The Journal and Major Essays of John Woolman

In the latter part of the eighteenth century, the Quaker minister John Woolman journeyed and preached throughout the American colonies. His Journal, a recognized American classic, portrays an ethical sensitivity comparable to St. Francis or Albert Schweitzer; and his keen sense of social injustice speaks directly to our affluent and increasingly divided mass society. Woolman's essays widely influenced social thought in the United States, and in England as well, where he was esteemed by Lamb and Coleridge. This edition of the Journal includes Woolman's whole discussion of tax refusal as a form of anti-war protest and civil disobedience. Also included are "A Plea for the Poor" and "Considerations on Keeping Negroes" one of the earliest attacks on slavery.