by a sermon which
Elias Hicks preached against the use of slave produce, in 1819. A bitter
warfare followed. Those who refused to denounce his opinions were
accused of being infidels and separatists; and they called their
accusers bigoted and intolerant. With regard to disputed doctrines, both
claimed to find sufficient authority in the writings of early Friends;
and each side charged the other with mutilating and misrepresenting
those writings. As usual in theological controversies, the skein became
more and more entangled, till there was no way left but to cut it in
two. In 1827 and 1828, a separation took place in the Yearly Meetings of
Philadelphia, New-York, and several other places. Thenceforth, the
members were divided into two distinct sects. In some places the friends
of Elias Hicks were far the more numerous. In others, his opponents had
a majority. Each party claimed to be the genuine Society of Friends, and
denied the other's right to retain the title. The opponents of Elias
Hicks called themselves "Orthodox Friends," and named his adherents
"Hicksites." The latter repudiated the title, because they did not
acknowledge him as their standard of belief, though they loved and
reverenced his character, and stood by him as the representative of
liberty of conscience. They called themselves "Friends," and the others
"the Orthodox."

The question which was the genuine Society of Friends was more important
than it would seem to a mere looker on; for large pecuniary interests
were involved therein. It is well known that Quakers form a sort of
commonwealth by themselves, within the civil commonwealth by which they
are governed. They pay the public school-tax, and in addition build
their own school-houses, and employ teachers of their own Society. They
support their own poor, while they pay the same pauper tax as other
citizens. They have burying grounds apart from others, because they have
conscientious scruples concerning monuments and epitaphs. Of course, the
question which of the two contending parties was the true Society of
Friends involved the question who owned the meeting-houses, the burying
grounds, and the school funds. The friends of Elias Hicks offered to
divide the property, according to the relative numbers of each party;
but those called Orthodox refused to accept the proposition. Lawsuits
were brought in various parts of the country. What a bitter state of
animosity existed may be conjectured from the