The Episcopal Church is the direct descendant of the Church of England in colonial North America and the primary claimant to the Anglican tradition in the United States. A member of the Anglican Communion, its structure combines a traditional hierarchical denomination with an American democratic approach. American Anglicanism also includes the Anglican Church in North America, a coalition of church bodies some of whom departed from the Episcopal Church as early as 1873. Churches of the Anglican Communion accept the 39 Articles of Religion as a common statement of faith, and worship according to a mandatory written liturgy. The Church of England was the first denomination in British colonial North America, but membership plummeted at the American Revolution; nevertheless, it retained importance after independence due to the prominence of its parishioners in public life and to its leadership in ecumenism, education, and social ministry.