Philadelphia
City in Pennsylvania where Richard Allen founded Bethel church in 1794 and the African Methodist Episcopal Church was organized in 1816. Jefferson sent the ratified Bill of Rights to the states from here in 1792.
This is the city in Pennsylvania, not the Philadelphia of Asia Minor addressed in the book of Revelation (Revelation 3:7). Richard Allen writes that he was born in 1760 a slave of Benjamin Chew of Philadelphia (Allen, Life, Experience, and Gospel Labours, p. 5); he opened Bethel church on his own lot here in 1794 (Allen, Life, Experience, and Gospel Labours, pp. 17–18), and was received as bishop by the general convention of the African Methodist Episcopal Church held here in April 1816 (AME Church, Doctrines and Discipline (1817), p. 10). Thomas Jefferson dated from Philadelphia the circular of 1 March 1792 that sent the ratified amendments to the Constitution to the state governors (Jefferson, Circular to the Governors, 1 March 1792). See Richard Allen and the African Methodist Episcopal Church and Religious Freedom in the United States.
What happened here
- 1786 to 1791, firm dateReligious Freedom in the United States
In January 1786 Virginia enacts Jefferson’s statute that no one shall be compelled to support any worship or suffer for his religious opinions. The federal Constitution bars religious tests, and the First Amendment, ratified in 1791, forbids Congress to establish a religion.
- 1787 to 1816, estimated dateRichard Allen and the African Methodist Episcopal Church
Black Methodists pulled from their knees at prayer in St George’s Church, Philadelphia, walk out with Richard Allen and Absalom Jones. Allen opens Bethel church in 1794, and in 1816 Black congregations unite as the African Methodist Episcopal Church with Allen as bishop.
Primary sources
Scripture
The Life, Experience, and Gospel Labours of the Rt. Rev. Richard Allen
- Allen, Life, Experience, and Gospel Labours, p. 5web.archive.org
- Allen, Life, Experience, and Gospel Labours, pp. 17–18web.archive.org