The attitude of the Protestant churches on slavery depended very largely on the strength of their organic connection with the South. All the churches that were strong in the South preserved a compromise policy so long as it was possible. The Congregational and Unitarian churches, being Northern only, could without friction readily become anti-slavery. The Episcopal church was primarily a Southern church and was made up of the slaveocracy of the South. It remained more indifferent toward slavery than any of the other churches.[12] It is my purpose now to make a study of the anti-slavery activities of these churches in Tennessee in the order of the effectiveness of their work. I. THE METHODISTS. Methodism came to America in 1766.[13] There were two wings of it from the beginning. Wesleyan Methodism in Maryland and New York was anti-slavery, while Whitefield Methodism in Georgia was pro-slavery.[14] Methodism spread rapidly from these centers and became national in its organization by 1773, when the first General Conference was held at Philadelphia.[15] The anti-slavery history of Methodism may be divided into the following periods: 1766-1784, a period in which there was a growth of anti-slavery feeling in the church that reached a high water mark in 1784; from 1784 to 1816, a period of reaction, culminating in the compromise law of 1816; from 1816 to 1836, a period of practically no change in legislation, although the church in the North was becoming more anti-slavery in sentiment, and in the South, more pro-slavery; from 1836 to 1844, a period of conflict with 1840 as the date of the greatest compromise; from 1844 to 1860, the period of two branches of Methodism. A brief characterization of these periods forms a fitting background for the anti-slavery history of Tennessee Methodists: A. From 1776 to 1784. This was a period of little dissension on the slavery question.[16] It was characterized by an increasing anti-slavery feeling, expressing itself first in 1780[17] and more effectively in 1784, when the Baltimore Conference enacted a general code of regulations for both laymen and preachers, prohibiting “the buying or selling the bodies and souls of men, women or children with the intention of enslaving them,”[18] and requiring abolition of the slaves of its members within one or two years. This was to be done, however, conformably to the laws of the various states. This was the high water mark of anti-slavery Methodism.