Shaker

The United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, more commonly known as the Shakers, is a millenarian nontrinitarian restorationist Christian sect founded around the year 1747 in England and then organized in the United States in the 1780s. They were initially known as 'Shaking Quakers' because of their ecstatic behavior during worship services. Espousing egalitarian ideals, women took on spiritual leadership roles alongside men, including founding leaders such as Jane Wardley, Mother Ann Lee, and Mother Lucy Wright. The Shakers emigrated from England in the 1770s and settled in Revolutionary colonial America, with an initial settlement at Watervliet, New York (present-day Colonie). They practice a celibate and communal lifestyle, pacifism, uniform charismatic worship, and their model of equality of the sexes, which they institutionalized in their society in the 1780s. They are also known for their simple living, architecture, technological innovation, and furniture. During the mid-19th century, an Era of Manifestations resulted in a period of dances, gift drawings, and gift songs inspired by spiritual revelations. At its peak in the mid-19th century, there were 4,000-6,000 Shaker believers living in 18 major communities and numerous smaller, often short-lived, communities. External and internal societal changes in the mid- and late-19th century resulted in the thinning of the Shaker community as members left or died with few converts to the faith to replace them. By 1920, there were only 12 Shaker communities remaining in the United States. At the present time, there is only one active Shaker village, Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village, which is located in Maine. Consequently, many of the other Shaker settlements are now museums. The Shakers were one of a few religious groups which were formed during the 18th century in the Northwest of England; originating out of the Wardley Society. James and Jane Wardley and others broke off from the Quakers in 1747 at a time when the Quakers were weaning themselves away from frenetic spiritual expression. The Wardleys formed the Wardley Society, which was also known as the 'Shaking Quakers'. Future leader Ann Lee and her parents were early members of the sect. This group of 'charismatic' Christians became the United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing (USBCSA), or the Shakers. Their beliefs were based upon spiritualism and included the notion that they received messages from the spirit of God which were expressed during religious revivals. They also experienced what they interpreted as messages from God during silent meditations and became known as 'Shaking Quakers' because of the ecstatic nature of their worship services. They believed in the renunciation of sinful acts and that the end of the world was near. Meetings were first held in Bolton, where the articulate preacher, Jane Wardley, urged her followers to: Other meetings were then held in Manchester, Meretown (also spelled Mayortown), Chester and other places near Manchester. As their numbers grew, members began to be persecuted, mobbed, and stoned; Lee was imprisoned in Manchester. The members looked to women for leadership, believing that the second coming of Christ would be through a woman. In 1770, Ann Lee was revealed in 'manifestation of Divine light' to be the second coming of Christ and was called Mother Ann. Ann Lee joined the Shakers by 1758, then became the leader of the small community. 'Mother Ann', as her followers later called her, claimed numerous revelations regarding the fall of Adam and Eve and its relationship to sexual intercourse. A powerful preacher, she called her followers to confess their sins, give up all their worldly goods, and take up the cross of celibacy and forsake marriage, as part of the renunciation of all 'lustful gratifications'.