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The Synod of Michigan and Movements for Social Reform, 1834–1869

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2009

L. G. Vander Velde
Affiliation:
University of Michigan

Extract

Presbyterians are fond of pointing out that their General Assembly was organized in the year which witnessed the adoption of our Federal Constitution, and that the republican organization of their central government corresponds in many respects to that of the “more perfect Union” which the people of the United States decided in 1788 to set up. Michigan Presbyterians may with reason cite a parallel coincidence in dates of establishment: the Synod of Michigan was founded in September, 1834, only about six months before the people of the territory elected delegates to draw up a state constitution. From this common chronological beginning, both Michigan organizations developed rapidly, and naturally their histories were closely related.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Church History 1936

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References

1 Rev. Comin, John, D.D., “History of the Presbyterian Church in Michigan” (pp. 5058Google Scholar of Minutes of the One Hundredth Annual Meeting, Synod of Michigan … October 9–11…. Printed by the Synod, n. p., n. d.), 52.

2 Michigan Official Directory and Legislative Manual, Published by the State of Michigan, 1931–1932, under the direction of Frank D. Fitzgerald, Secretary of State, n. p., n. d., 157, note.

3 See statements regarding history of establishment of Presbyterian churches in Michigan, to 1834, Comin, , “History,” 52.Google Scholar

4 See statistics for the six Michigan presbyteries (Detroit, Monroe, St. Josephs, Marshall, Washtenaw, Kalamazoo), in “Summary View for 1839,” Minutes of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America …. [New School] New York, 1839, pp. 116118.Google Scholar

5 Ibid., 1849, pp. 260–265.

6 See statistical tables, Minutes of the Synod of Michigan … 1859 …., Kalamazoo, 1859, pp. 3036Google Scholar. The minutes of the Synod of Michigan for the years 1834–1849, inclusive, 1853, and 1854, have never been printed. The minutes for 1854 have apparently been lost. For the other years named, the manuscript minutes, in two volumes, are preserved in the Presbyterian Headquarters office, Kresge Bldg., Detroit. Except during the years named, the minutes of the Synod were printed annually in the following places: 1850–1852, 1855–1857, Detroit; 1858–1860, Kalamazoo; 1861–1862, Detroit; 1863–1868, Lansing; 1869, Detroit.

7 See “Statistics of the Synod of Michigan for Ten Years Ending May 1, 1869,” Minutes, 1869, p. 53.Google Scholar

8 See, for example, the evidences cited in Comin, , “History,” 5758.Google Scholar

9 Puller, George Newman, Economic and Social Beginnings of Michigan…., Lansing, 1916, p. 137.Google Scholar

10 Phanuel W. Warriner.

11 MS. Minutes, I, 1–3.

12 Ibid., I, 5–6.

13 Ibid., I, 14–15.

14 Ibid., I, 8–9.

15 Ibid., I, 13.

16 Ibid., I, 15–16.

17 Ibid., I, 17.

18 Cooper, David M., A Tribute to the Memory of John P. Cleaveland, D. D. …., n. p., n. d., 33Google Scholar. (Reprinted from the Michigan Presbyterian of 06, 1904.)Google Scholar

19 MS. Minutes, I, 33. The meeting of 1835 was held in Adrian.

20 Ibid., I, 34.

21 Ibid., I, 35–37.

22 Ibid., I, 40–41.

23 Ibid., I, 30–31. Quotation marks as in the Minutes.

24 Ibid., I, 24–27. Quotation marks as in the Minutes.

25 Ibid., I, 31–32: 39.

26 Ibid., I, 41–42.

27 In 1830 the Synod met in White Pigeon; in 1837, in Detroit.

28 MS. Minutes, I, 110.

29 Ibid., I, 181.

30 Fuller, , Economic and Social Beginnings, 7273; 468488.Google Scholar

31 A concise account of the origins of the American Home Missionary Society is given in Constitution of the American Some Missionary Society Recommended by a Convention of the Friends of Missions … May 10, 1886, and Adopted by the United Domestic Missionary Society …., New York, 1826, 213.Google Scholar

32 Comin, , “History,” 50.Google Scholar

33 The Rev. Philo Hurd, R., D. D., “Our Jubilee—an Historical Discourse” (pp. 2137Google Scholar of The Congregational Churches of Michigan for the First Fifty Tears of their Organisation into a State Association … 1892, n. p., n. d.), 23.

34 Ibid., 26.

35 Ibid., 24.

36 Comin, , “History,” 50Google Scholar. Fear of Catholicism was also a powerful stimulus to the activities of the American Home Missionary Society. Billington, Ray A., “Anti-Catholic Propaganda and the Home Missionary Movement, 1800–1860” in Mississippi Valley Historical Review, XXII (1935), 361384.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

37 See, for example, MS. “histories” of the individual churches of the Washtenaw Presbytery, prepared by the authority of individual congregations at the request of the Presbytery in 1843. These papers are part of a collection relating to the history of Washtenaw Presbytery, in the possession of Mr. Charles Dubuar of Northville, Michigan.

38 See, for example, resolutions on the exscinding action of the General Assembly of 1837, MS. Minutes, I, 88–89. A very small minority of ministers dissented from the action of the Synod. In 1840, the dissenters became the nucleus of an Old School presbytery—named the Presbytery of Michigan. Theodore Marsh, MS. History of the Synod of Michigan, ch. 1, p. 18. This MS. is in the Presbyterian Headquarters, Detroit. The Old School Presbytery of Michigan never included over fifteen churches. Comin, , “History,” 53.Google Scholar

39 Velde, L. G. Vander, The Presbyterian Churches and the Federal union, 1861–1869 (Harvard Historical Studies, vol. XXXIII), Cambridge, 1932, pp. 481484.Google Scholar

40 David Cooper, distinguished Presbyterian minister and member of the Synod of Michigan, so regarded him. See Marsh, , MS. History, ch. 1, p. 22B.Google Scholar

41 Ibid., chapter on Presbytery of Detroit. 3–4.

42 Ibid., 14.

43 The diary, most of which has been preserved, is in the Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library.

44 Duffield, Diary, 05 30, 1847.Google Scholar

45 Ibid., May 3, 1850.

46 Ibid., April 23, 1848.

47 Ibid., January 31, 1847; December 6, 1848; March, 1850; passim.

48 Hurd, “Our Jubilee,” 27.

49 Ibid., 28.

50 Ibid., 24.

51 Ibid., 31–32; Minutes, 1852, pp. 15–18.

52 Hurd, , “Our Jubilee,” 32; Minutes, 1869, p. 53.Google Scholar

53 A Pastoral Letter from the Synod of Michigan: Addressed to the Churches under their Care … 1842, Detroit, 1842.Google Scholar

54 This tendency, clearly apparent before 1870, became even more marked after that year. See tables of statistics, Rev. Sanderson, John P., “Thirty Years of Church Growth,” in The Congregational Churches of Michigan for the First Fifty Years, 6780.Google Scholar

55 See references, notes 5 and 8, above; also Hurd, , “Our Jubilee,” 42.Google Scholar

56 Marsh, MS. History, ch. 1, p. 27.

57 Weld, Theodore to Tappan, Lewis, 04 5, 1836Google Scholar, in Barnes, Gilbert H. and Dumond, Dwight L., eds., Letters of Theodore Dwight Weld, Angelina Grimké Weld, and Sarah Grimké, 1822–1844, New York, 1934, vol. I, p. 287.Google Scholar

58 Duffield, , Diary, 02 28, 1847Google Scholar; March 5, 1847; December 6, 1848, passim.

59 Ibid., June 2, 1847.

60 Minutes, 1860, p. 14.Google Scholar

61 Rev. Williams, Wolcott B., “Congregationalism as an Educational Force” (pp. 4957Google Scholar of The Congregational Churches of Michigan), 52.Google Scholar

62 MS. Minutes, I, 15–16.

63 Marsh, MS. History of the Synod, chapter on Marshall College, 1–3; Dunbar, Willis, “Public versus Private Control of Higher Education in Michigan, 1817–1855,” (pp. 385406Google Scholar in Mississippi Valley Historical Review, XXXII, 1935), 397398.Google Scholar

64 MS. Minutes, I, 103–104.

66 Ibid., II, 174, 184, 185.

67 Ibid., I, 66; II, 7–8, 10.

68 From 1839 to 1848.

69 A Pastoral Letter, 1842, pp. 56.Google Scholar

70 MS. Minutes, I, 42.

71 Ibid., I, 58–59.

72 Ibid., I, 190–191.

73 Ibid., II, 26.

74 Ibid., II, 156.

75 Minutes, 1851, pp. 1415.Google Scholar

76 Minutes, 1859, p. 17.Google Scholar

77 Minutes, 1855, p. 13.Google Scholar

78 Minutes, 1869, pp. 1920.Google Scholar

79 Minutes, 1852, p. 8.Google Scholar

80 Minutes, 1859, p. 17.Google Scholar

81 E. g., Minutes, 1864, pp. 2122.Google Scholar

82 Marsh. MS. History, ch. 1. p. 16.

83 MS. Minutes, II, 36–37.

84 Minutes, 1851, p. 12.Google Scholar

85 MS. Minutes, II, 278. 280–281, 282, 286.

86 E. g., MS. Minutes, 1846, II, 124; 1853, II, 202.

87 Minutes, 1856, pp. 1213.Google Scholar

88 Ibid., 19–20.

89 Duffield, , Diary, 06, 1856.Google Scholar

90 Minutes, 1857, p. 23.Google Scholar

91 Minutes, 1858, pp. 11, 1314, 2122, 29.Google Scholar

92 See, for example, Minutes of the General Association of Michigan (published in various places, 1842–), 1843, p. 6Google Scholar; 1844, p. 8; 1846, pp. 6–7; 1848, p. 6; 1851, pp. 6–7; 1853, pp. 14–15; 1854, p. 14; 1855, p. 10; 1856, pp. 11–12; 1857, pp. 12–13.

93 Minutes, 1861, pp. 2526.Google Scholar

94 Minutes, 1862, p. 17.Google Scholar

95 Ibid., 27–37.

96 See resolutions as quoted in The Congregational Churches of Michigan, 190191.Google Scholar

97 Minutes, 1861, p. 13Google Scholar; 1862, pp. 9, 19–21. An earlier protest against the abolition of capital punishment had been made in 1846. MS. Minutes, II, 111. 121.

98 Minutes, 1855, pp. 1011Google Scholar; 1856, pp. 9–10.

99 Minutes, 1864, p. 16.Google Scholar

100 Minutes, 1867, p. 15.Google Scholar

101 Minutes, 1866, pp. 1920.Google Scholar

102 Minutes, 1869, pp. 1617.Google Scholar

103 Minutes, 1864, pp. 1415.Google Scholar

104 Minutes, 1867, p. 14.Google Scholar