John Leland

Know about the book -

John Leland is written by Eric C. Smith and published by Oxford University Press. It's available with International Standard Book Number or ISBN identification 0197606679 (ISBN 10) and 9780197606674 (ISBN 13).

John Leland, the colorful Baptist itinerant, was one of the most important and fascinating religious figures in early America. He is best remembered for delivering a 1,200-pound "Mammoth Cheese" to Thomas Jefferson's White House, and for negotiating the inclusion of a Bill of Rights in the Constitution with James Madison. But Leland was also a tireless revivalist and a dogged advocate of religious freedom for all, an anti-slavery spokesman and unofficial Democratic Party whip, a defender of popular Calvinism and promoter of extreme religious individualism among Baptists. Eric C. Smith explores these and other major themes in this first-ever biography of John Leland, whose story provides a unique window into the remarkable transformations that swept American society from 1760 to 1840.