Edward Hicks

Hicks and his family played a significant part in the theological schism that divided the Religious Society of Friends, the Quakers, in the late 1820s. The ministry of his cousin Elias Hicks, a committed preacher and supporter of the abolition of slavery, provoked controversy; his teachings departed from the mainstream. In 1827 he led the breakaway group, the Hicksites, which separated from the “Orthodox Friends” and soon found followers in the congregations of New York, Ohio, Baltimore and Indiana. Edward Hicks was an ardent supporter of the Hicksites, believing that the old believers had lost their way and become too worldly. During this period he supported the Hicksite movement through several paintings, each placing his cousin in the foreground.

From the page of The Peaceable Kingdom