Check.Church

Presbyterian Church in the United States

Reformed and Presbyterian · 1861 · Southern United States

The Civil War division: when the 1861 Assembly's Gardiner Spring Resolutions required allegiance to the Federal government, the southern presbyteries withdrew, arguing a political test had been imposed on church membership — slavery and secession the underlying causes; the separation outlasted the war by 118 years.

Presbyterian Church in the United States was formed in 1861. It ended as a separate body in 1983, entering Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Presbyterian Church in the United States's institutional line runs back through Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. (1789 line), Church of Scotland, Reformed, Roman Catholicism to the post-apostolic church. No body on this tree is the assembly of Acts 2; where a body claims that, the claim appears in the claimed-lineage layer.

Between the post-apostolic church and Presbyterian Church in the United States stand 3 divisions along the institutional line, counting separations and disputed forks, not mergers, renewals or national organizations.

At a glance

Formed
In 1861
Family
Reformed and Presbyterian
Region
Southern United States
Ended
It ended as a separate body in 1983, entering Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
Key figures
Benjamin M. Palmer, James Henley Thornwell
Cause tags
Politics, Doctrine, Geography
Also known as
PCUS; Southern Presbyterian Church; PCCSA (1861–1865)

What it separated from

Bodies organized out of it or separated from it: Presbyterian Church in America, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

On the tree

Presbyterian Church in the United States and its institutional line back to the post-apostolic churchAD 33The church at Pentecost: On divine groundThe church at Pentecost: on divine groundtoday1004244314511054151915601706186119731983The post-apostolic church (The spine)The post-apostolicchurchDepartureChurch of the East (Church of the East)Church of the EastChurch of the EastThe conciliar church (The spine)The conciliar churchDepartureThe Chalcedonian church (The spine)The Chalcedonian churchDepartureOriental Orthodoxy (Oriental Orthodox)Oriental OrthodoxyOriental OrthodoxEastern Orthodoxy (Eastern Orthodox)Eastern OrthodoxyEastern OrthodoxRoman Catholicism (Catholic)Roman CatholicismNot gatheredReformed (Reformed and Presbyterian)ReformedReformed and PresbyterianChurch of Scotland (Reformed and Presbyterian)Church of ScotlandReformed and PresbyterianPresbyterian Church in the U.S.A. (1789 line) (Reformed and Presbyterian)Presbyterian Church inthe U.S.A. (1789 line)Reformed and PresbyterianPresbyterian Church in the United States (Reformed and Presbyterian)Presbyterian Church inthe United StatesReformed and PresbyterianPresbyterian Church in America (Reformed and Presbyterian)Presbyterian Church inAmericaReformed and PresbyterianPresbyterian Church (U.S.A.) (Reformed and Presbyterian)Presbyterian Church(U.S.A.)Reformed and Presbyterian

Solid lines are separations and unions; dashed lines are renewals that began inside a body; dotted gray lines are national organizations of one communion; a diamond marks a fork event where neither side is drawn as the one that left. Every line runs back to the post-apostolic church; no body descends from the assembly of Acts 2. Dashed gray boxes mark the institutional line after the apostles, shown as departure; no line of descent is drawn from Pentecost. A verdict appears on a box once its section is published.

Sources

Research compiled July 2026. Page data built 2026-10-31.