Hicks, Elias, 1748–1830, American Quaker preacher, b. Hempstead, N.Y. He worked on his Long Island farm between his preaching tours, which established his reputation as one of the most able Quaker preachers of the times. Hicks worked against slavery, publishing his Observations on Slavery in 1811. When a division in the Society of Friends occurred in 1827, he was the leader of the liberal separation party, to which the name Hicksite was unofficially given.
See biographies by H. W. Wilbur (1910) and B. Forbush (1956).
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