Elias Hicks

Elias Hicks 1748-1830, American Quaker preacher, b. Hempstead, N.Y. He worked on his Long Island farm between his preaching tours, which established his reputation as one of the most able Quaker preachers of the times. Hicks worked against slavery, publishing his Observations on Slavery in 1811. When a division in the Society of Friends occurred in 1827, he was the leader of the liberal separation party, to which the name Hicksite was unofficially given.

Bibliography: See biographies by H. W. Wilbur (1910) and B. Forbush (1956).

Hicks, Elias (1748–1830), American Quaker. He took up the cause of the Negroes. He opposed the creation of any credal basis for Quakerism, notably in his Doctrinal Epistle (1824), in which he protested against insistence on the orthodox doctrines on the Person of Christ and the Atonement. A schism ensued (1827–8) at Philadelphia and elsewhere between his followers (the ‘Liberal Branch’ or ‘Hicksites’) and the orthodox.

Hicks, Elias (1748–1830), Quaker preacher whose liberal opposition to evangelical doctrines led to a separation (1827) of the Quakers into Hicksites and Orthodox Quakers. His doctrines, closely approaching Unitarian views, seemed to undervalue the Scriptures in emphasizing the “Inward Light.” His Journal was published in 1832; The Quaker (4 vols., 1827–28) contains his sermons. The Hicksites founded Swarthmore College.