Methodists
Years: 1729 - 2057
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In the North, it energizes multiple social reform movements, including abolitionism; in the South, it spurs Methodists and Baptists to proselytize among enslaved people.
He proclaims that all unclaimed land is henceforth crown land that can be granted only by the crown's representative but continues to allow the existing monopoly of landownership.
Slavery in the settlement is associated with the extraction of timber, first logwood, then mahogany, as treaties forbid the production of plantation crops.
This difference in economic function gives rise to variations in the organization, conditions, and treatment of enslaved people.
The earliest reference to enslaved Africans in the British settlement appears in a 1724 Spanish missionary's account, which states that the British recently had been importing them from Jamaica and Bermuda.
The total slave population numbers about twenty-three hundred a century later.
Most slaves, even if brought through West Indian markets, were born in Africa, probably from around the Bight of Benin, the Congo, and Angola—the principal sources of British slaves in the late eighteenth century.
The Eboe, or Ibo, seem to have been particularly numerous; one section of Belize Town is known as Eboe Town in the first half of the nineteenth century.
At first, many slaves maintain African ethnic identifications and cultural practices.
The process of assimilation, however, gradually creates a new, synthetic Creole culture.
The whites, although a minority in the settlement, monopolize power and wealth by dominating the chief economic activities of trade and cutting timber.
They also control the first legislature and the judicial and administrative institutions.
As a result, the British settlers have a disproportionate influence on the development of the Creole culture.
Anglican, Baptist, and Methodist missionaries help devalue and suppress African cultural heritage.
George Whitefield, disagreeing with the Wesley brothers' views on the doctrine of the Atonement Arminianism while accepting the Church of England's doctrine of predestination, does what his friends hoped he would not do—hand over the entire ministry over to John Wesley.
Whitefield forms and is the president of the first Methodist conference, but he soon relinquishes the position to concentrate on evangelical work.
Three churches are established in England in his name: Bristol, and two churches in London: "Moorfields Tabernacle"; and "Tottenham Court Road Chapel".
The society meeting at the second Kingswood School at Kingswood, a town on the eastern edge of Bristol, wills eventually also be named Whitefield's Tabernacle.
Whitefield acts as chaplain to Selina, Countess of Huntingdon, and some of his followers join the Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion, whose chapels are built by Selina, where a form of Calvinistic Methodism similar to Whitefield's is taught.
Many of Selina's chapels will be built in the English and Welsh counties, and one will be erected in London—Spa Fields Chapel., born at the Bell Inn, Southgate Street, Gloucester, in England, is the fifth son and seventh child of Thomas Whitefield and Elizabeth Edwards, who kept an inn at Gloucester.
Whitefield had found at an early age that he had a passion and talent for acting in the theater, a passion that he will carry on through the very theatrical reenactments of Bible stories that he will tell during his sermons.
Educated at the Crypt School, Gloucester, and Pembroke College, Oxford, Whitefield did not have the means to pay for his tuition, because he comes from a poor background.
He therefore had entered Oxford as a servitor, the lowest rank of students at Oxford.
In return for free tuition, he was assigned as a servant to a number of higher ranked students.
His duties included waking them in the morning, polishing their shoes, carrying their books and even assisting with required written assignments.
He was a part of the 'Holy Club' at Oxford University with the Wesley brothers, John and Charles.
An illness, as well as Henry Scougal's The Life of God in the Soul of Man, had influenced him to cry out to the Lord for salvation.
Following a religious conversion, he had become very passionate for preaching his newfound faith.
The Bishop of Gloucester had ordained him before the canonical age.
Whitefield had preached his first sermon in St. Mary de Crypt Church in his home town of Gloucester a week after his ordination.
He had earlier become the leader of the Holy Club at Oxford when the Wesley brothers departed for Georgia.
He had adopted the practice of Howell Harris of preaching in the open-air at Hanham Mount, near Kingswood, Bristol.
Before becoming parish priest of Savannah, Georgia, in the American colonies, he had in 1738 invited John Wesley to preach in the open-air for the first time at Kingswood and then Blackheath, London.
After a short stay in Georgia, he had returned home the following year to receive priest's orders and resumed his open-air evangelistic activities.
He also works to raise funds to establish the Bethesda Orphanage, which is the oldest extant charity in North America.
On September 2, 1751, Mathias Koplin donated the first plot of ground for the new hospital.
The first (temporary) building was opened on February 6, 1752, on High Street (now Market Street). Elizabeth Gardner, a Quaker widow, was appointed Matron of the hospital.
As the hospital received support of the leading families in Philadelphia, its permanence was secured, and Samuel Rhoads had been appointed architect of the new building.
Thomas Stretch is among the leading citizens of Philadelphia and one of the founders of Pennsylvania Hospital.
He is a member of the Union Fire Company, also known as Benjamin Franklin's Bucket Brigade and a founder of the social club known as Schuylkill Fishing Company, and the Club’s first governor in 1732; he will be re-elected annually until his death in 1765.
Stretch is a director of the Philadelphia Contributionship (Hand-in-Hand fire mark) from 1758 to 1761.
In the Pennsylvania Gazette of May 29, 1755, Thomas Stretch appears as one of the largest subscribers (with Benjamin Franklin and others) to the fund for the Pennsylvania Hospital.
The Stretch family and Benjamin Franklin each provided half of the original capital to fund the hospital.
A group of Philadelphians had joined together in 1740 to erect a great preaching hall for the traveling evangelist George Whitefield, who tours the American colonies delivering open air sermons.
The building is designed and built by Edmund Woolley and is the largest building in the city at the time.
It is initially planned to serve as a charity school as well; however, a lack of funds forces plans for the chapel and school to be suspended.
Benjamin Franklin, eager to create a school to educate future generations, in the fall of 1749 had circulated a pamphlet titled "Proposals for the Education of Youth in Pennsylvania," his vision for what he called a "Public Academy of Philadelphia".
However, according to Franklin's autobiography, it was in 1743 when he first had the idea to establish an academy, "thinking the Rev. Richard Peters a fit person to superintend such an institution."
Unlike the other Colonial colleges that existed in 1743—Harvard, William and Mary, and Yale—Franklin's new school would not focus merely on education for the clergy.
He advocated an innovative concept of higher education, one that would teach both the ornamental knowledge of the arts and the practical skills necessary for making a living and doing public service.
The proposed program of study could have become the nation's first modern liberal arts curriculum, although it is never implemented because provost William Smith prefers a traditional curriculum.
Franklin had assembled a board of trustees from among the leading citizens of Philadelphia, the first such non-sectarian board in America.
At the first meeting, held on November 13, 1749, of the twenty-four members of the Board of Trustees, the issue of where to locate the school had been a prime concern.
A lot across Sixth Street from Independence Hall had been offered without cost by James Logan, its owner, but the Trustees realized that the building erected in 1740, which was still vacant, would be an even better site.
The new board on February 1, 1750, had taken over the building and trusts of the old board.
The Academy of Philadelphia, using the great hall at 4th and Arch Streets, had taken in its first secondary students on August 13, 1751.
A charity school had also been opened in accordance with the intentions of the original "New Building" donors, although it lasted only a few years.
The College of Philadelphia is chartered in 1755, paving the way for the addition of undergraduate instruction.
All three schools share the same Board of Trustees and are considered to be part of the same institution.
The Church of England has been disestablished in the United States, where it had been the state church in most of the southern colonies.
The Church of England has not yet appointed a United States bishop to what will become the Protestant Episcopal Church in America.
On February 28, Wesley ordains Thomas Coke as superintendent of Methodists in the United States by the laying on of hands, although Coke is already a priest in the Church of England.
He also ordains Richard Whatcoat and Thomas Vasey as presbyters.
Whatcoat and Vasey sail for America with Coke.
Wesley intends that Coke and Francis Asbury (whom Coke ordains as superintendent by direction of Wesley) should ordain others in the newly founded Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States.
Methodist church founder John Wesley dies on March 2, 1791, in his eighty-seventh year.
As he lay dying, his friends gathered around him, Wesley grasped their hands and said repeatedly, "Farewell, farewell."
At the end, he said "The best of all is, God is with us", lifted his arms and raised his feeble voice again, repeating the words, "The best of all is, God is with us."
Wesley is entombed at Wesley's Chapel, which he built in Greater London, in England.
The site also is now both a place of worship and a visitor attraction, incorporating the Museum of Methodism and John Wesley's House.
Because of his charitable nature he died poor, leaving as the result of his life's work 135,000 members and 541 itinerant preachers under the name "Methodist".
It has been said that "when John Wesley was carried to his grave, he left behind him a good library of books, a well-worn clergyman's gown," and the Methodist Church.
Northeastern North America
(1792 to 1803 CE): Frontier Expansion, New Conflicts, and Early National Consolidation
The years 1792 to 1803 in Northeastern North America witnessed accelerated frontier expansion into the Northwest Territory, intensified conflicts between settlers and indigenous nations, significant political developments under the early U.S. republic, critical territorial changes with European powers, and deepening economic reliance on enslaved labor in the plantation South. The era defined enduring challenges in managing growth, conflict, and national identity.
Intensified Westward Movement and Frontier Settlement
Settlement of the Northwest Territory
During the 1790s, settlers poured into the Northwest Territory (present-day Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota east of the Mississippi River). The settlement at Marietta, Ohio (1788) expanded rapidly, followed by new settlements at Cincinnati (1788), Cleveland (1796), and Dayton (1796). These towns became key trade and agricultural hubs, serving settlers traveling via the Ohio River and frontier trails.
Pioneers initially faced harsh conditions, building small log cabins and farms from dense forests, and relying heavily on hunting and subsistence agriculture. Yet, by 1800, Ohio's population exceeded 45,000, foreshadowing its admission as a state in 1803.
Kentucky and Tennessee Statehood
West of the Appalachian Mountains, settlements flourished as populations surged. Kentucky, settled earlier via Daniel Boone’s Wilderness Road, was admitted as the 15th state in 1792, becoming a gateway for further migration westward. Similarly, Tennessee achieved statehood in 1796, reflecting rapid expansion along southern frontier corridors.
These new states were deeply agrarian, their economies based on small farms initially, but increasingly large-scale agriculture emerged, often dependent on enslaved labor, especially in western Kentucky and Tennessee.
Frontier Life and Democratization
As new districts became territories, settlers established elected legislatures, with governors appointed by the president. Once territories reached populations of one hundred thousand, they sought statehood. Frontiersmen typically discarded eastern formalities and restrictive franchise systems, embracing more democratic and egalitarian principles.
By 1800, the western frontier had reached the Mississippi River. St. Louis, Missouri, under Spanish control until 1803, emerged as the largest frontier town and primary gateway for westward travel and trade.
Indigenous Resistance and American Military Response
Northwest Indian War (1785–1795)
Westward movement provoked fierce indigenous resistance, escalating into the Northwest Indian War, fought predominantly between an indigenous confederacy (including Miami, Shawnee, and Delaware peoples) and American settlers backed by the U.S. military.
In 1791, indigenous forces under Little Turtle and Blue Jacket inflicted a crushing defeat on American forces at the Battle of the Wabash (St. Clair’s Defeat). In response, President George Washington appointed General Anthony Wayne, who reorganized American troops and achieved a decisive victory at the Battle of Fallen Timbers (1794), near modern Toledo, Ohio. This forced indigenous leaders to negotiate peace terms.
Treaty of Greenville (1795)
The resulting Treaty of Greenville (1795) compelled indigenous nations to cede vast territories in present-day Ohio and parts of Indiana, opening even greater frontier settlement. However, many tribes viewed the treaty as imposed and illegitimate, sowing the seeds for future resistance under leaders such as Tecumseh and his brother Tenskwatawa.
Political and Territorial Developments
Early U.S. Political Consolidation
Politically, the young United States stabilized under the presidency of George Washington (1789–1797). The federal government, having suppressed Shays’ Rebellion (1786–1787), reaffirmed authority in suppressing the Whiskey Rebellion (1794) in western Pennsylvania, signaling the strength of the new federal structure.
Under President John Adams (1797–1801), political divisions between Federalists and Democratic-Republicans intensified, reflecting competing visions for America’s economic future, foreign alliances, and central authority.
In 1800, Thomas Jefferson defeated Adams in a highly contentious presidential election, marking the first peaceful transfer of power between opposing political parties—a defining moment for American democracy.
Louisiana Purchase (1803)
In 1803, President Jefferson authorized the Louisiana Purchase from France, doubling the size of the United States by acquiring vast territories west of the Mississippi River. This transaction transformed America’s geopolitical scope, significantly influencing subsequent western migration, settlement patterns, and indigenous-European relations.
Growth of Slavery and Plantation Economies
Expansion of Slavery in the Deep South
Despite revolutionary rhetoric of liberty and equality, slavery expanded significantly throughout this era, especially after the invention of the cotton gin (1793) by Eli Whitney. Cotton cultivation surged across the Deep South—particularly Georgia, South Carolina, and the newly settled frontier areas of Tennessee, Mississippi Territory, and western Kentucky.
South Carolina’s Economic and Social Growth
Columbia, South Carolina’s new state capital founded in 1790, expanded after its connection to Charleston by the Santee Canal (1800), one of the nation’s first canals. South Carolina’s population grew dramatically from nearly 250,000 in 1790 to approximately 340,000 by 1800, including 146,000 enslaved persons. Charleston, South Carolina, became the fifth-largest city in the country and, along with Savannah, Georgia, held the largest Jewish communities in America at the time.
This growing dependence on enslaved labor deepened sectional divisions between North and South, laying the foundation for future conflict.
Religious Revival and the Second Great Awakening
The frontier saw a surge in religious revival known as the Second Great Awakening (1790–1840), marked by outdoor camp meetings and emotional evangelical preaching. Notably, the Cane Ridge, Kentucky revival in 1801 drew thousands. Methodists and Baptists became dominant frontier religions, Methodists employing circuit-riding preachers, while Baptists favored independent local churches. A new denomination, the Disciples of Christ, also emerged.
Trade and Indigenous Societies
Mandan, Hidatsa, and Assiniboine Communities
Following the devastating smallpox epidemic of 1781, the Mandan and Hidatsa peoples consolidated along the Missouri River, serving as intermediaries in trade. The Assiniboine became essential trading partners for British fur companies (Hudson's Bay Company, North West Company) and American enterprises (American Fur Company, Rocky Mountain Fur Company), exchanging beaver pelts and bison hides for guns, ammunition, metal goods, and textiles.
Early American Economic and Technological Developments
The Carolina Gold Rush
In 1799, young Conrad Reed discovered a seventeen-pound gold nugget in Little Meadow Creek, Cabarrus County, North Carolina—the first verified gold discovery in America. Although initially undervalued, Reed’s discovery ignited the first significant gold mining operations in the United States, transforming regional economies and foreshadowing future gold rushes.
Revolts and Challenges to Authority
During this period, three notable rebellions occurred: two tax rebellions—the Whiskey Rebellion and Fries' Rebellion in Pennsylvania, protesting federal taxes—and Gabriel’s Rebellion (1800), America’s first major slave revolt. Gabriel’s conspiracy, though suppressed, highlighted the unresolved tensions over slavery and foreshadowed future conflicts.
Legacy of the Era (1792–1803 CE)
From 1792 to 1803, Northeastern North America experienced transformative territorial expansion, heightened frontier conflict, profound indigenous displacement, and the entrenchment of slavery-driven agriculture in the American South. Politically, the era saw early consolidation under the U.S. Constitution, landmark democratic transitions, and profound territorial growth through the Louisiana Purchase.
The sustained westward movement fundamentally reshaped indigenous life, prompting severe resistance and devastating losses. Economically, technological and agricultural innovations intensified divisions between North and South and propelled early industrialization.
This period firmly established the young United States’ trajectory as a continental power, set the stage for intensified sectional conflicts over slavery, and irrevocably transformed indigenous societies, creating conditions that defined subsequent generations.
The Presbyterians and Congregationalists, since they depend on well-educated ministers, are shorthanded in evangelizing the frontier.
They set up a Plan of Union of 1801 to combine resources on the frontier.
Most frontiersmen show little commitment to religion until traveling evangelists begin to appear and to produce "revivals".
The local pioneers respond enthusiastically to these events and, in effect, evolve their own populist religions, especially during the Second Great Awakening (1790–1840), which features outdoor camp meetings lasting a week or more and which introduces many people to organized religion for the first time.
One of the largest and most famous camp meetings takes place at Cane Ridge, Kentucky in 1801.
The localistic Baptists set up small independent churches—Baptists abjure centralized authority; each local church is founded on the principle of independence of the local congregation.
On the other hand, bishops of the well-organized, centralized Methodists assign circuit riders to specific areas for several years at a time, then move them to fresh territory.
Several new denominations are formed, of which the largest is the Disciples of Christ.