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Working Hands: Supplying a Revolution
Discover how a community of pacifists wrestled with their convictions and beliefs while playing an integral role in one of the most important conflicts in world history.
Working Hands: Supplying a Revolution explores the complex and often conflicted role of Bethlehem’s Moravian community during the American Revolution.
Guided by a deep commitment to spiritual life and missionary work, the Moravians had long avoided political entanglements. However, the start of the Revolutionary War disrupted this neutrality, forcing them to navigate a world where refusal to take sides could be seen as disloyalty.
Despite their reluctance, the Moravians made significant contributions to the patriots’ cause – contributions born not of ideology but of necessity and community resilience.
Bethlehem and its thriving industrial center, home to nearly 50 trades ranging from riflemaking to cabinetmaking, became a vital resource for the Americans’ war efforts. Moravian craftsmen who had never produced weapons of war forged muskets, while bakers, potters and shoe makers stretched their capacities to meet the needs of the Continental Army’s soldiers and wounded, more than 400 of whom where housed in the city at one point.
As revolutionary laws threatened their way of life, the Moravians found themselves balancing faith with survival. Their refusal to bear arms or swear loyalty oaths left them vulnerable to expulsion, yet their industriousness earned the respect of visiting patriots, including John Adams, who praised their mechanical mastery.
During a visit to Bethlehem in 1777, the Founding Father described the city as a “curious and remarkable town” to his wife, Abigail, later writing that, “They have carried the mechanical arts to greater perfection here than in any place which I have seen…”
Working Hands invites visitors to consider how a community rooted in peace and devotion responded to the pressures of war. It is a story of quiet resistance, reluctant service and the enduring tension between conviction and compromise.
Learn how a group that set out to transform the world through religion ended up changing history in ways they could have never imagined.
This exhibition is funded in part by the County of Northampton’s Gaming Community Planning Program through the Department of Community & Economic Development.
