It was founded by Swiss philosopher Isaak Iselin, poet Solomon Gessner and some 20 others on 15 May 1762, and was dissolved with the formation of the Helvetic Republic in 1798.
It was inspired by Franz Urs Balthasar's Patriotische Träume eines Eidgenossen von einem Mittel, die veraltete Eidgenosenschaft wieder zu verjüngen, an essay from 1758 which was distributed in manuscript form and was discussed by Joseph Anton Felix von Balthasar (son of the author), Iselin, Gessner and Hans Caspar Hirzel.
[2] While it had an open membership structure and advocated religious harmony, very few Catholics joined, and the members were predominantly German-speaking.
He was one of the contributors for the Society's magazine Der Erinnerer, established in 1765, but it was soon suppressed for being too radical and critical of the authorities.
[4] The 1766 statutes listed as the aim of the Society "The only goal and unique object of our Society must be to establish and conserve between the Swiss love and friendship, unity and concord; to maintain among them the taste for beautiful, noble and great acts; and to transmit for posterity liberty, peace and virtue through the care of good citizens".