Francis Makemie, the chief founder of American Presbyterianism, was born near the town of Ramelton in County Donegal, Ireland. After graduating from the University of Glasgow in 1681, he was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Laggan, and in the following year he was ordained a missionary. For nearly two decades he evangelized along the coasts of North Carolina and Virginia (1684-1685), Maryland (1690-1691), and in Barbados (1696-1698). His writings of this period include A Catechism ... (1691), in which Makemie attacks tenets of the Society of Friends while supporting the Westminster Confession, and An Answer to George Keith's Libel ... (1694), in which he incorporates verbatim Keith's attacks on his catechism and vindicates his doctrinal views. In Truths in a True Light ... (1699), written in 1696, Makemie defends Presbyterianism against charges that its principles deviate too far from those of the Westminster Confession, arguing that the two agree on all significant issues of...