Shakers : A Timeline

The Shakers Timeline		Contemporary Events
1736:
On February 29 Ann Lee is born in Manchester, England.		Afghan Nadir Kuli becomes ruler of the Persian Empire; First successful appendectomy performed by Claudius Amyand, in France; Russia and Austria begin their war with Turkey.
1758:
Ann Lee joins the sect known as the Shaking Quakers, so named because they shook when performing a religious dance. In her youth, Lee works in a textile mill.		The first blast furnace is put to use in England for production of iron; the sextant improves navigational accuracy.
1762:
Lee marries. Later, all four of her children die.		Catherine the Great becomes czarina of Russia; Jean Jacques Rousseau, "Social Contract"; Mozart tours Europe as a six-year-old prodigy.
1770:
Lee is imprisoned by the English government during a period of persecution of religious minorities. While in jail Lee has a series of religious visions.		Five colonists are killed in the Boston Massacre; the Townshend Acts are repealed but a tax on tea is maintained; Australia 'discovered' by James Cook when he arrives in New South Wales.
1771:
Lee founds a new religious sect named the United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, later known simply as the Shakers. "Mother Ann" announces that God's nature is dual, both male and female, and that to follow Christ's path believers must practice celibacy.		Russia conquers the Crimea, increasing its power in Europe; Spain cedes the Falkland Islands to Britain; Joseph Priestly discovers that plants convert carbon dioxide into oxygen.
1774:
Unwelcome in England, Lee immigrates to America with her husband and a handful of followers. She settles in Watervliet, near Albany, New York.		First Continental Congress drafts "Declaration of Rights and Grievances"; British Parliament passes "intolerable acts" to suppress rebellious activities in Boston; Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, The Sorrows of Young Werther.
1780:
During the Revolutionary War Lee refuses to sign an oath of allegiance. This and her pacifistic views lead to her imprisonment for treason.		Britain goes to war with the Dutch in the East Indies; Peruvian Indians rebel against Spanish rule; serfdom is abolished in Hungary and Bohemia.
1784:
Lee dies on September 8 in Watervliet, New York. The church is subsequently led by Elder Joseph Meacham and Eldress Lucy Wright. Under their guidance the Shakers establish the communal patterns of life followed by Shaker communities.		Crimea annexed by Russia; Jacques David paints "Oath of Horati"; Treaty of Paris ratified, formally ending the American Revolutionary War.
1785:
The first Shaker building is built in Harvard, Massachusetts.		Russians settle Aleutian Islands; the power loom mechanizes weaving; the dollar becomes the official currency of America.
1787:
The first Shaker community is founded in New Lebanon, New York. The movement begins to travel westward. Their communities win renown for their industry, craftsmanship and inventiveness. All are based on communally-owned property.		The Constitution of the United States signed; Mozart, "Don Giovanni"; the Northwest Ordinance provides for the Northwest Territory’s ultimate statehood as free states.
1805:
Ministry at New Lebanon sends three missionaries to Kentucky. They travel on foot covering over 1,000 miles in two to three months. They are aided by the genera, the spread of religious revivalism on the American frontier.		Lord Nelson defeats the French and Spanish fleets in the Battle of Trafalgar; Napoleon victorious over Austrian and Russian forces at the Battle of Austerlitz; Egypt is granted independence from the Ottomans.
1811:
In Pleasantville, Kentucky the Shakers build their first flawless building in a new medium – limestone.		Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility; Napoleonic Wars; "Luddites" riot in Britain protesting mechanization and textile manufacturers; Venezuela breaks from Spanish rule.
1840's:
The Shakers reach their zenith with about 6,000 members living in 19 communal villages. Many other visionary and utopian communities begin to flourish during this period of American history as well such as the Oneida Perfectionists, and the Amana Society		Samuel F. B. Morse patents telegraph; potato famine in Ireland; Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven and Other Poems; James Prescot Joule formulates the first law of thermodynamics.
1863:
The Draft Law of 1863 is enacted during the Civil War. Because they are pacifists, the Shakers refuse to fight. An elder travels to Washington to plead with Lincoln. Lincoln grants the Shakers an exemption from service. The Shakers are among the first in America to be granted the status of conscientious objectors.		International Community of the Red Cross founded in Geneva; Abe Lincoln delivers Gettysburg Address; Leo Tolstoy begins writingWar and Peace.
1870's:
The church begins a campaign to find new converts as their membership diminishes. Industrialization brings new methods of production with which the Shakers cannot compete. The economic boom in the North proves enticing to many male members, who leave their communities.		Brooklyn Bridge construction begins; Alexander Graham Bell patents the telephone; Tchaikovsky, "Swan Lake."
1890's:
Many Shaker communities begin to fold, one by one.		First modern Olympic games held in Athens, Greece; Spanish American War; Pierre and Marie Curie discover radium and polonium.
1989:
At the time the Ken Burns film The Shakers is made, fewer than 12 Shakers remain in two 200-year-old villages.
2002:
Authentic Shaker furniture is among the most highly prized of American antiques. Many former Shaker communities remain open as museums, such as those in Hancock, Massachusetts and New Lebanon, New York. Shaker architecture, craftsmanship and ingenuity, continue to provide inspiration for designers into the 21st century.