The Ecclesiastical Trial -- Born into a Cold World -- Let Truth and Error Grapple -- The Federal Invasion and the Progressive Friends -- Reform, Slave Raid, War -- Keystone Stater and Tar Heel -- Cast Out -- The Carpetbagger and the Carpet Will -- Returning Home -- Speaking His Mind -- Appendix I. Memorial Resolution on J. Williams Thorne Adopted by the Progressive Friends Meeting, Longwood, 1897 -- Appendix II. J. Williams Resorts to Satire to Defend What He Considers the Principles of a True Republic, 1877.
Summary:
"J. Williams Thorne (1816-1897) was an outspoken farmer who spent the first half-century of his remarkable life in Chester County, Pennsylvania, where he took part in political debates, helped fugitive slaves in the Underground Railroad and co-founded the Progressive Friends Meeting near his home in Longwood. Williams and his associates discussed vital matters of the day, from slavery to prohibition to women's rights. These issues sometimes came to Thorne's doorstep--he met with nationally prominent reformers, and thwarted kidnappers seeking to enslave one of his free black tenants. After the Civil War, Williams became a 'carpetbagger,' moving to postwar North Carolina to pursue farming and politics. An 'infidel' Quaker (anti-Christian), he was opposed by Democrats who sought to keep him out of the legislature on account of his religious beliefs. Today a little-known figure in history, Williams made his mark through his outspokenness and persistent battling for what he believed"-- Provided by publisher.
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