A history of Methodism in the United States . ring vote of the Annual Conferences. Ofthis number ninety-one were radical abolitionists and infavor of partial prohibition by direct and immediate legis-lation. Comparing the different votes taken by yeas andnays, three classes of voters are recorded—the conserva-tives, the constitutional abolitionists, and the radical abo-litionists. The first class, numbering ninety-six, votedagainst all changes; the second, numbering in all thirty-one, to prevent prohibition of slave-holding by direct legis-lation united with the conservatives and threw the bal
A history of Methodism in the United States . ring vote of the Annual Conferences. Ofthis number ninety-one were radical abolitionists and infavor of partial prohibition by direct and immediate legis-lation. Comparing the different votes taken by yeas andnays, three classes of voters are recorded—the conserva-tives, the constitutional abolitionists, and the radical abo-litionists. The first class, numbering ninety-six, votedagainst all changes; the second, numbering in all thirty-one, to prevent prohibition of slave-holding by direct legis-lation united with the conservatives and threw the bal-ance of power in favor of postponing further action, asbefore noted. Final antislavery action was thus deferredrather than defeated. ^ The controversy continued after the adjournment andoccupied much space in church papers. The positionstrenuously maintained by Stevens, that slave-holders hada constitutional right to membership in the church, was 1 Matlacks Antislavery Struggle and Triumph in the Methodist Epis-copal Church, pp. 293, i/i^^ C^.i^^.JCUy^ POWERS OF THE GENERAL CONFERENCE. 165 attacked by Professor W. L. Harris in a series of arti-cles, afterward comprehended in a small work entitledPowers of the General Conference. The substance ofthe argument was that the conference has full powers tomake rules which do not revoke or change a general rule;that a statutory rule excluding slave-holders would notrevoke or change any general rule; that if it had beenthe intention to guard by constitutional provision the ques-tion of slavery, it would have been done when, in 1808,the church met to frame the constitution; it was notdone; hence he concluded that the General Conferencehad power to refuse to tolerate slavery any longer. Othersargued that no change was necessary to give authority toexclude slave-holders. Daniel Wise, the new editor of theSunday-school Advocate, introduced short paragraphsagainst slavery and in favor of freedom. On this accounthe was assailed befor
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