Henry Bidleman Bascom - Methodist Schism

Methodist Schism

Rev. Bascom played an important role at the M.E. General Conference of 1844, when the denomination divided over the question of slavery. The Church suspended Bishop James Osgood Andrew because he refused to manumit his slaves.

Dr. Bascom wrote the "protest of the minority" of the southern members against this action by the majority, which became known as the denomination split. He was a member of the convention held the next year at Louisville, at which the Methodist Episcopal Church, South was organized. Bascom wrote its report. He was selected as chairman of the commission appointed to settle the differences between the two branches of the Church, but it did not re-unite until after the end of the American Civil War. He published a book in defense of the Southern church, entitled Methodism and Slavery; with Other Matters in Controversy between the North and the South; Being a Review of the Manifesto of the Majority, in Reply to the Protest of the Minority, of the Late General Conference of the Methodist E. Church, in the Case of Bishop Andrew (1845) (available free online at Googlebooks).