The Philandrian Society was a secret society dedicated to the cultivation of friendship, admission to which required the assent of every member. The first meeting of the Rhode Island branch was held on July 3, 1799, the last recorded meeting in November of 1810. Anniversary meetings were held in the area of Taunton, Massachusetts. The constitution of the society decreed that at each quarterly meeting a previously appointed member should deliver “a Lecture on Politeness.” A subsequent revision of the constitution altered this requirement to “A Lecture on any moral or literary subject.”