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The Synod of Michigan and Movements for Social Reform, 1834–1869
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 July 2009
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.
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- Copyright © American Society of Church History 1936
References
1 Rev. Comin, John, D.D., “History of the Presbyterian Church in Michigan” (pp. 50–58Google 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
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5 Ibid., 1849, pp. 260–265.
6 See statistical tables, Minutes of the Synod of Michigan … 1859 …., Kalamazoo, 1859, pp. 30–36Google 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
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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.
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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), 361–384.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
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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
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49 Ibid., 28.
50 Ibid., 24.
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68 From 1839 to 1848.
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73 Ibid., II, 26.
74 Ibid., II, 156.
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