Society for Promoting Useful Knowledge in the Town of Newark (N.J.)

For the purposes of promoting and executing such schemes as may appear to be useful and ornamental to the town, the Society for Promoting Useful Knowledge in the Town of Newark was founded in 1787 by prominent Newark citizens such as Elisha Boudinot, Reverend Alexander MacWhorter, and Reverend Uzal Ogden. Activities of the organization included the beautification of Newark, which involved the planting of trees, the improvement of roads, and the promotion of economic activity within the municipality. The Society was most instrumental, however, as a political lobbying group, in that when the Constitution was drafted, the group sponsored the public reading of the document to the public in Newark.