Though there were Quakers in America as early as the 1650's, the origin of the Society of Friends was in England where George Fox (1624-1691), its founder, chafed under a government and a society where deviation from accustomed religious practices brought persecution to dissenters. As a young man, Fox believed that he had received a divine call to witness to the Lord and especially to preach to men the renunciation of worldly pleasures so that they might more clearly see God's way. Fox said:

When I came to eleven years of age. I knew pureness and righteousness for while I was a child I was taught how to walk so as to be kept pure. The Lord taught me to be faithful in all things. and ... that my words should be few and savory. seasoned with grace; and that I might not eat and drink to make myself wanton, but for health. using the creatures in their service. as servants in their places, to the glory of him that hath created them....

None of the established religious groups seemed to give Fox the inner peace which he was seeking. He talked to ministers and priests but found none who could help in his search. Eventually, with divine guidance, Fox discovered that "being bred at Oxford or Cambridge was not enough to fit and 'qualify men to be ministers of Christ'; and I wondered at it, because it was the common belief of people." It was shortly after this realization that Fox began to preach that "Christ speaks directly to each human soul who seeks Him; spiritual life depends upon direct communion with Him; all men may find salvation and life in Him," as phrased by Charles P. Morian. Thus, Fox arrived at the conclusion that religion was a matter of the spirit, not of the intellect.

Fox established the Society of Friends in 1652. The Friends were popularly called Quakers because in 1650 Fox allegedly commanded an English magistrate to "tremble [quake] at the word of the Lord." Fox taught his followers about the presence of the "Inner Light" in all individuals, which should aid each person's conscience in guiding his faith and actions. From the very beginning the Friends emphasized inward spiritual experiences rather than specific creeds. They developed radically unique worship services and business meetings. Fox taught that these forms were based on a trust in the Holy Spirit and a faith that ordinary laymen were capable of receiving the Holy Spirit. Hence, trained ministers to lead a congregation were unnecessary when in essence every man could be his own minister.

(Later on, in America and Ohio, Quakers disagreed on this point and split into two factions. Elias Hicks insisted in 1827 upon the guiding experience of the "Inner Light" at a time when others were coming to support a discipline which would place "recorded" ministers and elders in authoritative positions on theology. This controversy and schism reached the Mount Pleasant Meeting House in 1828, where, at the Ohio Yearly Meeting, Orthodox Friends guarded the door to keep the Hicksites out. However, the Hicksites managed to get in and created such a disturbance that bedlam resulted. Thinking that the building was collapsing, people rushed for doors and windows and in the melee some Friends were injured.)

The Quaker form of worship, especially with its emphasis on silence, was alien to the accepted religious ceremonies of seventeenth-century England. The Quakers did not believe in any special sacraments since to them all life was sacramental. Business and worship meetings were often conducted jointly in monthly, quarterly, and yearly meetings. Under Fox the Quakers met wherever and whenever they could in places which provided for periods of group silence. Eventually the Friends constructed meeting houses for their places of worship and for the conduct of business.

These beliefs and practices were heresy to the Church of England. The feeling among the ruling class of England was very strong against the Friends for if the Friends preached that there was no necessity for trained, appointed leaders in religion, might not this same principle be applied to government? The ruling class soon branded the Quakers as revolutionaries and disciples of division because o their beliefs and unusual forms of worship. For these reasons the Friends, and especially George Fox, were persecuted, imprisoned, publicly punished, and "harried out of the land."