Quakers and Baptists came from the Reform movement. (1600's). They didn't believe in the Church heirarchy. They didn't want to create a new Church structure that would become as corupt as the Roman or English Church, so each Church could pretty much make up its own "rules" and authorities. There was never a Pope/Bishop or other superior authority, as in the Roman or Church of England. Quakers and Baptists believed in the autonomy of the individual Churches. Both later (1800's) formed loose Associations of Churches to share their ideas - the Southern Baptist Convention and Monthly Meetings. Both Baptists and Quakers believed that only "believers" could join the Church. But here they were different: Quakers celebrate no sacraments - like Baptism. Baptists believed that when you become a believer, you get Baptised. But both denominations had a screening process to determine if a person was sincere and able to officially join the Church. (Church of England Baptized every member's infant. I guess you could say that Quakers believe that the divine authority is God, as heard through being quiet and listening to the Spirit within. Baptists believed that the divine authority was the Bible and one could know God by reading it. Both denominations had ministers, not priests, and this occupation was open to all believers. They believed in the separation of Church and State and therefore their ministers had no strong authority. Church authority in both denominations was left to members, - Baptists by democratic vote, Quakers , by consensus. Both strongly believed in "individual conscience", rather than elete individuals compeling a certain doctrine or belief. They believed that each individual could discern the voice of God for themselves and did not need an intermediary. Both denominations believed that anyone who was a member of the Church should be allowed to speak in public meetings or services. Quakers took this a step further than their Baptist brethren and allowed women full participation in the Church, including becoming ministers. Although both denominations had men and women sitting on opposite sides of the Church originally, Quakers recognized the religious authority of women as much as men, and had many more active women preachers -in the church, not just at meetings. This probably scandalized most of society, which didn't believe women should speak in public. Quakers eventually broke into Conservative and Liberal groups, and kept separate monthly meetings of these groups. Baptists broke into many more branches - General, Anabaptist, Particular, and later Southern and American. Both groups experiences terrible persecution by the Church of England.- at one time nearly every adult Quaker was in jail in England. After experiencing some persecution in New England , some Baptists fled to Maine, and had to leave Maine for the same reason. They went to Charleston, SC. Quakers in Colonial VA were put in prison when they didn't attend Church of England services - it was the law in Virginia that one must attend Church. This is the opposite of the Baptist and Quakers who believed that the Church should be made up of Believers. Quakers and Baptists were instrumental in obtaining the clause of the Constitution granting Separation of Church and State and allowing individual freedom "of and from" religion. Hope this helps. Langdon