Thayer promoted the idea of “business antislavery”. The idea behind Thayer's Emigrant Aid Company was to level the playing field with the southern pro-slavery advocates. The company was chartered under the laws of Massachusetts for the purpose of "assisting emigrants to settle in the West." Thayer's idea worked to both settle New Englanders in Kansas to prevent slavery and to remove the surplus of New Englanders and Immigrants. The plan was for settlers to start new businesses that would profit the Company. The towns of Lawrence, Topeka, Manhattan and Osawatomie, Kansas were all settled by or with help from the Emigrant Aid Company. Thayer realized there was more money available in the North than in the South. By forming the Company he felt settlers would be well rewarded with the "comforts of civilization". The Company would be well rewarded with a good dividend on their investments. It was a win-win situation. He thought once Kansas was free, their attentions could be turned south and colonize it in a similar manner. By investing in the Company it would be the "snort of the steam engine instead of the crack of the blacksnake (whip)". Thayer's slogan became "Saw-mills and Liberty!" and was widely proclaimed in the New England press. Between 1854 and 1856, Thayer's Company sent about 2,000 emigrants to Kansas Territory. By May of 1857 many members of the Company felt it had reached its goals in Kansas. Thayer began other projects. He helped found the free labor colony of Ceredo, Virginia (now West Virginia). But after John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry many investors and potential settlers were scared away. The outbreak of the Civil War ended the project.