On View: The 1688 Germantown Quaker Petition Against Slavery at Arch Street Meeting House

In 1683, German Quakers and Mennonites settled in Pennsylvania on a 5,700-acre tract of land granted by William Penn, the new colony’s Quaker founder. Five years later, in 1688, four of these German Quakers drafted the Petition Against Slavery, widely recognized as the first organized protest against African enslavement in the Americas. The petition was ultimately rejected, and the buying and selling of enslaved people continued among Pennsylvania Quakers.

Nearly a century later, in 1776, Philadelphia Yearly Meeting (PYM), the governing body of Quakers in the region, formally prohibited enslavement among its members. While the decision marked a significant moral and institutional shift, compliance throughout its membership took time.

Arch Street Meeting House was constructed in 1804 as a gathering place for Philadelphia Yearly Meeting and an archival repository for local records and artifacts, establishing ASMH’s enduring legacy in preserving Quaker history. After a brief reappearance in 1844, the Petition disappeared again, and between 1965 and 1976, local Quakers recalled seeing the original Petition at ASMH.

In 2000, members of Germantown Quaker Meeting renewed the search for the document, and in 2005, the Petition was rediscovered in Arch Street Meeting House’s archival vault by local Quaker Willman Spawn.

For the first time since its discovery, the 1688 Germantown Quaker Petition Against Slavery will return to Arch Street Meeting House (320 Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106) for a special exhibition from June 29 through August 9, 2026, as part of A Religious Revolution: The History of Quakers.

Visit HistoricASMH.org for more information.