Separation among various denominations served as a precursor to the eventual secession of eleven Southern states. Fracture in the Methodist Church occurred first, with that body dividing over the issue of slavery in 1845. Soon after, the Baptists formalized a separate Southern Baptist Convention. Within the Presbyterian Church, struggling over an ever-increasing divide that began in 1837, the church formally split along North-South lines in 1861. Despite the splintering of the churches before the American Civil War, religion had a…

Separation among various denominations served as a precursor to the eventual secession of eleven Southern states. Fracture in the Methodist Church occurred first, with that body dividing over the issue of slavery in 1845. Soon after, the Baptists formalized a separate Southern Baptist Convention. Within the Presbyterian Church, struggling over an ever-increasing divide that began in 1837, the church formally split along North-South lines in 1861. Despite the splintering of the churches before the American Civil War, religion had a…