Quakers in the Crosshairs: The Early Paxton Debate
Paxton leaders and sympathizers appealed to the prejudices against Philadelphia Quakers and fears of frontier violence. Whereas critics challenged the Paxtons on rational, legal, and economic grounds, apologists conjured scenes of frontier violence to telescope the threat of Indian warfare.
Apologists particularly assailed Friends, whom they characterized as opportunistic, or, worse, immoral, in their Indian-dealing. Citing stories of Friends enlisting in the Philadelphia militia during the Paxton march, critics charged that Friends would violate the Peace Testimony, to promote peace and active oppose war, on behalf of Indians, but not their fellow settlers.
