Pacifism

Concept and Definition

Pacifism as a concept and a practice has many facets and nuances. Conceptually, it can be either a personal moral choice or a universal duty. When considering its practice, some believe in total nonviolence in all human encounters. Others accept the idea of self-defense and state compulsion (or threat of compulsion) in a system of law governing society. Still others are “conditional” pacifists: they refuse to pay taxes supporting war preparations, oppose specific wars, or object to special circumstances, e.g., “nuclear pacifists.”

Such variations and qualifications aside, pacifism may be defined as “the theory that peaceful rather than violent or belligerent relations should govern human intercourse and that arbitration, surrender, or migration should be used to resolve disputes” (Moseley). This broad definition, going well beyond the proposition that no person is entitled to gratuitously cause another pain, sees all forms of violence as intrinsically evil, even the use of force to resist or subdue other violence. This, in turn, points to the pacifist's fundamental belief that peace is the supreme good in this world.

Colonial-Era Pacifism

Among the various traditional peace churches transplanted to the colonies, the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) was the most active in trying to shape an environment founded on peace. Influential in what would become Rhode Island, New Jersey, and North Carolina, and dominant in Pennsylvania between 1682 and 1756, the Society of Friends opposed raising “defensive armies” because they inevitably become “offensive” in pursuing and punishing the aggressor.

Quakers frequently refused to help construct fortifications or provide for any martial endeavor, as a result often incurring great financial loss, imprisonment, and occasionally death. Most Quakers also refused to pay “war” taxes or “fines” in lieu of military service, all of which constituted, in their view, immoral state compulsion. Members of other “nonresistant” denominations (“resist not evil”), while abjuring all war and civic participation, nonetheless accepted the state's authority up to the point of compulsory service in warfare.

During the American Revolution, religious pacifists unwilling to support either side maintained that revolution was tantamount to war and just as surely violated God's plan for humankind. While many again suffered significant personal loss, this period also saw the beginning of humanitarian relief efforts for civilians provided by Quakers and, to a lesser extent, by other religious pacifists.

Pacifism in the 19th Century

Citing “national honor,” land hungry western “hawks” in Congress, bolstered by New England merchants and ship [Page 612]owners whose crews were being “mpressed” by the Royal Navy, pressured Pres. James Madison to declare war on Britain. At the end of this “neither just, necessary, nor expedient” War of 1812, David L. Dodge founded the first U.S. “peace society” in New York (Meltzer, 55). Others followed in New England and Pennsylvania, and, in 1828, William Ladd welded most of the then 50 local organizations into the century's most influential U.S. peace organization, the American Peace Society (APS).

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