Primary Works

The works of John Woolman. NY: Garrett Press, 1970. BX7617 .W6

The journal and major essays of John Woolman. Ed. Phillips P. Moulton. NY: Oxford UP, 1971. BX7795.W7 A3 1971b

Journal. Ed. Thomas S. Kepler. Cleveland: World Pub. Co. 1954. BX7795.W7 A3  

| Top | Selected Bibliography

Banes, Ruth A. "The Exemplary Self: Autobiography in Eighteenth Century America." Biography 5.3 (Sumr 1982): 226-39.

Cadbury, Henry J. "Sailing to England with John Woolman." Quaker History 55 (1966): 88-103.

Cady, Edwin H. John Woolman: The mind of the Quaker saint. NY: Washington Square, 1966. BX7795.W7 C3

Cope, Jackson I> "Seventeenth Century Quaker Style." PMLA 71 (Sep 1956): 724-54.

David, Marianna W. "The Connatural Ground of John Woolman's Triangle." College Language Association Journal 9 (1965): 132-39.

Douglass, Paul H. "Two Eighteenth Century Philadelphians: Ben Franklin and John Woolman." General Magazine & Historical Chronicle 54 (Sprg 1952): 131-38.

Hedges, William L. "John Woolman and the Quaker Utopian Vision." Utopias: The American Experience. Ed. Gairdner B. Moment and Otto F. Kraushaar. Metuchen, NJ : Scarecrow, 1980. 87-102.

Heller, Michael A. "John Woolman: The Quaker Meeting and Eighteenth Century Social Reform." New Jersey Folklife 15 (1990): 10-17.

Heller, Michael A. "Soft Persuasion: A Rhetorical Analysis of John Woolman's Essays and 'Journal'." DAI 50.6 (Dec 1989): 1657A.

Higgins, Edward F. "Narrative and Values in the Quaker Journals of Thomas Chalkley, Elizabeth Ashbridge and John Woolman." DAI 53.11 (May 1993): 3908A DAI No.: DA9306999.

Kent, Muriel. "John Woolman: Mystic and Reformer." Hibbert Journal 26 (1928): 302-13.

Livesay, Edith K. "John Woolman: Persona and Person." DAI 37 (1976): 2873A.

McElroy, Frederick L. "Prophets of Universal Redemption: Evangelical Antislavery Literature from John Woolman to Ottabah Cugoano." DAI 48.9 (Mar 1988): 2338A.

Medeiros, Patricia M. "Three Travelers: Carver, Bartram, and Woolman." American Literature, 1764 1789: The Revolutionary Years. ED. Everett Emerson. Madison : U of Wisconsin P, 1977. 195-211.  

Millar, Albert E., Jr. "Spiritual Autobiography in Selected Writings of Sewall, Edwards, Byrd, Woolman, and Franklin: A Comparison of Technique and Content." DAI 29 (1968): 1873A 1874A.

Moulton, Phillips. "John Woolman: Exemplar of Ethics." Quaker History 54 (1965): 81-93.

- - -. "The Influence of the Writings of John Woolman." Quaker History 60. (?): 3-13.

Rosenblatt, Paul. John Woolman. NY: Twayne, 1969. PS892 R6

Stewart, Margaret E. "John Woolman's 'Kindness beyond Expression': Collective Identity vs. Individualism and White Supremacy." Early American Literature 26.3 (1991): 251-75.

| Top | Contributions of John Woolman (from Rosenblatt, listed above)

1. Sought to abolish slavery.

2. Tried to achieve a fair treatment of Indians.

3. Tried to vitalize Quaker pacifism.

4. Tried to return Friends to the experience of the Inner Light.

5. Tried to free people from material cravings.

The Inner Light of the Quakers is the belief that God is present (immanent) in the human heart. This belief became the main doctrine of the Quaker leader George Fox.

This is different from Jonathan Edwards' Divine & Supernatural Light which was made available by God to certain chosen people.

"The Edwardian divine light was a supplementary sense added to man's natural sense by Divine Grace, as a formulation of man's idea of divinity. The Quaker inner light was a specific and direct guidance from God to prompt man to particular actions in any situation, and therefore a foundation of man's humanity." (Joseph Blau, Men & Movements in American Philosophy, 1952)

| Top | The Quaker Journal

"I have often felt a motion of Love to leave some hints of my experience of the Goodness of God." - John Woolman

The Quaker journal, like that of the Puritans, is a special form of autobiography. It records God's presence in temporal events and phenomena. The Puritan journal, however, was introspective and led to self examination (Am I saved?); the Quaker one was written for publication. It had a strong social emphasis in its concern with successful living.

The Form of the Quaker Journal

• Divine revelations in childhood
• Compunction (regret, uneasiness) over youthful frivolity
• Period of search and conflict
• Convincement
• Conversion
• Seasons of discouragement
• Entrance in the ministry
• Adoption of plain dress, plain speech, and simple living
• Curtailment of business
• Advocacy of social reform

Few journals contain all these stages, and many may contain only a few of them. Woolman's autobiography is a classic record of all the stages.

• Jonathan Edwards offered mysticism and heaven
• Ben Franklin offered a pattern of utilitarian living
• John Woolman offered mystical insight and compassionate humanism

Study Questions

1. Compare the specific imagery of The Journal with that of Jonathan Edwards's Personal Narrative, with the goal of demonstrating differences between Woolman's religious beliefs and worldview and those of the Puritans.

2. Compare and contrast Woolman's Journal with Ashbridge's Some Account. What can we infer about Quaker life in the colonies from these two writers? To what extent are differences in their narratives attributable to gender?

3. (a) Would Woolman feel that his life and ministry made a difference to the world of today? (b) How would he feel about today's world? About social injustice in third world countries? About our response as individuals and as Americans to poverty and social injustice in other lands?

MLA Style Citation of this Web Page

Reuben, Paul P. "Chapter 2: Early American Literature: 1700-1800 - John Woolman." PAL: Perspectives in American Literature- A Research and Reference Guide. URL: http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap2/woolman.html (provide page date or date of your login).  

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