In 1820, those troubles lay largely in the future. During the era of the great revival and the expansion of missions, Baptists had proved themselves capable of matching the growth on the American frontier, from Mississippi to Michigan. They surged into northern New England, the Ohio River Valley, and the Lower Mississippi Region, sometimes going self-consciously as missionaries, and sometimes simply as immigrants. As they moved, they saw periodic revivals, and a broader pattern of itinerant preaching and new church starts, all leading to a vast ingathering of Americans. The experiences of
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