The preamble which was the bone of so much contention declared that:  “We, the undersigned, hold that every person, of full age and sane mind, has a right to immediate freedom from personal bondage of whatsoever kind, unless imposed by the sentence of the law for the commission of some crime.  We hold that man cannot, consistently with reason, religion, and the eternal and immutable principles of justice, be the property of man.  We hold that whoever retains his fellow-man in bondage is guilty of a grievous wrong.  We hold that a mere difference of complexion is no reason why any man should be deprived of any of his natural rights, or subjected to any political disability.  While we advance these opinions as the principles on which we intend to act, we declare that we will not operate on the existing relations of society by other than peaceful and lawful means, and that we will give no countenance to violence or insurrection.”

Twelve, the apostolic number, affixed to the preamble and constitution their names, and thus formed the first Garrisonian Society for the abolition of slavery in the United States.  The names of these apostolic men it is well to keep in mind.  They are William Lloyd Garrison, Oliver Johnson, Robert B. Hall, Arnold Buffum, William J. Snelling, John E. Fuller, Moses Thatcher, Joshua Coffin, Stillman B. Newcomb, Benjamin C. Bacon, Isaac Knapp, and Henry K. Stockton.  The band of reformers, their work done, had risen to pass out of the low, rude room into the dark night.  The storm was still raging.  They themselves had perchance been sobered by the experiences of the evening.  They had gone in fifteen, they were returning twelve.  And, after all, what had they accomplished?  What could they a mere handful do to abolish slavery entrenched as it was in Church and State?  It is possible that some such dim discouragement, some such vague misgiving of the futility of the evening’s labor, was in the hearts of those wearied men, and that their leader divined as much, for the spirit of prophecy fell upon Garrison just as they “were stepping out into the storm and darkness.”  “We have met to-night,” he said, “in this obscure school-house; our numbers are few and our influence limited; but, mark my prediction, Faneuil Hall shall erelong echo with the principles we have set forth.  We shall shake the nation by their mighty power.”  Then the little band dispersed “into the storm and darkness,” carrying with them these words charged with hope and courage.

The fruitful seed of organized agitation Garrison had securely planted in soil fertile and ready for its reception.  Its growth constitutes one of the marvels of reforms.  Within a few brief years it multiplied into hundreds and thousands of societies throughout the free States.  But its beginnings were small and humble enough.  “The objects of the society” were according to the second article of the constitution, “to endeavor by all means sanctioned by law, humanity, and religion,