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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 July 2009
The Plan of Union adopted in 1801 by the General Association of Connecticut and the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church was a memorable expression of the spirit of Christian unity in the face of a great missionary task. But its particular provisions for the working together of the Congregational and Presbyterian polities were little utilized. The “Accommodation Plan” adopted in 1808 was the main instrument of organization in the spirit of the Plan of Union. According to this a Congregational church, remaining such internally, might join a presbytery and be represented in the presbytery by its minister and a lay delegate. Such churches received the nickname “Presbygational”, or were called “Plan of Union churches.”
1 Sweet, W. W., Religion on the American Frontier: the Presbyterians (New York, Harper and Brothers, 1936), 43.Google Scholar
2 For instances see Ibid., 100–102.
3 For an account of these see Elsbree, O. W., The Rise of the Missionary Spirit in America, 1790–1815 (Williamsport, Pa., 1928).Google Scholar
4 See Sweet, , op. cit., 100–102Google Scholar; also Brackett, W. O. Jr., “The Rise of the New School in the Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A. to the Eeunion of 1869.” Journal of the Presbyterian Historical Society, XIII (1928–1929), 117ff.Google Scholar
5 See Braekett, , op. cit., 147Google Scholar; and Sweet, , op. cit., 107–110.Google Scholar
6 For a recent and penetrating study of the slavery issue in Presbyterianism, see Sweet, , op. cit., 111–122.Google Scholar
7 “Minutes of the Regular and Special Sessions of the Presbytery of Wisconsin, 1839–1840, and of the Presbyterian and Congregational Convention of Wisconsin, 1840–1861,” 25–28.Google Scholar (This is deposited with the Wisconsin Historical Society at Madison.)
8 Peet, to the Secretaries of the American Home Missionary Society, 08 13, 1839.Google Scholar In view of the fact that there were as yet only four ministerial members, the boldness of the vision of the presbytery is remarkable. (This letter, and those subsequently quoted, are in the files of the American Home Missionary Society and deposited in the Hammond Library of Chicago Theological Seminary.)
9 “;Minutes,” 29–33.Google Scholar
10 Ibid., 34–38.
11 Ibid., 39–44. A printed copy of the letter sent out is inserted between pages 44 and 45.
12 Sherman, D. A. to the A. H, M. S., 12 17, 1840.Google Scholar
13 Peet, S., History of the Presbyterian and Congregational Churches and Ministers in Wisconsin (Milwaukee, 1851), 24.Google Scholar
14 The fact that many Congregationalists came from Plan of Union territory is explicitly stated and emphasized in the defense of Wisconsin that was drawn up to be sent to the New England Puritan in 1846Google Scholar but never published. A copy is in the archives of Beloit College.
15 “Minutes,” 47.Google Scholar Accounts of the meeting are scanty, only two outside the record being known to the writer, viz., Sherman, to the A. H. M. S., 12 17, 1840Google Scholar, and Porter, Jeremiah to the A. H. M. S., 10 27, 1840.Google Scholar The latter was published in the Home Missionary, but not exactly as Porter wrote it.
16 Peet, , op. cit., 36–39.Google Scholar
17 There is no published biography of Peet, but the Rev. L. E. Murphy of Dubuque, Iowa, is now preparing one.
18 See especially his letters of March 29 and April 9, 1839.
19 The Home Missionary and Pastors' Journal (09, 1839), XII, 100.Google Scholar
20 “Minutes,” 33.Google Scholar
21 Peet, to the A. H. M. S., 08 13, 1839.Google Scholar
22 Badger, to Peet, , 09 27, 1839. (Letter Book M, no. 94).Google Scholar
23 Peet, to Badger, , 10 14, 1839.Google Scholar
24 Peet, to Badger, , 04 10, 1840.Google Scholar
25 Peet, to the A. H. M. S., 04 10, 1841.Google Scholar
26 Badger, to Peet, , 04 27, 1841.Google Scholar
27 Peet, to Badger, , 05 12, 1841.Google Scholar
28 Holbrook, J. C. to the A. H. M. S., 01 16, 1843.Google Scholar
29 Peet, to Badger, , 07 15, 1841.Google Scholar
30 These figures gleaned from Peet, , op. cit., 93–172.Google Scholar
31 Peet, to Badger, as follows; 11 10, 1842Google Scholar, May 3, August 25, November 22, and December 12, 1843.
32 Peet, to Badger, , 02 24, 1845.Google Scholar
33 See Sweet, , op. cit., 111–122.Google Scholar
34 “Minutes,” 75.Google Scholar
35 Ibid., 169.
36 Peet, to Badger, , 02 24, 1845.Google Scholar
37 Ibid. This letter is Peet's long defense of his policies.
38 The New England Puritan, (10 30, 1845), VI.Google Scholar
39 Clark, to Hall, , 11 6, 1845.Google Scholar
40 Puritan, (01 1, 1846), VII.Google Scholar
41 Hall, to Peet, , 12 13, 1845.Google Scholar
42 A copy of this is preserved among the Chapin papers in the archives of Beloit College.
43 Chapin, to Badger, , 12 14, 1846.Google Scholar
44 Badger, to Clark, , 11 18, 1846.Google Scholar
45 Hall, to Chapin, , 11 23, 1846Google Scholar: Chapin, to Hall, , 12 14, 1846Google Scholar: Lewis, J. to Hall, , 03 9, 1847.Google Scholar
46 Chapin, to Badger, , 11 22, 1847.Google Scholar
47 Badger, to Peet, , 07 15, 1847.Google Scholar
48 Camp, B. H. to Badger, and Hall, , 01 27, 1848.Google Scholar
49 Peet, to Badger, , Anglist 25, 1843.Google Scholar
50 Peet, , op. cit., 28.Google Scholar
51 Ibid., 183–186.
52 Brown, W. F., Past Made Present (1900), 148–150.Google Scholar It should be noted that the Old School Presbyterians began work in Wisconsin in 1845 and had 22 churches by 1850. They had no relation to the Convention. In. 1851 they formed the Synod of Wisconsin. The present Synod of Wisconsin dates its origin from thia rather than from the New School Synod.
53 Synod, Wisconsin, “Records of the Presbyterian Church in Wisconsin, 1857–1883.”Google Scholar Three manuscript volumes deposited with the Wisconsin Historical Society at Madison.