This body of Christians was formed in Kentucky, in 1805, by the association of a number of ministers and churches of the Baptist denomination. They differ in no respect from the regular Baptists, except in the decided stand they have taken against slavery, in every branch of it, both in principle and practice, as being a sinful and abominable system, fraught with peculiar evils and miseries, which every good man ought to abandon and bear his testimony against. Their desires and endeavors are, to effect, as soon as it can be done, and in the most prudent and advantageous manner, both to the slaves and to their owners, the general and complete emancipation of this numerous race of enslaved, ignorant, and degraded beings, who are now, by the laws and customs of the land, exposed to hereditary and perpetual bondage. (See Exod.3:7, 9; 10:3; 6:2; 21:2, 16. Levit.19:18. Deut.15:12, 18; 23:15; 24:7. Job 6:14; 29:11. Ps.12:5; 103:6. Prov.16:8; 22:16. Eccl.4:1; 5:8. Isa.1:16; 33:15; 58:6. Jer.5:26; 21:12; 22:13; 34:10, 11, 17; 50:33, 34. Ezek.18:5, 9; 22:29; 27:13. Dan.4:27. Joel 3:3, 6. Mal.2:10. Matt.5:7; 7:12. Luke 4:18; 6:36. Rom.12:9.1 Cor.7:23. Gal.5:13. Col.4:1.1 Tim.1:10. Heb.13:3. James 2:13; 5:4.2 Pet.2:2.1 John 4:20. Rev.18:11, 13.)

The Emancipators say to Christians of all denominations in the United States, in the words of an eloquent philanthropist, "Banish from your land the remains of slavery. Be consistent with your congressional declaration of rights. Remember, there never was, nor will be, a period when justice should not be done. Do what is just, and leave the event with God. Justice is the pillar that upholds the whole fabric of human society, and mercy is the genial ray which cheers and warms the habitations of men. The perfection of our social character consists in properly tempering the two with one another; in holding that middle course which admits of our being just without being rigid, and allows us to be generous without being unjust. May all the citizens of America be found in the performance of such social duties as will secure them peace and happiness in this world, and in the world to come life everlasting!"