the reality of slavery took hold and the promotion by concerned members such as John Woolman in the early 18th century changed things. Woolman was a farmer, retailer, and tailor from New Jersey who became convinced that slavery was wrong and published the widely read "John Woolman's Journal". He wrote: "...Slaves of this continent are oppressed, and their cries have reached the ears of the Most High. Such are the purity and certainty of his judgments, that he cannot be partial to our favor." In general Quakers opposed mistreatment of slaves and promoted the teaching of Christianity and reading to them. Woolman argued that the entire practice of buying, selling, and owning human beings was wrong in principle. Other Quakers started to agree and became very active in the abolition movement. Other Quakers who ministered against slavery were not so moderate. Benjamin Lay would minister passionately and personally and once sprayed fake blood on the congregation, a ministry which got him disowned. After initially finding agreement that they would buy no slaves off the boats, the entire society came to unity (spiritual consensus) on the issue in 1755, after which time no one could be a Quaker and own a slave. In 1790, one of the first documents received by the new Congress was an appeal by the Quakers (presented through Benjamin Franklin) to abolish slavery in the United States. By 1756 only 10% of leaders of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting owned slaves. Virginia was a bastion of slaveholding. In 1765, the Quaker minister John Griffith wrote that " the life of religion is almost lost where slaves are numerous..the practice being as contrary to the spirit of Christianity as light is to darkness" Two other early prominent Friends to denounce slavery were Anthony Benezet and John Woolman. They asked the Quakers, "What thing in the world can be done worse towards us, than if men should rob or steal us away and sell us for slaves to strange countries". In that same year, a group of Quakers along with some German Mennonites met at the meeting house in Germantown, Pennsylvania, to discuss why they were distancing themselves from slavery. Four of them signed a document written by Francis Daniel Pastorius that stated, "To bring men hither, or to rob and sell them against their will, we stand against." From 1755 to 1776, the Quakers worked at freeing slaves, and became