Shakers
a religious society of the United States. They are known officially as the United Society of True Believers in Christ's Second Coming. The sect was founded by Ann Lee, a native of Manchester, England, the wife of a blacksmith. She emigrated to America in 1774 to escape persecution. She had become a convert to the Society of Friends. She disturbed the staid English by announcing herself as the prophet to whom Christ had appeared. She taught that at his second coming, he would take the form of a woman. She settled at Water Vliet, near Albany, New York, where she founded the first Shaker community. At her death in 1784 there were three communities. There are now fifteen societies extending from Massachusetts to Kentucky,--in all about 1,000 members.
Theologically, the Shakers are universalists. They do not believe in the resurrection of the body. According to the principles and practices of Shakers, property is held in common. There is no marriage or giving in marriage. Married people who join the system are separated. The men and women occupy entirely different parts of the house. The men till the soil or work in the shops; the women do the housework and make the clothing. The communities are said to be models of neatness, both indoors and out. Tobacco and meat, including fish, are forbidden. Alcoholic liquors are served only as remedies.
Like the Quakers, from whom Ann Lee no doubt derived her original ideas, communities yield obedience to the laws of the country in which they live, but the men refuse to render military service. During the Civil War considerable discussion arose from the refusal of Shakers to serve, even when drafted; but President Lincoln took their part and ordered their release from imprisonment. They are an industrious, frugal, long-lived people. As the communities consist entirely of adults, they are dependent on the outside world for membership. The sect is declining rapidly in numbers. The common name of Shakers given to the sect by the world was derived from the ecstatic movements, leaping and shouting for joy, formerly a part of their services.