4 HARVARD LAW REVIEW. down, or driven out; he had to be Hved with. Here it took longer to find that out Such well-intending people as these would indeed, here and there, melt in among their neighbors, like other people ; and it seems to have required some effort on the part of the authorities to adhere to the orthodox view about them. While, therefore, in the Plymouth Colony, in 1657 and 1658, laws were passed prohibiting and punishing the bringing in or enter- taining of Quakers, laws of the same period appear to have recog- nized some of them as freemen. And although in 1661 several penalties, including whippings, were again imposed on new-com- ers, yet in 168 1 it was enacted, on petition of ** several of the ancient inhabitants of the town of Sandwich, called Quakers," that they should have liberty to vote in the disposal of such lands, and ... to vote for the choice of raters, and shall be capa- ble of making of rates, if legally chosen thereunto by the town and persons aforesaid, so long as they carry civilly and not abuse their liberty." ^ Quakers, like all others, were early required in the Plymouth colony to take the oath of allegiance, " the oath of fidelity " as it was called, and on refusal were, at first, ordered to leave, and after- wards regularly fined, on being summoned ** at each election," five pounds on each refusal.^ It was not until 1719, long after the union of the colonies, that Quakers were allowed to substitute for the oath a solemn declaration of allegiance.^ On March 5, 1743-4, by a law limited to three years Quakers were, for the first time, allowed, " upon any lawful occasion," instead of taking an oath, to " solemnly and sincerely affirm and declare under the pains and penalties of perjury ; " but they could not do this in criminal cases, as. witnesses or on any juries, nor could they, in general, hold any office where an oath was then required.* This law was afterwards renewed for ten years, and, in 1759, it was permanently enacted and made applicable also to criminal cases.^ Finally, by Stat. 18 10, 1 Plym. Col. Rec, vi. 71. In following the course of events, it may be well to notice that George Fox, the Founder of the Quakers, was born in 1624, and began to preach about 1648.
- Plym. Col. Laws, 76, 130.
- Province Laws, ii. 155.
- Province Laws, iii. 126. It is interesting to see by other parts of this statute that
provisions had become necessary for cases when a majority or all of " the assessors or collectors of any town " shall be Quakers. 8 Province Laws, iv. 180. A passage from the diary of Chief Justice Lynde as to a ease before him in Nantucket in July, 1737, shows that Quakers then served on grand
