Margaret Fell

Summary

Margaret Fell (1614–1702) was a foundational figure in the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) and is known as one of the "Valiant Sixty." She played a critical role in articulating Quaker theology and defending the movement against state persecution. Her 1660 declaration, A Declaration and an Information, is a primary source for the Quaker Peace Testimony and an early argument for universal religious liberty.

Key Claims

• Liberty of Conscience: The state has no authority to impose religious worship or oaths upon the individual conscience, which belongs to God alone.
• The Peace Testimony: Quakers "deny and bear our Testimony against all Strife, and Wars, and Contentions" because their Kingdom is not of this world.
• Women's Right to Preach: "Women's Speaking Justified" argues that since God makes no distinction between Male and Female in His own Image, and since women were the first witnesses to the Resurrection, they are fully authorized by Christ to preach.
• Universal Inner Light: Direct experience of God is available to all people ("that of God in every man"), making the professional ministry unnecessary.
• The Dichotomy of Power: Differentiates between "just Laws of the Nation" and "men's wills and worships," advocating for civil obedience in temporal matters but radical non-compliance in spiritual ones.

Connections

• [[wiki/entities/george-fox.md]] — Fell was Fox's collaborator and later his wife; together they founded the organizational structure of Quakerism.
• [[wiki/concepts/nonviolence.md]] — The Declaration is one of the earliest formal statements of pacifism.
• [[wiki/concepts/the-self.md]] — The model of the self as an equal, spiritual vessel regardless of gender.
• [[wiki/concepts/civil-disobedience.md]] — Foreshadows Thoreau and Tolstoy regarding the sovereignty of conscience.

Contradictions

• Authority vs. Conscience: Fell's appeal to King Charles II highlights the tension between the "word of a King" (external authority) and the "word in the heart" (internal authority).

Open Questions

• How did Fell's social standing as the mistress of Swarthmoor Hall influence her ability to deliver this declaration directly to the King?
• To what degree did her early writings on women's right to preach influence the later development of feminist thought within the Quaker tradition?