Evangelical Alliance records, circa 1800 -- 1944

The first incarnation of the Evangelical Alliance for the United States of America was founded by American delegates to the London Conference of 1846 (which established the Evangelical Alliance in the United Kingdom) at a five-day meeting that took place on May 5-11, 1847. The group had its issues from the start, which lead to its early demise only three years later. One of the major contributors to the Alliance's downfall was the issue of slavery and whether or not to allow slave owners membership. Some wanted the complete exclusion of slave owners, while others were more open to their inclusion. The Alliance came to a compromise in its stance regarding slavery in what became Article Seven of the Alliance's organizational criterion. While it was believed that the institution of slavery was an evil one, and that they seek its end, the object of the Alliance was still that of the "promotion of Christian union and brotherly love." The disbanding of the Evangelical Alliance for the United States, however, did not eliminate its presence completely. Though the Civil War divided evangelicalism, public meetings took place that carried on the traditions of the Alliance in a more informal way. Finally, in 1866, the Evangelical Alliance was revived in New York. Philip Schaff, soon appointed as the corresponding secretary of the Alliance, played an important role in its revival. According to Schaff, the "essence" of the Alliance was: The 'Evangelical Alliance' is not an ecclesiastical organization, and has, therefore no authority to issue and enforce an ecclesiastical creed or confession of faith. It is a voluntary society for the manifestation and promotion of Christian union, and for the protection of religious liberty. Its object is not to bring about an organic union of Churches, nor a confederation of independent Churches, but to exhibit and to strengthen union and cooperation among individual members of different Protestant denominations without interfering with their respective creeds and internal affairs. It aims to realize the idea of such a Christian union as it is consistent with denominational distinctions and varieties in doctrine, worship, and government. It may ultimately lead to a closer approximation of the Churches themselves, but it may and does exist without ecclesiastical union; and ecclesiastical union would be worthless without Christian union. A good amount of the Alliance's efforts throughout its existence was directed towards religious liberty at home and abroad. Appeals were made to the Czar on behalf of the Alliance protesting the persecution of Baptists and Jews in Russia, to the Sultan in Turkey protesting the Protestant discrimination of the Armenians by the Turks, in addition to those regarding the religious persecution of all non-Roman Catholics in Peru and Ecuador. The Alliance continued to fulfill its missions until 1944, by which time it had been deemed to have "outlived its usefulness." The Evangelical Alliance for the United States of America formally dissolved and turned over its assets to the Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America.