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The Episcopal Church in the United States of America
The Episcopal Church was formally organized in 1783 when representatives
of the Church of England in the United States of America met in Maryland and
organized the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States. A year later
Samuel Seabury traveled to Scotland be ordained the first Episcopal bishop
by three Church of Scotland bishops. In 1785 the church's first General
Convention, consisting of a House of Deputies, met in Philadelphia. The
General Convention became a bicameral body in 1789 when the House of Bishops
was formed. The first American Book of Common Prayer, modeled on the Church
of England prayer book, was adopted by General Convention in 1790. The
church's corporate organization, The Domestic and Foreign Missionary
Society, was founded in 1820.
The 1800's saw the rise of the ritualists. Thanks to James De Koven
and others catholic elements (candles, incense, bowing, etc) began to
resurface in the Episcopal church.
Bishop William White of Pennsylvania was the church's first presiding
bishop. Until 1919 the presiding bishop's office was held by the
church's most senior bishop. The first bishop to be elected presiding
bishop was John Gardner Murray, bishop of Maryland, who served from 1926 to
1931.
In 1946 the General Convention designated the presiding bishop
as the chief pastor and primate of the church, and removed the
requirement that the presiding bishop function as a diocesan bishop,
thereby removing his traditional accountability.
November 1783 - September 1976
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