It was their faith, but there were some key players along the way;

Dear Friends, - I was moved to write these things to you in all those plantations. God, that made the world, and all things therein, giveth life and breath to all, and they all have their life and moving, and their being in him, he is the God of the spirits of the flesh, and is no respecter of persons; but "whosoever fearth him and worketh righteousness, is accepted of him." And he hath made all nations of one blood to dwell upon the face of the earth, and his eyes are over all the works of his hands, and seeth every thing that is done under the whole of heaven; and "the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof." And he causeth the rain to fall upon the just and the unjust, and also he causeth the sine to shine upon the just and the unjust; and he commands to "love all men," for Christ loved all, so that he "died for sinners." And this is God's love for the world, in giving his son into the world; that "whosoever believeth in him should not perish." And he doth "enlighten every man that cometh into the world," that they might believe in the son. And the gospel is preached to every creature under heaven; which is the power that giveth liberty and freedom, and is glad tidings to every captivated creature under the whole heavens. And the word of God is in the heart and mouth, to obey and do it, and not for them to ascend or descend for it; and this is the word of faith which was and is preached. For Christ is given for a covenant to the people, and a light to the Gentiles, and to enlighten them, who is the glory of Israel, and God's "salvation to the ends of the earth." And so lye are to have the mind of Christ, and to be merciful, as you heavenly Father is merciful. G.F. - To Friends Beyond The Sea, That Have Blacks And Indian Slaves, George Fox, 1657

The Quakers - a name applied upon them as they were simply the "Society of Friends" (or just "Friends") to one another^1 - were always opposed to slavery. The movement came about primarily from a man named George Fox over in England, during the mid 1600s, who inspired followers to give public "sermons" and to disrupt church services in order to speak the truth of the Lord (which the Anglican Church had, in his/their opinion, strayed from). This led to massive persecution of any who followed that faith, and many sought refuge outside England (yet even in Boston they hung four Quakers just for being Quakers, one being a grandma). One place they commonly went was the Caribbean where they saw firsthand what slavery was becoming, and they began to speak against it there. Before we get to that, in England a "silver spoon" young man had become greatly influenced by the movement and decided, much to his father's dismay, to join the Friends. At this time very few wealthy people were part of the movement, the vast majority being of low education and humble origin, but he was both wealthy and involved. Like Fox, he was beaten at times and also spent numerous years in prison for speaking his beliefs, but he stuck to them and even authored a book (No Cross, No Crown: A Discourse, Shewing the Nature and Discipline of the Holy Cross of Christ) while in the Tower of London in 1668 and at only 24 years old. Eventually he was released and in 1681 the King settled a debt owed to the (then deceased) father of 16,000 pounds by issuing the son a large land grant. The son proposed a simple name for the land, a Latin term meaning "woods". Parliament made a small addition by placing the family name in front, turning the proposed "Sylvania" into "Pennsylvania", or "Penn's Woods". He set out to establish a land of religious liberty and did so where almost all were welcome, so long as you were religious (in other words atheists need not apply). Soon a group of Germans came and settled in the aptly named Germantown, now part of greater Philly (which was founded by Penn as the "City of Brotherly Love"), and established themselves there. In Feb of 1688 at a Society of Friends meeting they became the first "Americans" to publicly issue a proclamation opposing chattel slavery. Something to keep in mind here is that previous to ~1660, that didn't really exist in the British world at all^2. For all intents and purposes, this was a new labor system and was rapidly replacing the indentured labor force (both free and unfree) and for a few reasons, so they were really on the front edge of opposition to this new labor system. [They declared] (https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=evans;idno=N03401.0001.001);

These are the reasons why we are against the traffic of men-body, as followeth: Is there any that would be done or handled at this manner? viz., to be sold or made a slave for all the time of his life? How fearful and faint-hearted are many at sea, when they see a strange vessel, being afraid it should be a Turk, and they should be taken, and sold for slaves into Turkey. Now, what is this better done, than Turks do? Yea, rather it is worse for them, which say they are Christians; for we hear that the most part of such [blacks] are brought hither against their will and consent, and that many of them are stolen. Now, though they are black, we cannot conceive there is more liberty to have them slaves, as it is to have other white ones. There is a saying, that we should do to all men like as we will be done ourselves; making no difference of what generation, descent, or colour they are. And those who steal or rob men, and those who buy or purchase them, are they not all alike? Here is liberty of conscience, which is right and reasonable; here ought to be likewise liberty of the body, except of evil-doers, which is another case. But to bring men hither, or to rob and sell them against their will, we stand against. ...

They go on to describe the violation of God's law that is splitting and selling families, forcing them into adulterous situations by doing so, etc. Continuing;

Now consider well this thing, if it is good or bad. And in case you find it to be good to handel these blacks in that manner, we desire and require you hereby lovingly, that you may inform us herein, which at this time never was done, viz., that Christians have such a liberty to do so. To the end we shall be satisfied on this point, and satisfy likewise our good friends and acquaintances in our native country, to whom it is a terror, or fearful thing, that men should be handelled so in Pennsylvania.

This is from our meeting at Germantown, held ye 18th of the 2d month, 1688, to be delivered to the monthly meeting at Richard Worrell's.

Four men signed the document: Garret Henderich, Derick op de Graeff, Francis Daniel Pastorius, and Abram op de Graeff.

But not much came from it, unfortunately. The Quakers continued to shun slavery and some fully removed themselves from the practice, but legally the system marched on and became even more heavily codified, particularly by racial lines, and quite a few American Quakers were actually slaveholders at that time. It would be almost a century before a similar movement would grow so far beyond that simple document in impact on said system, and it would be a Frenchman turned American leading the way. That doesn't mean that others didn't try before him, though.

Benjamin Lay was born in 1682 and in the 1710s he went to Barbados as a shop keeper. By that time the whites on the island were greatly outnumbered by those enslaved there (about 9:1). While on Barbados, Lay witnessed an enslaved black man commit suicide to avoid yet another beating, and it really made an impression on him - Lay would soon become one of the most outspoken abolitionists of the entire 18th century. In 1732 he married and moved to Philly, then shortly after losing his wife a few years later (1736) he wrote the long titled All slave-keepers that keep the innocent in bondage : apostates pretending to lay claim to the pure & holy Christian religion, of what congregation so ever, but especially in their ministers, by whose example the filthy leprosy and apostacy is spread far and near : it is a notorious sin which many of the true Friends of Christ and his pure truth, called Quakers, has been for many years and still are concern'd to write and bear testimony against as a practice so gross & hurtful to religion, and destructive to government beyond what words can set forth, or can be declared of by men or angels, and yet lived in by ministers and magistrates in America, which does just what it sounds like it does, objects heavily to the practice of slavery. It's an odd writing and wanders through other subjects, largely acting as an autobiography particularly in regard to his dealings with slave holders and his time in Barbados, but at its core it is most certainly a treatise against slavery. But Lay was a trouble starter, having disrupted numerous Friends meetings to shame all things slavery and any who were in anyway involved with it. In Friends' meetings, all sat silently until the Holy Spirit encouraged anyone to share, and then they spoke. Well, if anyone started to speak that held slaves, Lay would say things like;

There’s another negro-master!

Cont'd