Quakers in the British Atlantic World, c. 1660–1800. By EstherSahle, (Ed.), Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 2021. pp. vi+206. 10 figs. 11 tabs. ISBN Pbk. 9781783275861 £24.99
本书重新审视了贵格会因宗教诚信而在商业上更成功的传统观点，通过分析伦敦和费城贵格会的记录，发现其诚信并非独特，成功更多源于跨大西洋的广泛社群联系。
In this new book, Esther Sahle reexamines the longstanding view that Quakers were more successful in commerce and trade because they were inherently more trustworthy and honest due to their religious practices. Sahle takes a long-run view of Quaker merchants and their communities within the Atlantic arena by utilizing the records of London and Philadelphia Quakers then comparing their practices and values with the values of the societies in which they inhabited. She finds that Quakers were not necessarily more honest or punished the members of their meetings any more harshly than other English-speaking merchant communities. Without doubt, Quaker ideology placed stronger emphasis on honesty and debt-aversion, but the local meetings in both Philadelphia and London only increased enforcement of their rules and guidelines on honesty after 1750. Even then, enforcement was not universal and seems to have been applied haphazardly. Sahle shows that, throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Quaker institutions changed dramatically, and while they were not necessarily more honest than society at large, Quakers were still able to obtain a significant level of success via their strong yet broad intercommunal ties throughout the Atlantic World, a key to success in early modern trade. Divided into 11 chapters, the book largely takes a chronological approach to studying the London and Philadelphia Quaker communities. However, each chapter utilizes a specific theme, bouncing back and forth between the Friends’ meetings in both cities. The first and last chapter essentially serve as the introduction and conclusion, respectively. In introducing the book, Sahle details how previous scholars and studies have assumed that Quakers were more interested in enforcing honesty and good business practices (i.e. avoiding debt) than much of the rest of society, leading to greater success in mercantile ventures. Previous research came to this conclusion by merely examining the writings and beliefs of the Society of Friends. For Sahle, however, this explanation was not good enough, and she further lays out how she intends to put this assumption to the test. In the second chapter, Sahle provides an overview of the history of the Society of Friends (who came to be called Quakers). One aspect that Sahle discussed was how Quakers retained constant and frequent communication and ties to other communities and meetings throughout the Atlantic. More specifically, Quaker ministers usually travelled between meetings, not just within a local region, but they also visited meetings in different parts of England and the Americas. This suggests a willingness to engage in frequent and constant travel, an important component of early modern trade. These individual connections between meetings further cemented the ideological and societal binds between groups on both sides of the Atlantic. Chapter three provides additional historical context and background by examining the Quaker communities in both London and Philadelphia. This is also the first-time readers are introduced to the core sources of material that forms the basis of the book: the monthly meetings’ records that include information on births, marriage, death, and proceedings. These records are surprisingly large and complete, making quantitative and qualitative analysis easier than for other, similar groups. One of Sahle's main findings is that Quakers were unusually active and successful in commerce in both London and Philadelphia compared with other distinct communities. Especially interesting to this reviewer is the diversity of destinations with which the Quakers traded. Sahle suggests that this was primarily because they were already well connected to many different communities via their Quaker faith and social circles. Chapters four and five begin to test the theory that Quakers were inherently more honest and held distinctly more honest business ethics than other groups. In the fourth chapter, Sahle describes the various ways in which Quaker ministers and leaders discussed the value of honesty in business and avoidance of debt and unnecessary risk (i.e. speculation). She finds that, compared with other teachings from non-Quaker ministers, sermons, and writings, Quakers were not so unique in their antipathy to dishonesty and debt. She goes further in the fifth chapter to explore how often Quakers punished dishonesty in business and cases of debt. Sahle finds that, prior to 1750, there was little effort to punish or disown friends who had poor business ethics. However, a religious crisis, what Sahle calls the Quaker reformation, took hold in the 1740s and 1750s (the subject of chapter six) resulting in a dramatic increase of surveillance and teachings against dishonesty and debt in commerce. Chapters seven and eight examine the results of this “reformation” in the communities of London and Philadelphia, respectively. In both, the number of sanctions and disownments for dishonesty grew substantially in the 1750s and did not fall again until the last decade of the eighteenth century. Further, debt factored more heavily into the decision to sanction than in the prior decades. Yet, in both cities, enforcement appears to have been arbitrarily decided, with many bankrupted merchants continuing to be active and respected members of their respective meetings. Chapter nine explores what was the most common cause for sanctions: marriage delinquency. Sahle utilizes a database on London Quaker marriages to examine how sanctions for discretions such as marrying someone outside of the Quaker faith mirrored the increase in sanctions for dishonesty in and following the 1750s. This further reflects a feeling of crisis and concern for the survival of the Society of Friends as a distinct group. The tenth chapter focuses mainly on the Quaker community in Philadelphia and its role in local and colonial politics, particularly in the struggle for dominance between the governor and the Pennsylvania Assembly. As Quakers were overrepresented in the Assembly, Quaker ideology also struggled during its period of reformation with the growing frequency of war in the colonies. Sahle shows how Quakers attempted to maintain pacifism by refusing to fund the governor's efforts during the War of Jenkins’ Ear in 1739–48. Antagonism between the Quaker-dominated Assembly and the governor continued into the Seven Years’ War, where the governor pursued a public relations campaign to portray Quaker businessmen as pacifists when it came to protecting the colony but happy to embrace warfare when it came to protecting their own business interests. This campaign was successful in that it cost Quakers control of the Assembly and it caused the Friends to engage in its own reputation reparation effort, on both sides of the Atlantic. Sahle concludes the book with a short chapter which ties all the various strands together in a concise summary and reflection on the nineteenth-century developments of Quaker reputation. Specifically, she explains that Quakers, rather than being uniquely honest or having had better business ethics, reflected society more broadly in that commerce became extremely important to communities, especially those located in port cities. Moreover, Quaker ideology developed as a result of engagement in commerce, trade, and business, instead of Quaker ideology informing its conduct in business. Therefore, this reviewer is uncertain that Sahle suggests a single, clear reason for Quaker success; rather, she seems to suggest that a multitude of factors provided Quakers their opportunities for success, not solely their beliefs and practices with regard to honesty. This is not a criticism, but perhaps the book could have been organized better to be more explicit on what the main argument or hypothesis was, beyond a refutation of earlier scholarship. Further, some of the chapters seem to lose focus on what this reviewer believes was the main point of the book. These issues aside, Sahle offers an extremely detailed look at the actual functioning of Friends’ meetings and their efforts to enforce their own beliefs and discipline. It does not surprise this reviewer that enforcement was arbitrary and not at all complete, as this is normal in human society. The data compilations and analysis will be valuable to anyone examining Quakers in the Atlantic World, but also it will be helpful for those working on how merchants conducted business, especially those working on diasporic networks.