Presbyterianism in the United States

Presbyterianism has had a presence in the United States since colonial times and has exerted an important influence over broader American religion and culture.

By the second half of the 17th century, Presbyterians were immigrating to British North America. Scottish and Scotch-Irish immigrants contributed to a strong Presbyterian presence in the Middle Colonies, particularly Philadelphia. Before 1706, however, Presbyterian were not yet organized into presbyteries or synods.

In 1706, seven ministers led by Francis Makemie established the first presbytery in North America, the Presbytery of Philadelphia. The presbytery was primarily created to promote fellowship and discipline among its members and only gradually developed into a governing body. Initially, member congregations were located in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland.

These early years were marked by growth as Scotch-Irish immigration increased and Puritan congregations in New England joined the presbytery. As a result, two other presbyteries were organized (Long Island and New Castle) resulting in the formation of the Synod of Philadelphia (known as the "General Synod") in 1717. The Synod's membership consisted of all ministers and one lay elder from every congregation. The Presbytery of Londonderry in New Hampshire, called "the Irish Presbytery" because it was populated by Ulster immigrants, was organized in 1729.

At the time, the Synod still had no official confessional statement. In the 1720s, disputes between ministers and their congregations in New York as well as the prosecution of disciplinary cases against clergy for fornication and sexual harassment convinced some clergy of the need for an official statement of the Presbyterian Church's theology and polity. The Church of Scotland and the Irish Synod of Ulster already required clergy to subscribe to the Westminster Confession, and New England Puritans had endorsed the Confession's theology (but not its presbyterian polity) in the Cambridge Platform.

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