(6) The Constitution of 1788. With the restoration of peace in 1783, the Presbyterian Church, gradually recovered from the evils wrought by war. The need of further organiza tion was deeply felt. The Church had always been independent, having no organic connection with European and British churches of like faith. The independence of the United States, however, had created new conditions for the Christian churches as well as for the American people. Presbyterians were no longer merely tolerated, they were entitled equally with Episcopalians to full civil and religious rights. In view, there fore, of the new conditions, the Synod in May, 1788. adopted a Constitution for the Church con taining the Westminster Confession of Faith, the Larger and Shorter Catechisms. the Form of Government, the Book of Discipline, and the Di rectory for \Vorship. Certain changes were made in the Confession, the Catechisms, and the Di rectory, concerning which it is sufficient to say that they were in the direction of liberty,—of lib erty in worship, of freedom in prayer, and above all, of the liberty of the Church from any control by the state. The Form of Government was al together a new instrument, and established the General Assembly as the governing body in the Church.
The Presbyterian form of government is in all essential things similar to that of the government of the United States of America. Where, in civil government, Americans have the township com mittee, the county board, the state legislature, and the congress of the United States, the Presby terian Church has the session of the particular church, the Presbytery, the Synod and the Gen eral Assembly. These judicatories further, are representative in the fullest sense, their members being chosen to office by the people. Concerning the Presbyterian Government. one of the Roman Catholic Archbishops of New York, the Rev. John Hughes. wrote: "that for the purposes of popular a-d political government its organization is little inferior to that of Congress itself. It acts on the principle of a radiating center, and is without equal or rival among the other denomina tions of the country." Further, this form of gov ernment, as a system of rules, has the privilege of possessing in the Westminster Confession, a state ment of the principles for which the Church stands, in which it has the advantage of the na tion, the latter possessing no such document. The national constitution is simply a body of regula tions, the Presbyterian Constitution contains both principles and regulations.
(7) The Period of the Plan of Union. The first important movement in the Church, after the adoption of the Constitution, was the formation of the Plan of Union with the Congregational Associations of New England, which began with correspondence in 1792, and reached its consum mation in the agreements made from 18o1 to 18to between the General Assembly and the Associa tions of Connecticut and other states. This plan allowed Congregational ministers to serve Pres byterian Churches, and vice versa; and also per mitted mixed churches and members of both denominations, with the right of representation in Presbytery. It remained in force until 1837, and was useful to both Churches, in relation to the results flowing from the great revivals of religion throughout the country from 1799 to 1802; and also in connection with the cause of both Home and Foreign Missions.
What is known as the Cumberland separation took place during this period. The Presbytery of Cumberland ordained to the ministry persons who, in the judgment of the Synod of Kentucky, were not qualified for the office either by learning or by sound doctrine. The controversies between the two judicatories resulted in the dissolution of the Presbytery by the Synod in 1806, and finally in 18ro, in the initial steps in the establishment of what is now known as the Cumberland Presby terian Church. The growth of the Church dur ing the period (1790 to 1837) was very decided, the membership increasing from eighteen thou sand to two hundred and twenty thousand five hundred and fifty-seven. Further, in it, the first
Theological Seminary of the Church was founded at Princeton, N. J., (1812), with Archibald Alex ander as first professor ; the Boards of Home Missions (t816) and of Education (1819) were established, and at its close the Board of Foreign Missions came into existence.
(8) The Period of Division. 'About the year 1825, the peace of the Church began seriously to be disturbed by controversy respecting the Plan of Union, and the establishment of denomina tional agencies for missionary and evangelistic work. The Pittsburgh Synod, as early as 183i, founded the Western Foreign Missionary Society, The Foreign Mission work of the Church had previously been accomplished mainly through the American Board of Commissioners for 'Foreign Missions, located at Boston, Mass., and much of the Home Mission work was done through the American Home Missionary and the American Education Societies. The party standing for de nominational agencies and opposed to the Plan of Union, was known as the "Old School" and that favoring the continuance of the Plan as the "New School." Questions of doctrine were also in volved in the controversy, though not to so large an extent as those of denominational policy, and led to the trial for heresy of the celebrated Al bert Barnes. The "Old School" majority in the Assembly of 1837 brought the matters at issue to a head, by abrogating the Plan of Union, by reso lutions against the interdenominational societies, by the excision of the Synods of Utica, Geneva, Genesee and the Western Reserve, and by the establishment of the Presbyterian Board of For eign Missions. When the Assembly of 1838 met, the "New School" Commissioners protested against the exclusion of the delegates from the four exscinded Synods, organized an Assembly of their own in the presence of the sitting Assem bly, and then withdrew. The controversy came before the civil courts through a suit, on the part of the "New School," to determine whether the persons chosen by its Assembly were the legal "trustees of the General Assembly." The final decision in the case was in favor of the "Old School." From 1838 onward, both branches of the Church grew slowly but steadily, and both made progress in the organization of their benevolent and mission ary work. The growth of both was checked, how ever, by disruption. The New School Assembly of 1857 took strong ground in opposition to slavery, with the result that several Southern Presbyteries withdrew and organized the United Synod of the Presbyterian Church. In May, 186i, the Old School Assembly met at Philadelphia, Pa., with but thirteen commissioners present from the states which had seceded from the Union. Dr. Gar diner Spring of New York offered in the judi catory, resolutions professing loyalty to the fed eral government, which were passed by a decided majority. The minority of the Assembly, how ever, while to a large degree in favor of the Union, were actuated by the feeling that an ec clesiastical judicatory had no right to determine questions of civil allegiance. The "Spring Reso lutions" were the alleged reason for the organiza tion of the Presbyterian Church in the Confeder ate States of America, which met in General As sembly at Augusta, Georgia, in December, 1861, was enlarged by union in 1863, with the United Synod above referred to, and upon the cessation of hostilities in 1865 took the name of the Presby terian Church in the United States. Its members were increased in 1869 and 1874, by the adhe rence of those portions of the Synods of Kentucky and Missouri, which protested by "declaration and testimony" against the action of the Old School Assembly in the matter of the Christian character of the ministers and members of the Presbyterian Church South.