William Rogers James Manning Isaac Backus
These men were all connected with the opening of the first Baptist college in America. James Manning was the first president; Isaac Backus, a member of the original board of trustees; William Rogers, the first student.
The Virginia Baptists, through their General Convention, organized in 1784, united the efforts of the Baptists there and in New England for the final phases of the war against religious tyranny. For four years they had worked for liberty in their State laws and had won a complete victory. Then, in 1788, they turned to the national issue. The Federal Constitution had provided in Article VI, “No religious Test shall ever be required as a qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.” This did not satisfy the Baptists, because religious tests might be imposed for other purposes than those specified. In a noble letter, drafted by John Leland, a Baptist minister, they appealed to Washington. They paid a high compliment to his achievements and then stated their grievance, closing with these words:
If religious liberty is rather insecure in the Constitution the administration will certainly prevent all oppression, for a Washington will preside. Should the horrid evils that have been so pestiferous in Asia and Europe, faction, ambition, war, perfidy, fraud, and persecution for conscience sake, ever approach the borders of our happy nation, may the name and administration of our beloved President, like the radiant source of day, scatter all the dark clouds from the American hemisphere.
Washington replied that his ideals were the same, assuring them of this, in the following words:
No one would be more zealous than myself to establish effectual barriers against the horrors of spiritual tyranny and every species of religious persecution.
He complimented the Baptists and said that they
have been, throughout America, uniformly and almost unanimously, the firm friends to civil liberty, and the persevering promoters of our glorious revolution.
His assurance was not empty words. In a short time James Madison, with the President’s approval, submitted certain amendments. Article VI was superseded by the First Amendment to the Constitution, which specified: