained their pacifist principles just as they had since colonial days. In short, Quakers refused to participate in the hostilities.