The Shakers

The Shakers (1850) In this piece titled “The Shakers” by Rebecca Cox Jackson reflects many of the main ideas and goals of Mother Ann and her hopes for her utopian community. Rebecca’s experience and interaction with Mother Ann is key to understanding what kind of people the Shakers were and what their goals were. One of the most important ideas is not even in the text itself, but the simple fact that Rebecca Cox Jackson is an African American woman, and is being given a prayer directly from Mother Ann herself. Mother Ann stressed the idea that all Gods’ creatures are equal and here we see her embracing Rebecca as she would any other white member. Unlike other religious groups who separated themselves based on color, Mother Ann is accepting of essentially everyone. Also, Rebecca writes about being instructed about the atmosphere and it’s relation to other aspects of nature. This is reflective of Mother Ann and Shaker teachings. As god creates his creatures in his image, nature is a reflection of god. Nature is often used by the Shakers and Mother Ann to explain natural events and nature in general with its relation to God’s message to them. This section also relates to the idea of gender equality, because according to Mother Ann, both men and women are created in his image and are therein, equal. Therefore men and women are considered bisexual and both have to ability to serve god. This is the only reason Mother Ann believes she can be instructing Rebecca because of her place as a revered priestess. The prayer mother Ann makes in honor of Rebecca reflects another one of her big ideas. She thanks god for Jesus, and then thanks “Mother Wisdom” for Rebecca, because she helped her through illness, mistakes, and sorrows as well as instructing her in the way of God. This shows the communitarian society she is creating, the reliance on each other to be closer to god and reach holiness. The idea of holiness is shown when Rebecca is criticizing the norm of the