Dan, OT
I seem to recall your past interest in Christianity and the founding fathers. I ran across a post on a newsgroup you might be interested in as it relates some interesting information on Baptist influence on Madison and Jefferson and the origin of the Bill of Rights. So I thought I'd post it to you. In particular note the "Statesmen Who Listened" and "John Leland" sections. This is new information to me. I only knew that the Baptists were a very small group at the time of the Revolution.
x24.deja.com
An excerpt:
Many
historians believe Leland's paper stating the Baptist
position on the church-state situation (reprinted by
Jefferson in the Virginia Gazette, December, 1776) was a
forerunner of and influenced Jefferson's Statute of
Religious Freedom, passed in the Virginia legislature on
January 16, 1786.
Leland's most memorable accomplishment, however, came as
a crucial point in the adoption of the new United States
Constitution. Virginia was on the verge of refusing to
ratify it because it contained no guarantees for religious
liberty. James Madison, who was the primary author of the
Constitution faced opposition in an election to the Virginia
ratifying convention from the Orange County area. Either
Leland himself would have opposed Madison or he controlled
the majority of votes and was spokesman for the opposition.
Madison, realizing how precarious his position was, met
Leland at an oak grove six miles outside Orange in the
Spring of 1788, to discuss matters. Leland convinces Madison
of the importance of an amendment guaranteeing religious
freedom. Madison, upon promising to push through such an
amendment, received in turn promise of support by Leland
and those who stood with him. Madison subsequently won the
election, Virginia ratified the Constitution and Madison
was instrumental in the passage of a Bill of Rights in 1789.
The First Amendment, of course, fulfilled his committment
to Leland.
Baptist minister John Leland, the true father of the First Amendment!?
feliz navidad
bruce |
