The Methodist organization of the United States, 1784-1844 :

Abstract

Wesleyan Methodism was an evangelical movement led by John and Charles Wesley which grew up within the Church of England. As the movement grew in size, it became necessary to organize its adherents in an ascending ecclesiastical hierarchy of band, class, society, circuit, and conference. Each element of the hierarchy corresponded in spatial terms to either a point, line, or area. This structure was overseen by local leaders and the itineration of Wesley and his assistants on the circuits and among the conferences.

The movement came to the American colonies in the mid-1760's. It existed first as a New World extension of the British organization. After the American Revolution, however, an autonomous denomination--the Methodist Episcopal Church--came into being. The new denomination kept essentially the old Wesleyan structure and was at the time of its formation among the smallest religious groups in the new nation.

By the itineration of its ministers and the migration of its members, the Methodist Episcopal Church spread over the continent. It spatially occupied the land, organizing its contours by means of its distinctive ecclesiastical structure. By 1820 it had incorporated almost all the settled parts of the United States and Canada. By 1844, the times of its division into northern and southern branches, it was the largest Protestant body in the nation.

This study examines the means by which a particular religious denomination accomplishes spatial occupation. The historical geography of the Methodist Episcopal Church from 1784 to 1844 is examined in terms of spatial organization and the diffusion of that organization.