American Methodist History
Civil War and Reconstruction
Period
Issues of the Day
Denominational Competition
New Science (aka Darwin)
Slavery
States Rights
Denominationalism
Constant war of words (and
sometimes fists) between members
of differing denominations
Issues over infant baptism, worship,
prayer, ritual and leadership led to
numerous debates
New Science
With the publication of “Origin of the
Species”, Methodists (like many Christian
communities) perceive a world view under
siege.
Charles Lyell provides a new view of
geology, challenging the basis of the
Christian creation narrative.
A few rationalist attempts made a
reconciliation, with little positive result
Slavery
1844 did not settle the issue of slavery.
Border states felt caught between the two
denominations.
Instead, most persons self-affiliated on
national, political issues of the day (Union
vs. Confederacy)
This division still pitted church against
church, brother against brother, sister
against sister.
Methodist Episcopal Church
During the Civil War, gave
unconditional support to the Union.
Bishop Simpson’s friendship with
Lincoln provided symbolic
significance for the denomination.
Simpson conducts Lincoln’s funeral in
Springfield, IL
Methodist Episcopal Church
Denomination also supported
chaplains during the Civil War.
Over 500 Methodist ministers
became regimental chaplains.
Also expanded the denomination into
Southern territory.
Questionable to what extent the
military assisted in such
“evangelistic” efforts.
Methodist Episcopal Church, South
Hardly the church of secession. In fact,
rather restrained in its commentary.
While the MEC, South joined the cause of
the Confederacy, times were more
desperate, so polemics were less harsh.
Did develop a vigorous mission to the
slaves also the voices of abolition were
rare, indeed. 217,000 slaves brought into
the church during the war.
Methodist Episcopal Church, South
High participation of minister in the war as
soldiers, many of whom also provided
chaplaincy service.
Some groupings of men took on a
revivalist flair.
Buildings suffer excessive damage from
Union troops
General Conference of 1862 did not take
place due to the disruption and danger of
civil war.
Reconstruction
For the Methodist Episcopal Church, the
end of the war meant Union Victory and
the expansion of the denomination.
It also meant God’s vindication for the
“side of righteousness”
Interesting enough, several MEC
congregations interested in providing war
relief to their southern comrades.
Reconstruction
In large part due to the relationship
of Bishop Simpson to Lincoln, the
Methodist Episcopal Church now seen
as a Republican Outpost.
Establishment of Freedman’s Aid
Societies.
Freedman’s Aid Society
During and after the Civil War northern
women who had been active in the antislavery movement before the war often
formed organizations to help former
slaves become free members of American
society. They sent clothing, money, and
books to the South. In freedmen's aid
societies women also raised money to
send teachers to the South, most of whom
were young white women. Women in the
freedmen's aid movement faced many
problems.
Freedman’s Aid Society
Many in Northern society were not yet
ready for women to become prominent in
public life or to assume leadership in
national organizations. And, although
most Northerners supported the end of
slavery, many feared social equality
between the races and subscribed to
many racist stereotypes of African
Americans. Lastly, because most men in
the movement feared that former slaves
would become dependent on charity, they
opposed women's efforts to provide
adequate resources to former slaves.
Freedman’s Aid Society
They are now collecting money on a large scale from some
persons who never before were called on, and who have
contributed freely. Miller would like for all the anti-slavery
and freedmen's societies to be merged in this--a
Reconstructive Union. He sent an appeal to our "Friends'
Association." I told him it was objected, that woman was
ignored in their new organization, and if it really were a
reconstruction for the nation, she ought not so to be, and
that it would be rather humiliating for our anti-slavery
women and Quaker women to consent to be thus
overlooked, after suffering the Anti-Slavery Society to be
divided in 1840 rather than yield, and after claiming our
rights so earnestly in London to a seat in the "World's
Convention." He was rather taken aback, and said, "if there
seemed a necessity for women," he thought "they would be
admitted;" to which the impetuous reply was, "seemed a
necessity!! for one half the nation to act with you!"
Lucretia Mott, 19th Woman Rights Leader and Quaker
The State of Southern Methodism
“So far as we can ascertain, most of
its conferences are virtually broken
up, its circuit system is generally
abandoned, its appointments without
preachers to a great extent, and its
local societies in utter confusion.”
– Christian Advocate, 1865
Joshua Soule (1781-1867)
Joshua Soule was born in
Bristol, Maine on August
1, 1781. He died in
Nashville, Tennessee on
March 6, 1867. Soule
quickly became known as
an opponent of Calvinism,
Unitarianism, and
Universalism.
Joshua Soule
When he was twenty-three he was appointed
presiding elder over the state of Maine. He was
on the committee to draft the constitution of the
delegated general conference, which, since 1813,
has been the fundamental law of the church. He
was a delegate to the general conference of
1812, and also to that of 1816. At the latter he
was elected book-agent and editor of the
"Methodist Magazine." He did not like these
posts, and had made up his mind not to accept a
re-election ; but in 1820, before that question
was raised, he was elected a bishop.
Joshua Soule
A great debate had occurred on whether
presiding elders should be elected or, as
before, appointed by the bishops. Mr.
Soule was opposed to their election, but
the majority of the conference voted in
favor of it. Having full confidence in his
sincerity, they elected him bishop, but he
declined rather than administer what he
believed to be an unconstitutional law,
reentered the pastorate, and was
stationed first in New York and then in
Baltimore.
Joshua Soule
In 1824 the General Conference
reversed its action and reelected him
bishop. These circumstances have no
parallel in the history of the
denomination.
In 1842 Soule visits Great Britain as
a delegate from the General
Conference of the United States to
the British Wesleyan conference.
Joshua Soule
In 1844 the General Conference was held in New
York. Bishop James O. Andrew had become
complicated with slavery, and the conference
passed a resolution asking him to desist from the
exercise of his functions until this encumbrance
should be removed. It was Bishop Soule's opinion
that the conference had no right to pass such a
resolution. Bishop Andrew declined the
proposition, and the result was a division of the
church. Bishop Soule adhered to the southern
members, and when the Methodist Episcopal
Church, South, was established he went with it,
and became its Senior Bishop.
Joshua Soule
In 1848 he visited the General
Conference of the Methodist
Episcopal Church at Pittsburg, but
was not recognized as a bishop or a
delegate, though he was courteously
received as a visitor. At the age of
seventy-two he retired from public
life.
Palmyra Manifesto
Statement prepared by two dozen
ministers and twelve laymen in the
summer of 1865 in Palmyra, Missouri.
Maintained that continued separation of
the two denominations of paramount
importance, if for no other reason,
because of all the wrongs perpetrated
upon the Southern churches by Union
Troops
Palmyra Manifesto
“…it is due every principle of selfrespect and ecclesiastical propriety
that we maintain, with firm reliance
upon the help of the Great Hand of
the Church, our organization without
embarrassment or compromise.”
– Excerpt from “Palmyra Manifesto”
General Conference of 1866
Methodist Episcopal Church, South
Should the laity have representation
on the floor of the General and
Annual Conferences?
Motion in favor of lay representation
passes.
1870 General Conference the first
with elected lay delegation, with
equal lay-clergy representation.
General Conference of 1866
Methodist Episcopal Church, South
Probationary period for church
membership abolished.
Compulsory attendance of class
meetings abolished.
Four year limit placed on each
itinerate appointment or charge.
Four new bishops elected.
General Conference of 1866
Methodist Episcopal Church, South
Conference decisions obviously
provide a needed framework for
reconstituting the denomination.
While white membership increases,
black membership rapidly declines.
Less than 20,000 Black American
members by 1869.
White membership by 1875: over
700,000.
Methodist Episcopal Church, South
Continues its mission to the “Negroes” but
political changes push toward segregation
of congregations.
J.B. McFerrin, assists in the reconstitution
of publishing and education concerns.
Sunday schools booming
Vanderbilt University founded in 1875
Revivalism resurgent
Temperance Movement supported by the
denomination.
Methodist Episcopal Church, South
The African American membership of The
Methodist Episcopal Church, South, had
declined significantly during and after the
war. In 1870 its General Conference voted
to transfer all of its remaining African
American constituency to a new church.
The Colored Methodist Episcopal Church
(now called The Christian Methodist
Episcopal Church) was the product of this
decision.
Meanwhile, in the North…
Rapid urbanization brings an end to
Romanticism and a rise in Liberal
philosophy.
Methodist Episcopal Church becomes
a major urban denomination.
Movement for massive church
extension into rural areas begins.
Membership by 1900 exceeds three
million.
Methodist Episcopal Church
Continued its general opposition to
understanding the Episcopacy as a higher,
third tier of ordination. Instead, Bishop
was an office served, but not necessarily
for life.
Methodist Protestant Church moved
further away from the Episcopacy, forming
an Annual Council to advise bishops in
1875. Annual Council finally dissolved by
1892.
Methodist Protestant Church
The Methodist Protestant Church was
organized in November 1828 in response
to growing controversy within the
Methodist Episcopal Church surrounding
the representation of lay members within
church conferences. Members broke with
the Methodist Episcopal Church over what
they perceived as the unlimited exercise
of power over church policies by the
ministry, to the exclusion of lay members.
Methodist Protestant Church
Rejecting the notion of Episcopal, or ministerial,
control, the new church designated equal
representation of ministerial and lay members for
each conference, thereby assuring "the mutual
rights of the ministry and the laity." Originally
known as The Associated Methodist Churches,
the later title was adopted in 1830 during the
Second Annual Conference in Baltimore,
Maryland. Beginning with a national membership
of 5,000 in 1830, membership reached 196,985
by 1939.
Methodist Protestant Church
The Methodist Protestants being a reform
movement, were well-known for the battles they
fought over the great societal issues of the 19th
century such as slavery, temperance, and secret
oath-bound societies.
In regard to slavery, the Methodist Protestants
were considerably more abolitionist than the
Methodist Episcopals, probably because the
smaller body did not have many churches in
southern states.
Reunited with Methodist Episcopal Church in
1939.
Liberalism
A 19th century political viewpoint or
ideology associated with strong
support for a broad interpretation of
civil liberties for freedom of
expression and religious toleration,
for widespread popular participation
in the political process, and for the
repeal of protectionist legal
restrictions inhibiting the operation
of a capitalist free market economy.
Liberalism
Liberal American Protestantism in the 19th
century was allied with similar trends in Europe,
where scholars were reading and interpreting the
Bible in a new way. They questioned the validity
of biblical miracles and traditional beliefs about
the authorship of biblical books. There was also
the challenge of Charles Darwin's theory of
evolution to contend with. If human beings were
descended from other animals, as most scientists
came to believe, then the story of Adam and Eve,
the biblical first parents, could not be literally
true. In this manner, Methodist theology and
doctrine submitted itself to the standards of
rationalism and objectivism.
Liberalism
What distinguished 19th-century
Liberal Protestants was optimism
about the human capacity for
improvement. Some of the early
ministers believed that the church
could accelerate progress by trying
to reform society. In the spirit of the
gospels, they began to work on
behalf of the urban poor.
The Question of Itineracy
During Reconstruction, both
denominations struggle with the
issue of itineracy.
Many pastors presenting arguments
both for and against the institution of
itineracy.
In Favor of Itineracy
Scriptural institution practiced by
Jesus, disciples and the primitive
church.
Part of the early beginnings of
Methodism
Advocated by John Wesley
Practiced by Asbury, Coke and others
Provided ability of clergy to reach
others
In Opposition of Itineracy
Itineracy a human invention.
Times have changed since Wesley and
Asbury.
Permanent appointments would improve
efficiency and encourage preachers to be
more studious and devoted.
Impossible to promote a stable, moral
existence under such a system.
Continued threat to the family.
Parishioners do not like the system.
Decline of Class Meeting
Domesticated by the Sunday school
When Circuit Riders take
appointments, class leader and local
preacher positions no longer
necessary.
Decline of the Camp Meeting
Annual Conferences begin to purchase
land as permanent camp meeting spaces.
Removes the spontaneity of camp meeting
experience.
Liberal Protestant movement enhance
decline.
Chautauqua, as a logical, well planned
summer series of lectures, emerges.
Camp meetings still held in the South
(revivalism still a part of the Methodist
Spirit)