by BGAV Religious Liberty Committee

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Greetings from the Leland Madison Memorial Park in Orange County, Virginia. This park commemorates a likely meeting—suggested by various accounts—between James Madison and the influential Virginia Baptist pastor, John Leland. This meeting helped to secure the future of religious liberty for the then-young nation.

Baptists and other religious dissenting groups suffered tremendous persecution and discrimination in Virginia and in other colonies. Residents were legally required to attend the established church—the Anglican church—and could be fined for non-attendance. Residents were taxed to give support to the Anglican church, the ministers of the church, and support to the minister's home and land. Baptisms and weddings had to be performed by Anglican ministers, and baptisms of infants in the Anglican church were mandatory.

In March of 1788, Virginians were scheduled to vote on delegates to the Virginia Convention in order to decide whether or not to ratify the proposed Constitution. Madison came home to Orange as a candidate for ratification, having heard that Baptists—growing in number—continued to become skeptical of a constitution that did not have explicit guarantees of religious liberty.

John Leland was one of the most popular preachers in Virginia, and he advocated for religious freedom for all, and he spoke out against slavery. It was Thomas Jefferson who said it would be a grievous error if the Constitution were ratified without a Bill of Rights; Pastor Leland scripted, drafted, and circulated oppositions to the proposed Constitution.

A friend of Madison heard of this and informed him of the opposition and then encouraged Madison to meet with Leland. Tradition holds that this meeting took place right behind me at the large oak tree known as Madison's Oak. It was here in 1788 that Leland made secure the promise of Madison to add to the Constitution a Bill of Rights that would guarantee religious liberty.

In turn, Madison convinced Leland to support the new Constitution and to support Madison. Madison’s subsequent election to the Virginia Convention and his persuasiveness and acknowledgement of the importance of the Bill of Rights with the Constitution won over the fierce opposition from the Anti-Federalists, led by none other than Patrick Henry.

As a member of the new House of Representatives, Madison introduced The Bill of Rights. Religious liberty, including free exercise of religion and the prohibition of the establishment of religion, was forever enshrined in the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States. The place where we stand represents that history with a historical marker, noting the contribution Virginia pastor John Leland made to securing religious liberty for America.

We are so grateful to the Goshen Baptist Association for maintaining this beautiful park located at the intersection of Highway 20—known as Constitution Highway—and Clifton Road. On behalf of the BGAV Committee on Religious Liberty, I'm Ken Pruitt, president of Leland Seminary—located in Arlington, Virginia, and in sites throughout Virginia—named after that incredible Baptist leader, John Leland.

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This video and transcript were originally produced in 2024 by BGAV Religious Liberty Committee.