John Woolman's Path to the Peaceable Kingdom: A Quaker in the British Empire

Abstract

John Woolman’s life and career have been extensively studied in a wide range of historical projects. Styling himself a model of piety and a commentator on contemporary social and religious currents, and documenting his experiences, reflections, and prescriptions for decades in a journal, Woolman practically presented himself as a subject for study. His contemporaries began editing his journal for publication as early as 1772, the year of his death. Eminent during his own lifetime and leaving a durable legacy in print, Woolman has proven to be a popular, and conveniently well documented, source for historians interested in religious history of eighteenth-century America.