Introduction

Abstract

The early modern Atlantic world formed what Bernard Bailyn called an ‘entire inter-hemispheric system’ connected by cultural, economic, and political networks.¹ The Society of Friends (Quakers) ventured into this arena within the first decades of its existence, developing its own networks within the system through which to meet its own cultural, economic, and political goals: the spreading, support, and protection of Quakers scattered throughout the Atlantic world. This book will exam- ine the movement of ideas, people, and goods, specifically from and to London in the Quaker Atlantic world, paying close attention to institu- tional culture and administrative activity. When a ship called the Josiah left Gravesend bound for Maryland on the 21st day of the tenth month in 1697, it was among thousands of vessels crossing the Atlantic from London in the late seventeenth century, but its story demonstrates the activity of the Society of Friends and its members in a trans-Atlantic world. On this particular journey, the Josiah carried four ministers trav- elling from London to Maryland, goods shipped from London, and a small group of Maryland Quakers returning to their homes. The voyage of the Josiah in October 1697 enabled the movement of ideas, goods, and people through Quaker networks, evolving methods of evangelization used by Quakers at that time to spread the faith, to protect and support distant co-religionists, and to profit from the new opportunities offered in the Atlantic world.