A. Early Appeals to the Nation
2. The Constitutionalists
Reaching out to governmental leaders, such as Washington, was a sign that from its inception the leaders of the Methodist Episcopal Church intended for the denomination to exist in, not separate, from the United States culture. As the Church matured, it also underwent an organizational transformation that was further evidence that the denomination was becoming fully incorporated into the life of the nation.
Increasingly in the years after the American Revolution, the members of the Methodist Episcopal Church were absorbing the democratic spirit that proliferated throughout American culture. An efficient system of church polity,
379 Ibid., 3: 71.
380 Ibid., 3: 71.
Asbury’s shrewd appointment and assignment of preachers to unchurched areas such as those included in the Western Conference, and the mastering of
innovative revival techniques such as camp meetings all aided the Methodist Episcopal Church’s rapid growth in the years following its founding. And with this rapid growth, emerged the need for organizational redefinition. The new membership and preachers within the denomination was predominated democratically minded; many of them held deep suspicions regarding the autocratic elements present in their denomination’s system of church government.
The General Conference of 1808 met on May 6 in Baltimore. A committee was put together to put together plans “for regulating the General Conference.”
The committee was composed of fourteen preachers, two from each Conference;
it included, Jesse Lee and Phillip Bruce from the Virginia Conference, Ezekiel Cooper and John Wilson from the New York Conference, Josiah Randle and William Phoebus from the South Carolina Conference, William McKendree and William Burke from the Western Conference, Nelson Reed and Stephen Roszel from the Baltimore Conference, Thomas Ware and John McClasky from the Philadelphia Conference, and Joshua Soule and George Pickering from the New England Conference. The committee chose Joshua Soule, Phillip Bruce, and Ezekiel Cooper (1763-1847) to put together a “report” to be submitted to the General Conference. The final report submitted became the Constitution of the Methodist Episcopal Church.381
381 Horace M. Du Bose, Life of Joshua Soule (Nashville: M.E.C.S. Publishing House, 1916), 77f.
Joshua Soule (1781-1867) became the primary scribe of the Constitution.
Soule was a young preacher; he was only twenty-six at the time of the Constitution’s writing. However, he was an established preacher in the
Connection. He was born in Bristol, Maine in 1781, converted to Methodism at the age of sixteen, and became a traveling preacher in 1799. He served
principally in Maine and was assigned as a presiding elder over the “District of Maine” in 1804. So, by 1808 Soule was a young but established preacher.382
More importantly, Soule was known as a careful and astute thinker among the Methodist preachers. While he received little formal education, he was reared in a middle-class New England family that provided him with frequent exposure and home instruction in secular and religious topics. His father, a sea captain, took particular delight in debating the merits of Calvinism with his son.383 Later in life, he was made the denomination’s book-agent and became known as an outspoken opponent of Calvinism, Universalism, and Unitarianism. Already before his twenty-seventh birthday, Soule was recognized as one of the most intellectually gifted minds in the Methodist Episcopal Church.
Soule and Ezekiel Cooper both drew up separate Constitutions. Soule’s version was, however, accepted by the large committee. The Constitution
advocated for a delegated General Conference. The first proposition stated, “The General Conference shall be composed of delegates from the Annual
Conference.”384 This proposition was meant to discourage the representative
382 Ibid., 24-70.
383 Ibid., 15-23.
384 Ibid., 79.
disparity that had dominated the General Conference since 1792. Increasingly, the democratically minded Methodists desired for the Church’s system of government to resemble the national government; and, as a result, there was a strong desire for proportional representation system such as what had been adopted by Congress. At the General Conference of 1804 the Baltimore and Philadelphia Conferences sent seventy members, while the other five sent only 42 combined. The Philadelphia Conference sent forty-two representatives to the Western Conference’s four. The growing body of “western” preachers wanted an equal stake in the governance of the denomination.
Soule’s work, however, almost immediately met with controversy. The leader of the opposition was Jesse Lee (1758-1816). Jesse Lee was an enormously important preacher in early Methodism. He hailed from Prince George County, Virginia. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Lee’s family was fairly wealthy.
They owned a sizeable farm and employed a large number of servants. Lee became a Methodist in 1775, largely due to the revival work of George Shadford, Edward Drumgole, and William Glendenning. In 1778 he was appointed a class leader; the following year, Asbury recruited him into the ranks of the traveling preachers. After repeatedly refusing the opportunity, he was finally ordained as a deacon and elder at the New York Conference of 1790.385
Lee established a reputation for himself as the leader of Methodism in New England. In fact, his contemporaries lauded him as the “Apostle of the East.” While Asbury had been reluctant to send preachers to Congregationalist dominated New England, Lee felt drawn to the area. At the New York
385 Lee, Short History, 369-371; William H. Meredith, Jesse Lee: a Methodist Apostle (New York: Eaton and Mains, 1909), 10-39.
Conference of 1789, Lee was appointed to the new Stamford, Connecticut Circuit.
Stamford was the first and, at the time, only circuit in New England. Over the course of the next several years, Lee served as a traveling preacher and,
beginning in 1791, as a presiding elder in Boston, Maine, and Rhode Island. He was a very skilled preacher; one author wrote, “As a speaker he had few if any equals—that is, in moving a crowd to laughter, tears, and actions.”386 He was also known as a man of swift intellect; he was known for his skill in debate and in letters (and, indeed, he would go on to write the very important first history of American Methodism).387 Partially as a result of these talents, Lee met with considerable success in helping the Methodist presence grow substantially in all of these areas.388
By the time of the General Conference of 1808, Lee was growing frustrated with the state of his denomination. In those years, his weight had ballooned to between two hundred and fifty pounds and three hundred pounds and his health began to decline.389 In particular, Lee’s relationship with the Methodist Episcopal Church had soured when he lost the election to the episcopacy at the General Conference of 1800. He tied Richard Whatcoat on the second ballet and
386 Lee, Short History, 386.
387 Ayres, 44. Ayres recounts one story of Lee’s wit. Supposedly, at one point Lee was riding along horseback with two other men. The men, who were lawyers, proceeded to debate Lee on a series of topics. Lee effectively won each argument.
One of the men turned to him and asked, “What are you anyway, a fool or a knave?” Lee responded, “Neither gentlemen. I believe I am just between the two.”
388 Lee, Short History, 378-380.
389 There are various accounts of his weight toward the end of his life. See, Lee, 385. See also, Ayres, 44.
lost on the third. Lee believed that this loss was due to a conspiracy levied against him. He believed that there was the circulation of a report among the Methodists during the elections. According to Lee the report stated, “That Mr.
Asbury had said that Brother Lee had imposed himself on him, and on the connexion, for eighteen months past, and he would have gotten rid of him long ago if he could.”390 Regardless, Lee never fully recovered from the loss of the election. If anything, the loss had solidified – in his mind – the need of protecting the rights of established, experienced Methodist preachers. And, as a byproduct, Lee became a firm advocate of the rites of senior, established preachers over against the newer, less proven preachers, such as those from the Western Conference.
Thus, Jesse Lee opposed the Constitution on the grounds of “Conference rights.” Lee was concerned about the rights of preachers who had seniority in the connection. Specifically, Lee wanted preference to be given to preachers with seniority in the election of delegates. Lee echoed the concerns of many present at the Conference and, likely, his status within the Methodist Connection
influenced many, as well. As a result, when the resolution calling for a delegated General Conference was put to a vote, it was defeated.
Four days after it had originally been introduced, on Monday, May 23, the Constitution was introduced again. Future bishop Enoch George (1767-1828) revised the controversial resolution to read the following, “The General Conference shall be composed of one member for every five members of each Annual Conference.” Soule subsequently added, “to be appointed either by
390 Lee, Short History, 385.
seniority or choice at the discretion of such Annual Conference.” The revised motion satisfied Lee and his supporters.391 As a result, the Constitution passed.
Though, portions of it were tested in ensuing years.