By October of 1853, when Philadelphia became the seat of the Executive Committee, the number of societies had increased to about 60, and 10 others, recently organized, were expected to announce their accession shortly. Seven years later there were altogether above 150 societies, and the total membership had risen to between 9000 and 10,000. A list of all those in existence at the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861 reveals the following distribution: Massachusetts (4 societies), Connecticut (5), Rhode Island (1), New York (12), New Jersey (13), Pennsylvania (7), Delaware (1), Maryland (1), District of Columbia (2), Virginia (1), West Virginia (1), Ohio (11), Indiana (8), Michigan (3), Illinois (29), Wisconsin (13), Minnesota (7), Iowa (11), Missouri (6), Kansas (5), Kentucky (4), Tennessee (2), South Carolina (1), Alabama (2), Louisiana (2), Texas (1), and California (4)—a total of 157 societies in 27 states of the Union. These early societies, most of whose members had been profoundly stirred by the popular uprising in Germany, did not confine their activity to the practise of gymnastic exercises. On the other hand, leavened by men of education, character, and superior ability, they were centers of agitation for a great variety of reforms. American socialism, for example, found here its first home. The “Statutes” adopted by the Convention in Philadelphia October 5, 1850, announce that the organization aims to secure the most complete independence of the individual, along with his physical development, and declare the promotion of socialism and the efforts of the Social-democratic Party a matter of supreme importance. The _Turnerbund_ sought to assist each member to a clear understanding of proposed political, social, and religious reforms, to the end that in a spirit of radical progress he might lend them effective aid, either individually or through the agency of the _Bund_. The shadow of approaching Civil War helped to give to love of freedom immediate objects of thought and endeavor. The Buffalo Convention of 1855 (September 24-27) put itself on record as opposed to slavery, and especially to its extension into free territories; to the so-called American Party or Know-nothings, and to any other body of similar spirit; and to all temperance legislation, which was deemed undemocratic in principle and unjust and unpractical in operation.