Note 483 — Chapter III

Being the first settlers of the province, the Quakers had very naturally made affirmation instead of an oath a matter of great importance. Upon a revision of the laws following the resumption of the government by Penn, a law concerning the manner of giving evidence, passed in 1701, was repealed by the queen in 1705, not because the English government intended to deprive the Quakers of Pennsylvania of their cherished privilege, but because it punished false affirming with more severity than the law of England required for false swearing. Hence Gookin’s objections. The whole question was not satisfactorily settled until the passage of a law, and its approval by the king, prescribing the forms of declaration of fidelity, abjuration, and affirmation.