On February 18, 1688, a meeting of Quakers gathered in Germantown, Pennsylvania, located about five miles northwest of Philadelphia, and issued the first known statement in British North America proclaiming the evils of slavery and urging the abolition of the institution. The petition, “A Minute against Slavery, Addressed to Germantown Monthly Meeting,” raised points that would become the basis for eighteenth-century arguments for the abolition of slavery: that slavery violated the golden rule, to do unto others as you would have done to you; that it was theft; that it inspired the growth of vices such as adultery and caused family dissolution; that it detracted from the humanity of the owner; and that it presented the constant threat of insurrection and rebellion by those enslaved.