Presbyterian Government, Not a Hierarchy, But a Commonwealth

The following address was delivered by Robert J. Breckinridge as a speech made during the October 1843 meeting of the Synod of Philadelphia of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America. This speech was subsequently published under the title, "Presbyterian Government, Not a Hierarchy, But a Commonwealth."

Sadly, Breckinridge's argument failed to persuade the Synod on this point. However, in published form, it has had an immense influence on the historic polity of the Southern Presbyterian Church (PCUS) and of its successor, the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA).