During the 17th and into the 18th century, the ministers of the State Church in Connecticut were supported by taxes taken from the general public. From time to time Baptist missionaries from Rhode Island visited and held services in that Colony, but for the most part they were ignored. Then in 1704 a group of Baptists wanted to organize a church, and Valentine Wightman became their pastor. Soon there were several Baptist groups – some of which were more persecuted than others.
For example, a man named Deacon Drake of Windsor was arrested for not paying the “minister’s rates” and building a meeting house, despite being accounted a harmless, godly man. When he further refused to support the State Church he was given a mark in his hand and thrown into prison. When it became clear that Drake would not break, he was released, lest he die in prison “and the cry of blood, blood, go up into the ears of a just God.”
Godly preachers were beaten at whipping posts in town squares. Various laymen had their cattle and crops seized and sold to pay the support of the Protestant pastors. They considered themselves blessed to escape the stocks or jail. Nathan Jewett of Lyme had been elected to the Legislature, but he was expelled when it was learned that he was a Baptist not a Congregationalist.
Baptists continued to grow in Connecticut and Massachusetts, despite the persecution. Then on this day in 1795 the Congregational church in Middletown passed the following resolution: “When members of this Church shall renounce infant baptism and embrace the Baptist principles and practice baptism by immersion, they shall be considered by that act as withdrawing their fellowship from this Church, and we consider our covenant obligations with them as Church members dissolved.” This act was one of the first steps taken towards religious liberty in New England – a great victory for the Baptists.