ing. The first organized yearly meeting in the colonies was New England, in 1661. The New York Yearly Meeting was set up at the New England Yearly Meeting in 1695; its first meetings were in 1696.

SOCIAL ISSUES

One area of increasing concern, the growing opposition to slavery, brought tensions and controversy among Friends as they wrestled with their varied attitudes to the problem. In 1688, a letter opposing slavery was brought before the Germantown, Pennsylvania, Monthly Meeting. Though action was deferred, it appears that this was the first protest against slavery raised by any religious group in America. In 1711, the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting influenced the then Quaker-controlled Pennsylvania Assembly to forbid the importation of slaves, but the Crown failed to approve it. John Woolman (1720-1772) was one of the strongest witnesses against the traffic and holding of slaves and played a large role in persuading Friends to free their slaves.

William Burling of Flushing expressed the first recorded concern on the subject of slavery in New York Yearly Meeting in 1718. No action was taken at that time, but in 1767 the Oblong Monthly Meeting reopened the concern with the Purchase Quarterly Meeting. The yearly meeting considered this issue in 1776, and in 1777 directed New York Friends to manumit their slaves. By 1790, it appears that no Friends in the United States owned slaves, and many were actively working for abolition. Among these were several women, notably Lucretia Coffin Mott and Susan B. Anthony, who, even before the end of the Civil War, worked with other women for peace, temperance, and rights for women.

After 1750, the French and Indian wars in America resulted in Friends concluding that they must withdraw from active involvement in government in order to maintain the peace testimony. In its militia law of 1755, New York's provincial government exempted Quakers from service on payment of a fee. This arrangement was unacceptable to the Quakers. However, in complying with the authorities' demand for lists of those Friends eligible for the exemption, the monthly meetings provided the first semblance of membership lists of the Society in New York. Later, the War for Independence further separated Quakers from their neighbors as most Friends attempted to maintain a neutral position, neither Patriot nor Loyalist.

As the abolition movement came increasingly to accept violent means to root out the evil of slavery, Friends were under great stress trying to maintain their testimony against war. During the Civil War, meetings disowned a number of Friends for violating the testimony against war by serving in the armed forces even though they were upholding that against slavery.

Although many Friends were active in social reform movements, many