An Authentic Report Of The Testimony In A Cause At Issue In The Court Of Chancery Of The State Of New Jersey - Softcover

Thomas Latham Shotwell

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0371629810 ISBN 13: 9780371629819

Publisher: HardPress, 2020

Synopsis

An Authentic Report Of The Testimony In A Cause At Issue In The Court Of Chancery Of The State Of New Jersey, Between Thomas Latham Shotwell, Complainant, And Joseph Hendrickson And Stacy Decow, Defendants: Taken Pursuant To The Rules Of The Court. This deposition, taken in 1830, documents a lengthy internal struggle within the Quaker (Friends) community around discipline, unity, and authority, focusing on the schismatic tensions between Hicksites led by Elias Hicks and Orthodox Friends allied with Philadelphia’s traditional Yearly and Quarterly Meetings. The record centers on Green Street Monthly Meeting and its allies, detailing cross-examinations, disputed minutes, and contested forms of church governance as the parties argued over who may appoint, judge, disown, or release members. Key figures—such as Abraham Lower, Elias Hicks, Leonard Snowdon, Samuel Bettle, and others—appear as witnesses or actors within factional struggles spanning 1825–1830. The narrative also covers procedural legality, appeals, certificates of removal, and the broader question of how discipline accommodates private conscience versus collective authority, including the role of Meetings for Sufferings and realignments among Philadelphia, Abington, and Burlington Quarters. The tone emphasizes procedural misuses and power dynamics within the Quaker governance system during the period of schism.

Edition details

• Publisher: HardPress
• Publication date: 2020
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0371629810
• ISBN 13: 9780371629819
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 496