Guest Speaker: Leigh Johnsen, Ph.D.
SMUD Headquarters Conference Center, 6201 S Street, Sacramento
Q&A following presentation
How often do we hear that America is a Christian nation, that the political system of the United States was founded on Christian principles and that its legal structure today should reflect those origins? This presentation questions that popular assumption. It examines evidence from the colonial and revolutionary years with the goal of understanding better the intentions of the founding generation.
Leigh Johnsen holds a doctorate in early American history from the University of California, Riverside. His dissertation focuses on the interaction between religion and society during the American Revolution. In 2003, he published the personal papers of Isaac Backus, a dissenting clergyman from the Revolutionary era often compared to Thomas Jefferson because of his importance for church-state relations in early America. Johnsen is currently the archivist/librarian of the San Joaquin County Historical Society.
