American Tract was founded on May 11, 1825 for a specific purpose:

To make Jesus Christ known in His redeeming grace and to promote the interests of vital godliness and sound morality, by the circulation of Religious Tracts, calculated to receive the approbation of all Evangelical Christians (from the ATS Statement of Purpose, 1825).

Later, in 1894, American Tract built a 23-story headquarters near Broadway and Fifth Avenue in New York City, which still stands today. At the time of its construction it was one of the tallest buildings in NY City.

The Frank E. Gaebelein Library, now housed in the present headquarters of the Society, houses books, booklets, tracts and pamphlets from the 170-year history of the Society.

Three trends motivated the founders of American Tract, a diverse group of evangelical religious leaders from various denominations, to form the Society--a spiritual trend, a geographic trend, and a social trend:

First, the Second Great Awakening of the late 1700s swept across much of America, giving many Christians a deeper interest in Christian missions and motivating many of them to more aggressively share their faith with others. This new exuberance resulted in many Bible societies and gospel tract ministries being founded from 1800 to 1825. By 1825, some Christians thought that consolidation of some of these various groups was needed.

Second, the United States was expanding rapidly geographically. After the Missouri Compromise in 1820, Maine and Missouri were added to bring the total states to twenty-four. Florida was annexed in 1819. Oregon Country was jointly occupied with Great Britain. How could the gospel be taken across a land that was growing so quickly?

Third, the prospects of a new life in a new land brought millions of immigrants to America in the early 1800s. Between 1800 and 1820 alone, the population of the US swelled from 5,300,000 to 7,250,000. The new land act passed in 1820 reduced the price of land to $1.25 an acre. Ever increasing multitudes needed to know about Jesus Christ.

All of these factors combined to bring about the birth of the American Tract Society, an organization that could efficiently and effectively share the gospel message of forgiveness and eternal life through Jesus Christ with the many US citizens flung across our vast nation.

Many of the tracts that American Tract first published were picked up from other tract societies that had preceded it, but it also printed the writings of Christian preachers, writers, and leaders who were popular in that era. Its list of authors in the first few decades includes well-known Christians like Rev. Issac Watts, Rev. Richard Baxter, Rev. Jonathan Edwards, and Rev. John Bunyan.


Dr. Benjamin Rush was one of the youngest signers of the Declaration of Independence. His letter, "A Defense of the Bible in Schools," was written in the late 1790s and was published by American Tract in the late 1820s. A reprint of this remarkable letter is now available from American Tract.

Within a few years after its founding, American Tract was producing millions of pieces of Gospel literature--tracts, booklets, books, and even magazines. But a distribution system was needed to put the literature into the hands of those for whom it was printed. Because American was expanding so rapidly, that would be no easy task.

A system of colporteurs--traveling Christian literature salesmen--were enlisted by the Society, and they took their literature into the streets, homes, and churches of America. In 1855 the Society had 659 colporteurs on its roles.



An army of colporteurs traveled across America during the 1800s selling and distributing American Tract's literature, leading worship services, and counseling with those they met.

From these origins blessed by God, American Tract has continued to proclaim the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ for over 170 years.

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