Isaac Backus

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Isaac Backus was a leading Baptist preacher during the era of the American Revolution who campaigned against state-established churches in New England.
Born: January 9, 1724, in the village of Yantic, now part of the town of Norwich, Connecticut
He converted in 1741 and for five years he was a member of a Separatist Congregationalist church. In 1746, he became a preacher but was not ordained until 1748. In 1751 he became a Baptist preacher in Middleborough, Massachusetts. He died on November 20, 1806

In 1764, Isaac Backus joined John Brown with others as an original fellow or trustee for the chartering of Brown University College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, the first Baptist school of higher learning.

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. Called An Appeal to the Public for Religious Liberty, Against the Oppressions of the Present Day, in it Backus stated:

"Now who can hear Christ declare, that his kingdom is, not of this world, and yet believe that this blending of church and state together can be pleasing to him?"

He also wrote Government and Liberty Described

Isaac Backus

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