27 Facts About Isaac Backus

Isaac Backus was a leading Baptist minister during the era of the American Revolution who campaigned against state-established churches in New England.

In "An account of the life of Isaac Backus", he provides genealogical information and a chronicle of events leading to his religious conversion.

Isaac Backus became a Baptist in 1751 when he became pastor of the Middleborough Baptist Church in Middleborough, Massachusetts.

In 1748 Isaac Backus became minister of a New Light church in Middleborough, Massachusetts; he continued his association with the New Lights until 1756, when he withdrew because of his opposition to infant baptism.

Isaac Backus organized a Separate Baptist church in Middleborough and remained as minister there until his death.

In 1764, Isaac Backus joined John Brown, Nicholas Brown, William Ellery, Stephen Hopkins, James Manning, Ezra Stiles, Samuel Stillman, Morgan Edwards and several others as an original fellow or trustee for the chartering of the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, the first Baptist school of higher learning.

Isaac Backus published a large number of tracts and a 3-volume history of the Baptist denomination.

The Warren Baptist Association was established in 1767; Isaac Backus was a member of the Grievance Committee formed to work toward elimination of persecution by civil authorities.

Isaac Backus argued for ratification of the US Constitution in 1790, convinced that in effect it stood for separation of church and state by prohibiting any religious test for officeholders.

Williams' pioneering arguments for the separation of church and state in colonial America profoundly impacted Isaac Backus, embedding a strong opposition to religious establishments in his works.

Glazier notes that Isaac Backus underwent an abrupt transformation from a critic of the Massachusetts State Legislature in 1774 to a staunch supporter of the American revolution in 1775.

Once war was declared, Isaac Backus chose to support the Revolution.

Isaac Backus quickly adapted his sermons to the needs of the times.

Isaac Backus remained a staunch supporter of American Independence for the rest of his life.

In 1778, Isaac Backus authored a historically important work entitled Government and Liberty Described and Ecclesiastical Tyranny Exposed of which a copy is held by the John Carter Brown Library at Brown.

Today, Isaac Backus is best known for his three-volume religious history of New England.

Isaac Backus ended up serving as Grievance Committee Clerk and served longer than any other Association member.

Isaac Backus dedicated significant time to the Warren Association between 1770 and 1774.

Isaac Backus meticulously made copies of all correspondence and reports, distributing them to at least four other members of the Grievance Committee.

Isaac Backus was appointed a Trustee of Rhode Island College, represented Baptist interests to the Massachusetts State Legislature, and he represented Baptist interests to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia.

Isaac Backus served as a delegate from Middleborough to the Massachusetts convention that ratified the United States Constitution in 1788.

Isaac Backus failed to condemn African slavery in any of his earlier published writings.

For Isaac Backus, infant baptism was a form of slavery since the infant had little choice in the matter.

Slavery, for Isaac Backus, is rooted in humanity's attraction to evil and the inability to resist sin.

Isaac Backus did not speak out against slavery until well after Stephen Hopkins's death.

Isaac Backus traveled widely in the South and supported Baptist churches in the region.

When Isaac Backus published his famous pamphlet "Godliness Excludes Slavery" in 1785, slavery was a topic of intense national debate.