She was the descendent of two prominent Quaker families. On her father’s side, Paul was an eighth-generation descendant of Philip Paul, an English Quaker who fled to the United States to escape persecution. On her mother’s side, Paul was a descendent of William Penn, the Quaker founder of Pennsylvania, and William Perry, a co-founder of Swarthmore College. On both sides of her family, Alice Paul descended from the Hicksite Quakers. This group of Quakers followed Elias Hicks after a schism within the Quaker religion. They believed that Quakerism dependent on the individual conscience (Zahniser). This became an important concept in Alice Paul’s life. Hicksites believed that simple living was the “mark of the Lord’s people” (Walton). The Paul’s followed these views on simple living, and lived on a farm in the Mount Laurel Township. The Paul's wealth obtained through William Paul’s banking job, set them aside from the rest of the Quaker community. Quaker ideas and tradition all influenced Alice Paul during her childhood, and would shape her actions later in her