Presbyterian Church in the United States
| Presbyterian Church in the United States | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Classification | Protestant |
| Orientation | Calvinist |
| Polity | Presbyterian polity |
| Origin | 1861 |
| Separated from | Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (1861) |
| Absorbed | Independent Presbyterian Church (1863); United Synod of the South (1864); parts of the Associate Reformed Church (1867,1870) |
| Separations | Presbyterian Church in America (1973) |
| Merged into | Presbyterian Church (USA), 1983 |
| Congregations | 4,250 in 1982 |
| Members | 814,931 in 1982 |
| Ministers | 6,077 in 1982 |
The Presbyterian Church in the United States (PCUS, originally Presbyterian Church in the Confederate States of America) was a Protestant Christian denomination in the Southern and border states of the United States that existed from 1861 to 1983. That year it merged with the United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (UPCUSA) to form the Presbyterian Church (USA).
The Presbyterian Church in the United States grew out of regional and theological divisions within the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (PCUSA), the first national Presbyterian denomination in the U.S. founded in 1789. In 1838, the PCUSA divided along theological lines due to the Old School–New School Controversy. The New School faction advocated revivalism and a softening of traditional Calvinism, while the Old School was opposed to the extremes of revivalism and desired strict conformity to the Westminster Confession, the Presbyterian Church's doctrinal standard. Many New School Presbyterians were also supportive of moral reform movements, such as abolitionism. As a result, most Southern Presbyterians aligned with the Old School Presbyterian Church after 1838.
The reluctance of the Old School General Assembly to rule on moral and political questions not explicitly addressed in the Bible kept the Northern and Southern sections of the Old School Presbyterian Church united longer than their New School counterparts, who split over slavery in 1858. New School synods and presbyteries in the South established the pro-slavery United Synod of the South.
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