There was an interesting juxtaposition in Franklin’s autobiography between Quaker-dominated Pennsylvania and the war going on in the colonies, and I thought Franklin’s portrayal of the Quakers in this context was fascinating. Although he was clearly respectful of their pacifist beliefs (he made sure the Quakers were exempted from military service when he was organizing the colony’s militia), he takes several opportunities in his autobiography to humorously describe “the Embarrassment given them by their Principle against War” (188).
He shows the Quakers as opposed to the war in principle, but secretively supporting it. Franklin describes a situation that arose in his fire company in which the group was supposed to vote on a matter that would benefit the war effort. Although Quakers were a clear majority in the group – 22 of the 30 members were Quaker – only one showed up to oppose the measure. Of the other 21, 13 showed that they did not oppose the measure by not showing up, and 8 hid themselves in a nearby bar, saying they were in favor of the measure but would only publicly support it if it was absolutely necessary. Through this incident, Franklin uses his characteristic dry sense of humor to conclude that most Quakers were not opposed to other people going to war to defend them, as long as they could pretend to not be involved to save their appearance of principle. Another anecdote that Franklin relates shows the Quakers’ willingness to pay for items of war whenever the government wants them to. The government of New England needed money to buy gun powder, and the Quakers said they could not give money for that purpose because gun powder was an instrument of war. However, they gave a large sum of money to the governor with the stipulation that it be used “for the Purchasing of Bread, Flour, Wheat, or other grain” (189). The governor interprets “other grain” to be gunpowder and proceeds to use all the money given to him by the Quakers to buy the needed gunpowder, and the Quaker donors did not oppose this action at all, because they could still pretend to themselves and other people that they had only funded the purchase of food.
In contrast to the Quakers, who stick doggedly to their principles of nonviolence even while tacitly approving the necessity of it, Franklin later relates a story about the Moravians. They were one of the groups exempted from military service because of their pacifist beliefs, so Franklin is surprised to find the Moravian city of Bethlehem mobilized to fight after another Moravian town is destroyed by the French and Indian forces. When he asks the bishop of Bethlehem about this, he replies that they had thought it was one of their principles, but when the danger of the war came to their doorstep they discovered that few of their people actually believed in it anymore. “Common Sense aided by present Danger, will sometimes be too strong for whimsicall Opinions,” Franklin concludes (232).
Franklin, with his strong belief in utility, clearly thinks that the Quakers beliefs are very impractical in times of war, and thus portrays the ridiculous antics they have to go through in order to seem to stick to their principles while actually supporting the war. While Franklin also portrays the Moravians in a satirical way, it is clear that he approves of their adoption of self-defense in the face of danger.
