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any of various evangelical Protestant churches that believe in the baptism of voluntary believers

any of various evangelical Protestant churches that believe in the baptism of voluntary believers

In most of the colonies the Baptists were persecuted. In Rhode Island they were especially numerous. They had much to do with that agitation for religious liberty which culminated in the passage of the first amendment to the Constitution of the United States. In 1762 there were fifty-six Baptist churches in the region now occupied by the United States; in 1792, 1000; in 1812, 2433; in 1832, 5322; in 1852, 9500; in 1872, 18,397. According to the census of 1890, there were in that year, of all varieties of Baptists, 41,629 church organizations, with 3,594,093 communicants. In 1845 the Baptists split into a northern and a southern body, because of differences arising out of the question of slavery.