Three organizations have formed to join in loose confederation those yearly meetings that stand in general agreement with one another: Friends General Conference, Friends United Meeting, and Evangelical Friends International.

The Friends General Conference was organized in 1900 as an association of Hicksite meetings to provide a channel of coordination for them. Today it includes any Quaker meeting interested in the services it provides, such as religious education materials and annual conferences.

American Friends faced a new set of issues in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The United States during this period became a nation, and the spread of liberalism and democracy increasingly challenged authoritarian regimes. Methodism had spread across England and the United States; it brought religious enthusiasm and disciplined living to many people and stirred up many Friends’ groups.