Isaac Backus

Known for

Writing

Born

January 9, 1724

Died

November 20, 1806 · age 82

Isaac Backus, born in the village of Yantic, now part of the town of Norwich, Connecticut, was a leading Baptist preacher during the era of the American Revolution who campaigned against state-established churches in New England. He was converted in 1741. For five years, he was a member of a Separatist Congregationalist church. In 1746, he became a preacher. He was ordained in 1748.[1] Backus became a Baptist in 1751 when he became pastor of the Middleborough Baptist Church in Middleborough, Massachusetts. Considered a leading orator of the "pulpit of the American Revolution", Backus published a sermon in 1773 that articulated his desire for religious liberty and a separation of church and state. Backus served as a delegate from Middleborough to the Massachusetts ratifying convention, which ratified the United States Constitution in 1788. He voted in favor of ratification.

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