In Buffalo, NY, Methodist Annual Conference declines to make slave holding a crime of the church

The Methodist bishops had been meeting in their annual conference in Buffalo.  The Committee on Slavery in its majority report recommended a rules change to make the very holding of slaves a crime in the church, not just their sale or traffic.  Opponents objected, saying the issue would make Methodist in the South impossible at an "excited time."  On a conference vote the new rule passed 138-74, less than the two thirds needed to adopt it.  (By John Osborne)  
Source Citation
William D. Harris, Report of the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Held in Buffalo, N.Y. 1860 (New York: Carlton and Porter, 1860), 244-246. 
    Date Certainty
    Exact
    Type
    Slavery/Abolition
    How to Cite This Page: "In Buffalo, NY, Methodist Annual Conference declines to make slave holding a crime of the church," House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College, https://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/index.php/node/32183.