Narrow as were the circumstances of many of the members, the convention was by no means destitute of men of wealth and business prominence.  Such were the Winslows, Isaac and Nathan, of Maine, Arnold Buffum, of Massachusetts, and John Rankin and Lewis Tappan, of New York.  Scholarship, talents, and eloquence abounded among the delegates.  Here there was no lack, no poverty, but extraordinary sufficiency, almost to redundancy.  The presence of the gentler sex was not wanting to lend grace and picturesqueness to the occasion.  The beautiful and benignant countenance of Lucretia Mott shed over the proceedings the soft radiance of a pure and regnant womanhood; while the handful of colored delegates with the elegant figure of Robert Purvis at their head, added pathos and picturesqueness to the personnel of the convention.  Neither was the element of danger wanting to complete the historic scene.  Its presence was grimly manifest in the official intimation that evening meetings of the convention could not be protected, by the demonstrations of popular ill-will which the delegates encountered on the streets, by the detachment of constabulary guarding the entrance to Adelphi Hall, and by the thrillingly significant precaution observed by the delegates of sitting with locked doors.  Over the assembly it impended cruel and menacing like fate.  Once securely locked within the hall, the Abolitionists discreetly abstained from leaving it at noon for dinner, well knowing how small a spark it takes to kindle a great fire.  It was foolhardy to show themselves unnecessarily to the excited crowds in the streets, and so mindful that true courage consisteth not in recklessness, they despatched one of their number for crackers and cheese, which they washed down with copious draughts of cold water.  But they had that to eat and drink besides, whereof the spirits of mischief without could not conceive.

The grand achievement of the convention was, of course, the formation of the American Anti-Slavery Society, but the crown of the whole was unquestionably the Declaration of Sentiments.  The composition of this instrument has an interesting history.  It seems that the delegates considered that the remarkable character of the movement which they were launching upon the wide sea of national attention demanded of them an expression altogether worthy of so momentous an undertaking.  The adoption of a constitution for this purpose was felt to be inadequate.  A constitution was indispensable, but some other expression was necessary to give to their work its proper proportion and importance.  Such a manifestation it was deemed meet to make in the form of a declaration of sentiments.  A committee was accordingly appointed to draft the declaration.  This committee named three of its number, consisting of Garrison, Whittier, and Samuel J. May to draw up the document.  The sub-committee in turn deputed Garrison to do the business.