the quaker menace
Since the colony had no laws specifically aimed at curbing the Quaker menace, the General Court acted to remedy this oversight at its next sitting. All of the New England colonies except Rhode Island, which protected Quakers, passed laws banishing Quakers. The preamble to the Massachusetts law passed stated:
"Whereas there is a cursed sect of heretics lately risen up in the world, which are commonly called Quakers, who take upon them to be immediately sent of God and infallibly assisted by the spirit, to speak and write blasphemous opinion ..... "
This law specified that Quakers who came into the colony were to be given twenty lashes and then deported. Any ship captain guilty of bringing Quakers to the colony was to be fined one hundred pounds and he would then have to transport them out of the jurisdiction of the court at his own expense.
In 1658, other clauses were added. One made it illegal for anyone to befriend a Quaker or offer him hospitality for a period of more than one hour. The penalty was a fine of forty shillings for the first offense. If they were found guilty of the same crime a second time, they would lose an ear, while the other ear would be cut off on the third conviction. If anyone were foolish enough to persist in this illegal hospitality and were found guilty of a fourth time, they were to be whipped and have a hole forced in their tongue with a hot iron. The amendment went on to state that anyone found guilty of attending a Quaker meeting was to be fined ten shillings, while the speaker was to be fined five pounds.
While the eight "Speedwell" Quakers were in jail, they were visited by an old man named Nicholas Upshall. After the Speedwell departed, he was arrested, fined five pounds and banished from the colony in spite of the fact that he had lived in Massachusetts since 1631. Upshall returned in 1650. He was arrested and thrown in jail where he remained for two years before he was released. He died a few months later, a broken, sick old man.
"Whereas there is a cursed sect of heretics lately risen up in the world, which are commonly called Quakers, who take upon them to be immediately sent of God and infallibly assisted by the spirit, to speak and write blasphemous opinion ..... "
This law specified that Quakers who came into the colony were to be given twenty lashes and then deported. Any ship captain guilty of bringing Quakers to the colony was to be fined one hundred pounds and he would then have to transport them out of the jurisdiction of the court at his own expense.
In 1658, other clauses were added. One made it illegal for anyone to befriend a Quaker or offer him hospitality for a period of more than one hour. The penalty was a fine of forty shillings for the first offense. If they were found guilty of the same crime a second time, they would lose an ear, while the other ear would be cut off on the third conviction. If anyone were foolish enough to persist in this illegal hospitality and were found guilty of a fourth time, they were to be whipped and have a hole forced in their tongue with a hot iron. The amendment went on to state that anyone found guilty of attending a Quaker meeting was to be fined ten shillings, while the speaker was to be fined five pounds.
While the eight "Speedwell" Quakers were in jail, they were visited by an old man named Nicholas Upshall. After the Speedwell departed, he was arrested, fined five pounds and banished from the colony in spite of the fact that he had lived in Massachusetts since 1631. Upshall returned in 1650. He was arrested and thrown in jail where he remained for two years before he was released. He died a few months later, a broken, sick old man.
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The Federal Commission also recommended capital punishment, but only Massachusetts would adopt the death penalty for returning after being banished from the colony. The harshness of this punishment must be tempered with understanding that at the time not less than fifteen crimes were considered capital crimes in Massachusetts statutes including: idolatry, witchcraft, blasphemy, presumptuous Sabbath-breaking, and cursing or smiting one's parents. The infliction of the ultimate penalty lay within the discretion of the court and was generally avoided except in cases of murder or heinous felony.
The bill establishing death as the penalty for returning after banishment was passed in the upper house without difficulty, but in the lower house was, at first, defeated. Of the twenty-six deputies, fifteen were opposed to it but one of these fell sick and two were intimidated, so that finally the infamous measure was passed by a vote of 13 to 12. Probably; it would not have passed but for the hopeful feeling that the mere threat would prove effective and the occasion to execute would not likely arise. The general public was strongly opposed to this severe punishment, but it was clearly the choice of the ruling class. Thus, it can be said that it was not the people of Massachusetts that shed the blood of the Quakers; it was Governor Endicott and the clergy. |
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