By: History.com Editors

1659

Quakers executed for religious beliefs

History.com Editors

Published: February 09, 2010

Last Updated: January 31, 2025

William Robinson and Marmaduke Stevenson, two Quakers who came from England in 1656 to escape religious persecution, are executed in the Massachusetts Bay Colony for their religious beliefs. The two had violated a law passed by the Massachusetts General Court the year before, banning Quakers from the colony under penalty of death.

The 13 Colonies

The U.S. is 50 states strong today, but it began as 13 small colonies. Can you name them?

The Religious Society of Friends, whose members are commonly known as Quakers, was a Christian movement founded by George Fox in England during the early 1650s. Quakers opposed central church authority, preferring to seek spiritual insight and consensus through egalitarian Quaker meetings. They advocated sexual equality and became some of the most outspoken opponents of slavery in early America. Robinson and Stevenson, who were hanged from an elm tree on Boston Common in Boston, were the first Quakers to be executed in America. Quakers found solace in Rhode Island and other colonies, and Massachusetts’ anti-Quaker laws were later repealed.

In the mid 18th century, John Woolman, an abolitionist Quaker, traveled the American colonies, preaching and advancing the anti-slavery cause. He organized boycotts of products made by slave labor and was responsible for convincing many Quaker communities to publicly denounce slavery. Another of many important abolitionist Quakers was Lucretia Mott, who worked on the Underground Railroad in the 19th century, helping lead fugitive slaves to freedom in the Northern states and Canada. In later years, Mott was a leader in the movement for women’s rights.

The Surprising Religious Diversity of America’s 13 Colonies

It wasn't just Protestants seeking a place to freely practice their faiths.

A black preacher addressing his mixed congregation on a plantation in South Carolina, c. 1860

By: J.S. Marcus

Timeline

Also on This Day in History

Discover more of the major events, famous births, notable deaths and everything else history-making that happened on October 27th

1858

Theodore Roosevelt is born

On October 27, 1858, future President Theodore Roosevelt is born in New York City to a wealthy family. Roosevelt was home-schooled and then attended Harvard University, graduating in 1880. He served in the New York state legislature from 1881 to 1884.

1873

Joseph Glidden applies for a patent on his barbed wire design

On October 27, 1873, a DeKalb, Illinois, farmer named Joseph Glidden submits an application to the U.S. Patent Office for his clever new design for a fencing wire with sharp barbs, an invention that will forever change the face of the American West.

1904

New York City subway opens

At 2:35 on the afternoon of October 27, 1904, New York City Mayor George McClellan takes the controls on the inaugural run of the city’s innovative new rapid transit system: the subway.

Seth Low

1932

Poet Sylvia Plath is born

On October 27, 1932, poet Sylvia Plath is born in Boston. Her father, a German immigrant, was a professor of biology and a leading expert on bumblebees. An autocrat at home, he insisted his wife give up teaching to raise their two children. He died at home after a lingering illness that consumed the energy of the entire household and left the family penniless. Sylvia’s mother went to work as a teacher and raised her two children alone.

1940

Mafia boss John Gotti is born

John Joseph Gotti, Jr., the future head of the Gambino crime family and a man later nicknamed “the Dapper Don” due to his polished appearance and expensive suits, is born in the Bronx, New York.

1961

Appeals court upholds Chuck Berry’s conviction

On October 27, 1961, a U.S. appeals court affirms rock 'n' roller Chuck Berry's second conviction for transporting a minor across state lines for immoral purposes in violation of the Mann Act. After an earlier conviction in the case had been thrown out a year earlier, Berry was retried—and this time, the charges stuck. He was sentenced to three years in prison.

1962

The United States and Soviet Union step back from brink of nuclear war

Complicated and tension-filled negotiations between the United States and the Soviet Union finally result in a plan to end the two-week-old Cuban Missile Crisis. A frightening period in which nuclear holocaust seemed imminent began to come to an end.

1994

Justice Department announces that U.S. prison population exceeds one million

The U.S. Justice Department announces that the U.S. prison population has topped one million for the first time in American history. The figure—1,012,851 men and women were in state and federal prisons—did not include local prisons, where an estimated 500,000 prisoners were held, usually for short periods. The increase, due to tougher sentencing laws, made the United States second only to Russia in the world for incarceration rates at the time. Today, the U.S. has the highest incarceration rate in the world.

2004

Red Sox win first championship since 1918

On October 27, 2004, the Boston Red Sox win the World Series for the first time since 1918, finally vanquishing the so-called “Curse of the Bambino” that had plagued them for 86 years. “This is for anyone who has ever rooted for the Red Sox,” Boston general manager Theo Epstein tells reporters. “This is for all of Red Sox Nation, past and present.”

2006

Chick-fil-A founder takes last Ford Taurus

On October 27, 2006, the last Ford Taurus rolls off the assembly line in Hapeville, Georgia. The keys to the silver car went to 85-year-old Truett Cathy, the founder of the Chick-fil-A fast-food franchise, who took it straight to his company’s headquarters in Atlanta and added it to an elaborate display that included 19 other cars, including one of the earliest Fords. “I do have this disease of collecting cars,” Cathy told a reporter. “I was very sorry [the workers at the Ford plant] lost their jobs,” he said, but “since I was gonna get the keys, I was glad for that.”

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Citation Information

Article title
Quakers executed for religious beliefs
Website Name
History
Date Accessed
March 22, 2025
Publisher
A&E Television Networks
Last Updated
January 31, 2025
Original Published Date
February 09, 2010

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