 The choice of location was deliberate, since Cambridge was the seat of Harvard and thus the center of ecclesiastical and intellectual life in 17th century America.Cambridge was also the location of The Cambridge Platform, a declaration of church polity made in 1648 by New England Puritans.Approximately 100 delegates from around the world gathered for the four-day conference, with the explicit intention of creating an official declaration that would be released once the conference concluded.