Gardiner Spring Resolutions
Presbyterian resolutions endorsing the Union and precipitating a denominational split.
In May 1861, the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America’s General Assembly passed the Gardiner Spring Resolutions, endorsing Abraham Lincoln’s efforts to preserve the Union shortly after the Battle of Fort Sumter. This move triggered the formation of the Presbyterian Church in the Confederate States of America and a regional split within the denomination that persisted until 1983. The resolutions were introduced by Gardiner Spring, the long-serving minister of New York City’s Brick St. Presbyterian Church, and backed by his brother Charles A. Spring, who founded several churches in Iowa and Illinois.
Quick Facts
- Adopted by
- General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America
- Date adopted
- May 1861
- Proposed by
- Gardiner Spring, D.D.
- Defended by
- Charles A. Spring
- Result
- Creation of the Presbyterian Church in the Confederate States of America and reg
- Context
- A few weeks after the Battle of Fort Sumter
Facts from the source article.
Text
On the second day of the meeting, Gardiner Spring, a Doctor of Divinity from the New York Presbytery, proposed that a committee look into whether the General Assembly should formally express its support for the Union and loyalty to the government, and if so, to suggest the wording. The approved resolutions were as follows. The first declared that, given the nation's troubled state, July 1 should be a day of prayer across the church. On that day, ministers and members were urged to confess national sins, give thanks for undeserved kindness, ask for guidance for leaders and the upcoming Congress, and pray through Jesus Christ for God to end his anger and restore an honorable peace.
The second resolution stated that the Assembly, acting with the Christian patriotism required by Scripture and typical of this church, acknowledged its duty to preserve the United States and to support the Federal Government in carrying out its constitutional duties. They declared unwavering loyalty to the Constitution in all its parts. To prevent misunderstanding, the Assembly clarified that "Federal Government" did not refer to any specific administration or party, but to the central authority that, when appointed and inaugurated according to the Constitution, serves as the visible symbol of the nation's existence.
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