{{Infobox Anglican Church‎|
| show_name =The Episcopal Church
| image = center|300px
| caption =The Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in Washington, D.C., is referred to as the <br>Washington National Cathedral.
| primate=Katharine Jefferts Schori
| headquarters= 815 Second Avenue, New York
| territory= The Central and South America, the Caribbean, and Europe 
| population= 2,205,376<ref></ref> (estimate) 
| website= http://www.episcopalchurch.org/
}}
'''The Episcopal Church''' is the official name of the Province of the Anglican Communion in the United States.<ref name="ODCC">{{cite book
 | last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = F. L. Cross (Editor), E. A. Livingstone (Editor)  | title =The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, 3rd edition | publisher =Oxford University Press | date =13 March 1997 | location =USA | pages =554 | url = | doi = | id =  | isbn = 0&ndash;19&ndash;211655&ndash;X}}</ref><ref name="ColEn">{{cite web
  | last =  | first =  | authorlink =  | coauthors =  | title =Episcopal Church
  | work =The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition    | publisher =Columbia University Press  | date =2001-05  | url =http://www.bartleby.com/65/ep/Episcopal.html  | format =  | doi =  | accessdate = 2007-09-09}}</ref><ref name="EnBr">{{cite web
  | last =  | first =  | authorlink =  | coauthors =  | title =Episcopal Church USA  | work =Encyclopedia Britannica  | publisher =Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc.
  | date =  | url =http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9061604/Episcopal-Church-USA  | format =  | doi =  | accessdate = 2007-09-09 }}</ref>  

The Church was organized shortly after the Central and American and British territory.

In keeping with Anglican tradition and theology, the Episcopal Church considers itself a ''Roman Catholicism and Protestantism.<ref>[http://www.episcopalchurch.org/visitors_8950_ENG_HTM.htm What makes us Anglican?Hallmarks of the Episcopal Church]</ref>  

The Episcopal Church was active in the death penalty, and supported the civil rights movement and affirmative action. Some of its leaders and priests marched with demonstrators. Some dioceses ordain openly homosexual men and women; in others, same-sex unions are celebrated. However, on other issues such as abortion, the church has taken both sides of the debate.<ref></ref>  

In most dioceses, women are ordained to the priesthood and episcopate, as well as the diaconate. The current Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church is primate in the Anglican Communion.  

==Official names==
There are two official names of the Episcopal Church specified in its Constitution: "The Episcopal Church" (commonly abbreviated ''TEC''), and "The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America (commonly abbreviated ''PECUSA'').  "The Episcopal Church" is the most commonly used name.<ref name="ODCC"></ref><ref name="ColEn">{{cite web  | last =
  | first =  | authorlink =  | coauthors =  | title =Episcopal Church  | work =The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition.    | publisher =Columbia University Press  | date =2001-05  | url =http://www.bartleby.com/65/ep/Episcopal.html
  | format =  | doi =  | accessdate = 2007-09-09}}</ref><ref name="EnBr"></ref> 

In the early days of the church, the name was "The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America."  In the middle of the 19th century, some began trying to drop "Protestant" from the church's title, on the grounds that the original break of the Church of England from the Roman Catholic Church had nothing directly to do with the Protestant Reformation. Also, it had come to mean anti-Catholic rather than anti-papal. In a 1964 General Convention compromise, priests and lay delegates suggested adding a preamble to the church's constitution, recognizing "the Episcopal Church" as a lawful alternate designation while still retaining the earlier name. 

The fight continued until the 66th General Convention voted in 1979 to use the name ''Episcopal Church'' (dropping the adjective 'Protestant') in the ''Oath of Conformity'' of the ''Declaration for Ordination''.<ref>[http://www.episcopalarchives.org/cgi-bin/acts/acts_resolution-complete.pl?resolution=1979-A125 1979 General Convention resolution to change the Oath of Conformity].</ref> The 68th General Convention in 1985 rejected a resolution that would have changed the Constitution to delete the designation of ''Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America'' as an official name.<ref>[http://www.episcopalarchives.org/cgi-bin/acts/acts_resolution-complete.pl?resolution=1985-B005 1985 General Convention resolution to rename the church].</ref>

The preamble to the Constitution of the Episcopal Church now reads:
 Retrieved 7 September 2007</ref>}}

The evolution of the name can be seen in The Episcopal Church's ''Book of Common Prayer'' (BCP). In the 1928 BCP, the title page said, "According to the use of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America." In contrast, the change in self-identity can be seen in the title page of the 1979 ''Book of Common Prayer'', which states, "'According to the use of The Episcopal Church."<ref name=zahl>. The author is the former dean of Cathedral Church of the Advent, Birmingham, Alabama and the Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry -page 56'
Protestant consciousness within ECUSA, which used to be called PECUSA (i.e., the Protestant Episcopal Church in the U.S.A) is moribund.' and page 69 'With the approval and lightening ascent of the 1979 Prayer Book came to the end, for all practical purposes, of Protestant churchmanship in what is now known aggressively as ECUSA.'</ref>

The Episcopal Church communicates in English, Spanish and French because it has dioceses in Asia, Central and South America, and Europe.<ref>[http://www.episcopalchurch.org/documents/3_SCECAC_reportbody_-_V2.pdf An example of an official Episcopal Church document in English, Spanish and French] Retrieved 29 August 2007.</ref><ref>[http://www.churchpublishing.org/general_convention/pdf_spanish_2003/1_Constitucion.pdf] 2003 Constitution in Spanish] Retrieved 1 September 2007</ref> In Spanish the church is called ''La Iglesia Episcopal Protestante de los Estados Unidos de América'' or ''La Iglesia Episcopal'' and in French ''L’Église protestante épiscopale dans les États unis d’Amérique'' or ''L'Église épiscopale''.<ref>[http://www.episcopalchurch.org/index_esn.htm Episcopal Church webpage in Spanish]</ref><ref>[http://www.episcopalchurch.org/index_fra.htm Episcopal Church webpage in French]</ref>

The alternate name ''Episcopal Church in the United States of America'' (abbreviated "ECUSA") is commonly seen, but has never been the official name of the Episcopal Church. Because it contains integral jurisdictions in many other countries, it has thought that it needs a name that is not directly tied to the United States. But since several other churches in the Anglican Communion also use the name "Episcopal", this article uses the name "Episcopal Church in the United States of America", as do some other sources (Anglicans Online, for example).<ref>[http://morgue.anglicansonline.org/061029/ Anglicans Online | The online centre of the Anglican / Episcopal world<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>

The full legal name of the national church corporate body is the ''Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America'',<ref name=CandC /> and was incorporated by the Legislature of the State of New York and established in 1821. The membership of the corporation "shall be considered as comprehending all persons who are members of the Church".<ref name=CandC /><ref>[http://www.epischicago.org/EpiscopalChurch.cfm The Episcopal Church] Retrieved 7 July 2007  </ref>

==History==

===Church of England in British North America (1497&ndash;1775)===
The Episcopal Church traces its history from its origins in the Church of England. It stresses its continuity with the early universal Western church and maintains apostolic succession.<ref name="lec">{{cite book | last =Sydnor | first =William  | authorlink = | coauthors = | title =Looking at the Episcopal Church | publisher =Morehouse Publishing | date =1980 | location =USA
 | pages =64 | url = | doi = | id =  | isbn = }}</ref> 

thumb|left|250px|The replica of [[John Cabot's ship "The Matthew". The first clergyman of the English Church sailed on her to North America in 1497.]]
When King Henry VII and the English Church was still firmly Roman Catholic.<ref name=carrington/>

The first Church of England service recorded on North American soil was a celebration of Holy Communion at Frobisher Bay in the last days of August or early September 1578. The Anglican Church of Canada's Prayer Book fixes the day of commemoration as 3 September. The chaplain on Martin Frobisher's voyage was " 'Maister Wolfall (probably Robert Wolfall), minister and preacher', who had been charged by Queen Elizabeth 'to serve God twice a day'."<ref name=carrington></ref>

The first service read from the Book of Common Prayer on American soil occurred on 19 June 1579 in a harbor far north of San Francisco, when the crew of Sir Francis Drake's ship, the ''Golden Hind'', landed. Drake named the new land Nova Albion  or New Albion and claimed it for Queen Elizabeth I. The landing site may have been near Astoria, Oregon or, speculatively, much further north in British Columbia. The exact location has never been certain but is variously reported as between 48 degrees and 42 degrees north latitude, a range which includes most of Washington, all of Oregon, and a sliver of California. The harbor was reportedly at either, 48, 44, 38 1/2, or 38 degrees. Drake and his crew stayed in this now lost harbor for over five weeks, repairing the ''Golden Hind''.<ref>[http://www.mcn.org/2/oseeler/drake.htm Sir Francis Drake]</ref><ref name=carrington/>
thumb|250px|Interior of the First Church in [[Jamestown, Virginia.]]

The Lost Colony of 1587 at Roanoke&mdash;the Roanoke Colony on Roanoke Island off of North Carolina&mdash;and the previous colony of 1585 in the same location may have had recorded Church of England baptisms. Records do not suggest any clergy with the colonists and references are vague. For example, one secondary text says that on August 13 1587, an aboriginal man called Manteo who lived with the colonists and surrounding people "was christened and declared Lord of Roanoke and Dasamonquepeuc as a reward for his many services."<ref></ref>

The propagation of the Church of England occurred in three ways. One way was by officers of ships and lay military and civil officials reading services from the Book of Common Prayer regularly when no clergy were present. For example, in the charter issued by Charles I for Newfoundland in 1633 was this directive: "On Sundays Divine Service to be said by some of the Masters of ships, such prayers as are in the Book of Common Prayer."<ref name=carrington/>

A second way was the direct appointing and employing of clergy by the English government on ships and in settlements.

thumb|left|250px|[[St. Luke's Church (Smithfield, Virginia) built in 1632 is the oldest surviving English church in North America.]]
A third way was the employment of clergy by private "merchant adventurer" companies, such as the Merchant Adventurers of London. They held monopolies on trading some products, but also sponsored exploration and settlement. They helped fund the Pilgrims going to Massachusetts, for instance. The first Church of England Jamestown, Virginia in 1607 under the charter of the Virginia Company of London.<ref name=Sydnor></ref> 

The Hudson's Bay Company sent out its first chaplain in 1683. Where there was no chaplain, the officers of the company were directed to read prayers from the BCP on Sundays.<ref name=carrington/>  In 1836, a Church of England chaplain arrived at the Hudson's Bay Company's Fort Vancouver, now Vancouver, Washington. This was the second-to-last Church of England clergyman on what would become American soil after the Oregon Treaty of 1846.<ref name=carrington/> The last Church of England clergyman vacated Fort Yukon when the United States government purchased the Russian territory in 1867.<ref name=carrington/> The U.S. government took possession of Fort Yukon in 1869 although the Hudson's Bay post really should not have been in the Russian territory at all.<ref name=carrington/> The chaplain had evangelized well to the First Nations and they carried on in their new faith autonomously for twenty-five years. When the Episcopal Church of America sent a bishop, he found the First Nations were still praying for Queen Victoria and would not stop insisting that "...we shall continue to pray for Queen Victoria."<ref name=carrington/> Thus, England and the English colonists brought the church to all the American colonies.
 
The Church of England was designated the established church in Georgia in 1758. All people had to contribute to local taxes for the church. The vestry used the funds to build and operate churches and schools. Virginia attempted to make requirements about attendance, but with a severe shortage of clergy, they were not enforced. From 1635, the vestries and the clergy were loosely under diocesan authority of the Bishop of London. In 1660, the clergy of Virginia petitioned for a bishop to be appointed to the colony; the proposal was vigorously opposed by powerful vestrymen, wealthy planters, who foresaw their interests being curtailed. Subsequent proposals from successive Bishops of London for the appointment of a resident suffragan bishop, or another form of office with delegated authority to perform episcopal functions, met with equally robust local opposition.    

Although the Church of England was theoretically established in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630, in actuality the colony under John Winthrop, who had brought its charter with him, was virtually self-governing civilly and religiously. By the time King's Chapel, the first Anglican Church in Massachusetts was founded in 1686, the Congregational Church had in fact become the established church of the colony. In 1691, religious toleration was extended to members of all Protestant churches. The Congregational Church was not disestablished until 1833.<ref>[http://www.churchstatelaw.com/historicalmaterials/8_1_2_11.asp Religious Liberty Archive: Rothgerber Johnson & Lyons LLP, Colorado Springs, CO<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref><ref>[http://www.learner.org/biographyofamerica/prog02/transcript/page04.html A Bio. of America: English Settlement - Transcript<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>

During the English Civil War, the episcopate was under attack in England. The Archbishop of Canterbury, William Laud, was beheaded in 1645. Thus, the formation of a North American diocesan structure was hampered and hindered.

In 1649, the same year when King Charles I was beheaded, the Commonwealth Parliament in England gave a charter to found a missionary organization called the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in New England or the New England Society, for short.<ref name=carrington/> 

The overseas development of the Church of England in British North America challenged the insular view of the Church at home. The editors of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer found that they had to address the spiritual concerns of the contemporary adventurer. In the 1662 Preface, the editors note:

left|thumb|150px|Seal of the [[Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts.]]  
After 1702 the "Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts" (SPG) began missionary activity throughout the colonies. The ministers were few, the glebes small, the salaries inadequate, and the people quite uninterested in religion, as the vestry became in effect a kind of local government.<ref name=Sydnor /> 
One historian has explained the workings of the parish: 
{{quote|The parish was a local unit concerned with such matters as the conduct and support of the parish church, the supervision of morals, and the care of the poor. Its officers, who made up the vestry, were ordinarily influential and wealthy property holders chosen by a majority of the parishioners. They appointed the parish ministers, made local assessments, and investigated cases of moral offense for referral to the county court, the next higher judicatory. They also selected the church wardens, who audited the parish accounts and prosecuted morals cases. For several decades the system worked in a democratic fashion, but by the 1660s, the vestries had generally become self-perpetuating units made up of well-to-do landowners. This condition was sharply resented by the small farmers and servants.|Clifton Olmstead|History of Religion in the United States<ref>{{cite book |last= Olmstead|first= Clifton E |authorlink= 
|coauthors= |title=History of Religion in the United States |year= 1960
|pages=45|publisher=  Prentice-Hall|location= Englewood Cliffs, N.J.|isbn= }}</ref>}} 

The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel and the Bishop of London, continued to support the petitions of local clergy in seeking a bishop for the colonies; and strong opposition continued to these proposals, especially in the South, where a bishop would threaten the privileges of the lay vestry.<ref name=Sydnor />  Opponents conjured up visions of "episcopal palaces, or pontifical revenues, of spiritual courts, and all the pomp, grandeur, luxury and regalia of an American Lambeth" (''New York Gazette'' or ''Weekly Post Boy'', March 14, 1768). John Adams later explained, "the apprehension of Episcopacy" contributed to the American Revolution, capturing the attention "not only of the inquiring mind, but of the common people... . The objection was not merely to the office of a bishop, though even that was dreaded, but to the authority of parliament, on which it must be founded".<ref>Bonomi 1998, 200</ref> 

On the eve of Revolution, a large fraction of prominent merchants and royal appointees were Anglicans and Loyalists. About 27 percent of Anglican priests nationwide supported independence, especially in Virginia. Almost 40 percent (approaching 90 percent in New York and New England) were Loyalists. Out of 55 Anglican clergy in New York and New England, only three were Patriots, two of those being from Massachusetts. In Maryland, of the 54 clergy in 1775, only 16 remained to take oaths of allegiance to the new government (McConnell 2003). William Smith made the connection explicit in a 1762 report to the Bishop of London. "The Church is the firmest Basis of Monarchy and the English Constitution", he declared. But if dissenters of "more Republican ... Principles [with] little affinity to the established Religion and manners" of England ever gained the upper hand, the colonists might begin to think of "Independency and separate Government". Thus "in a Political as well as religious view", Smith stated emphatically, the church should be strengthened by an American bishop and the appointment of "prudent Governors who are friends of our Establishment"<ref>Bonomi 1998, 201</ref>

===Revolution (1775&ndash;1783)===
By 1775 about 400 independent congregations were reported throughout the colonies. The church was disestablished in all the states during the American Revolution. The Episcopal Church was formally separated from the Church of England in 1789 so that clergy would not be required to accept the supremacy of the British monarch.

Embracing the symbols of the British presence in the American colonies such as the monarchy, the episcopate, and even the language of the Book of Common Prayer, the Church of England almost drove itself to extinction during the upheaval of the American Revolution.<ref name=hein/> More than any other denomination, the War of Independence internally divided both clergy and laity of the Church of England in America and opinions covered a wide spectrum of political views: patriots, conciliators, and loyalists.<ref name=hein/> On one hand, Patriots saw the Church of England as synonymous with ‘Tory’ and ‘redcoat’.<ref name=hein/> On the other hand, about three-quarters of the signers of the Declaration of Independence were nominally Anglican laymen, including Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Patrick Henry, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay.<ref name=hein/><ref name=hein/>  Eight of the ten signers of the Declaration of Independence from North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia were Anglicans.<ref name=hein/>

Amongst the clergy, more or less, the northern clergy were loyalist and the southern clergy were patriot.<ref name=hein/>  Partly, their pocketbook can explain clergy sympathies, as the New England colonies did not establish the Church of England and clergy depended on their SPG stipend rather than their parishioners’ gifts.<ref name=hein/> When war broke out, these clergy looked to England for both their paycheck and their direction.<ref name=hein/>  Where the Church of England was established, mainly the southern colonies, financial support was local and loyalties were local.<ref name=hein/>

Of the approximately three hundred clergy in the Church of England in America between 1776 and 1783, over eighty per cent in New England, New York, and New Jersey were loyalists.<ref name=hein/>  This is in contrast to the less than twenty-three percent loyalist clergy in the four southern colonies.<ref name=hein/>  In two colonies, only one priest was a patriot; Samuel Provoost, who would become bishop, in New York and Robert Blackwell, who would serve as a chaplain in the Continental Army, in New Jersey.<ref name=hein/> Many Church of England clergyman remained loyalists as they took their two ordination oaths very seriously.<ref name=hein/> The first oath arises from the Church of England canons of 1604 where Anglican clergy must affirm that the king,

Thus, each Anglican clergyman was obliged to swear publicly allegiance to the king.<ref name=hein/>  The second oath arose out of the Act of Uniformity of 1662 where clergy were bound to use the official liturgy as found in the Book of Common Prayer and to read it verbatim. This included prayers for the king and the royal family and for the British Parliament.<ref name=hein/>

These two oaths and problems worried the consciousness of clergymen. Some clergy were clever in their avoidance of these problems.<ref name=hein/>  Samuel Tingley, a priest in Delaware and Maryland, rather than praying “O Lord, save the King” opted for evasion and said “O Lord, save those whom thou hast made it our especial Duty to pray for.”<ref name=hein/>

In general, loyalist clergy stayed by their Oaths and prayed for the king or else suspended services.<ref name=hein/>  By the end of 1776, Anglican churches were closing.<ref name=hein/>  An SPG missionary would report that of the colonies of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut which he had intelligence of, only the Anglican churches in Philadelphia, a couple in rural Pennsylvania, those in British-controlled New York, and two parishes in Connecticut were open.<ref name=hein/>  Anglican priests held services in private homes or lay readers who were not bound by the oaths held Morning and Evening Prayer.<ref name=hein/>

thumb|left|125px|[[Charles Inglis. Rector of Trinity Church, New York. Loyalist clergyman who preached to George Washington and defied a patriot militia company.]]

Nevertheless, some Loyalists clergymen were defiant, in Connecticut John Beach conducted worship throughout the war, and swore that he would continue praying for the king.<ref name=hein/>  In Maryland, Jonathan Boucher took two pistols into the pulpit and even pointed a pistol at the head of a group of patriots while he preached on loyalism.<ref name=hein/>  Charles Inglis, rector of Trinity Church in New York persisted in reading the royal prayers even when George Washington was seated in his congregation and a patriot militia company stood by observing the service.<ref name=hein/><ref name=carrington></ref>

The consequences of such bravado were very serious.<ref name=hein/> During 1775 and 1776, the Continental Congress had issued decrees ordering churches to fast and pray on behalf of the patriots.<ref name=hein/>  Starting July 4, 1776, Congress and several states passed laws making prayers for the king and British Parliament acts of treason.<ref name=hein/>

The patriot clergy in the south were quick to find reasons to transfer their oaths to the American cause and prayed for the success of the Revolution.<ref name=hein/>  One precedent was the transfer of oaths during the Glorious Revolution in England.<ref name=hein/>  Most of the patriot clergy in the south were able to keep their churches open and services continued.<ref name=hein/>

When peace returned in 1783, approximately 80,000 loyalists had left the 13 American colonies, many – about 50,000 - heading for Canada including Charles Inglis who would become the first colonial bishop.<ref name=hein/><ref name=carrington/> By 1790, in a nation of four million, Anglicans were reduced to about ten thousand.<ref name=hein/>  In Virginia, less than 42 parishes of the 107 that existed in 1784 were able to support a priest between 1802 and 1811.<ref name=hein/> In Georgia, Christ Church, Savannah was the only active parish in 1790.<ref name=hein/>  In Maryland, half of the parishes remained vacant by 1800.<ref name=hein/> For a period after 1816, North Carolina had no clergy when its last clergyman died.<ref name=hein/>  Samuel Provoost, one of the first three Episcopal bishops – Bishop of New York - was so disheartened, he resigned his position in 1801 and retired to the country to study botany having given up on the Episcopal Church, which he was convinced, would die out with the old colonial families.<ref name=hein/>

===First four Episcopal bishops (1784&ndash;1790)===
thumb|150px|right|Bishop [[Samuel Seabury.]]

When the clergy of non-juring Scottish bishops there consecrated him in Aberdeen on November 14, 1784, making him, in the words of scholar Arthur Carl Piepkorn, "the first Anglican bishop appointed to minister outside the British Isles."<ref>{{cite book
 | last =Piepkorn | first =Arthur Carl  | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Profiles in Belief: The Religious Bodies of the United States and Canada | publisher =Harper & Row | date =1977 | location = | pages =199 | url = | doi = | id =  | isbn =0060665807 }}</ref>

left|thumb|150px|Bishop [[William White (Bishop of Pennsylvania)|William White.]]In return, the Scottish bishops requested that the Episcopal Church use the longer Scottish prayer of consecration during the Eucharist, instead of the English prayer. Seabury promised that he would endeavor to make it so. Three years later, in 1787, two priests - William White of Parliament of the Apostolic succession for the American bishops: 

#Through the non-juring bishops of Scotland that consecrated Samuel Seabury.
#Through the English church that consecrated William White and Samuel Provoost.   

All bishops in the American Church are ordained by at least three bishops. One can trace the succession of each back to Seabury, White and Provoost. (''See Succession of Bishops of the Episcopal Church.'') In 1789, representative clergy from  nine dioceses met in Philadelphia to ratify the church's initial constitution. 

The fourth bishop of the Episcopal Church was James Madison, the first bishop of Virginia. Madison was consecrated in 1790 under the archbisop of Canterbury and two other Church of England bishops. This third American bishop consecrated within the English line of succession occurred because of continuing unease within the Church of England over Seabury's nonjuring Scottish orders.<ref name=hein/>

===ECUSA in the American Republic (1790&ndash;present)===
thumb|280px|Location of churches in 1850; note strength along Atlantic coast and weakness inland; from U.S. Census
As the United States grew, new dioceses were established, as well as the Convocation of American Churches in Europe. After the initial Book of Common Prayer written for the new church in 1789, new revisions appeared in 1892, 1928, and 1979.  

In 1856 (before the American Civil War) the first society for African-Americans in the Episcopal Church was founded by the Rev James Theodore Holly. Named ''The Protestant Episcopal Society for Promoting The Extension of The Church Among Colored People'', they argued that blacks should be allowed to participate in seminaries and Diocesan Conventions. The group lost its focus when The Rev. Holly emigrated to Haiti, but other groups followed after the Civil War. The current Union of Black Episcopalians traces its history to the Society.<ref>[http://www.ube.org/history.html UBE History]</ref> During the American Civil War, an ''Episcopal Church in the Confederate States of America'' was temporarily formed from the dioceses within the seceded states, but this was viewed as a "separation and not a division", concerning no questions of dogma or practice (other than the prayers for Congress and the President).<ref>[http://anglicanhistory.org/usa/jbcheshire/confederate1912/ The Church in the Confederate States, by Joseph Blount Cheshire (1912)<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> 

thumb|left|200px|[[Harriet Tubman is included in the Episcopal Calendar of Saints. Picture is from 1880.]]

James Theodore Holly went on to found the Anglican church in Haiti and became the first African-American bishop on November 8, 1874. As Bishop of Haiti, Bishop Holly was the first African-American to attend the Lambeth Conference.<ref>[http://www.episcopalchurch.org/5888_58502_ENG_HTM.htm UBE History]</ref> However, he was consecrated by the American Church Missionary Society, an Evangelical Episcopal branch of the Church.

In 1873, the Protestant and evangelical witness in Episcopalianism.  

Samuel David Ferguson was the first black bishop consecrated by The Episcopal Church, the first to practice in the US, and the first black person to sit in the House of Bishops. Bishop Ferguson was consecrated on June 24, 1885, with the then-Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church acting as a consecrator. 

110px|thumb|The [[coat of arms|arms of the Episcopal Church includes both the cross of St. George and a St. Andrew's cross.
]]The Episcopal Shield, adopted in canton in reference to the historical origins of the American episcopate in the Scottish Episcopal Church.<ref> [http://www.kingofpeace.org/shield.htm Episcopal Shield]</ref>
More than a quarter of all presidents of the United States have been Episcopalians (''see List of United States Presidential religious affiliations'').

In 1976, the General Convention requested that ECUSA's Clergy Deployment Board determine if there were "racial inequities" in clergy placement. It also passed a resolution calling for an end to apartheid in South Africa. The General Convention asked ECUSA "dioceses, institutions, and agencies" to create equal opportunity employment and affirmative action policies in 1985. In 1991, the General Convention declared "the practice of racism is sin".<ref> [http://www.council-dwtx.org/GenConv/Parish%20conversation%20curriculum/2_2006_GC_session2_support.pdf From ''Synopsis of Social Teaching/Contentious Resolutions of the Episcopal Church'' (PDF)], from the ''Parish Conversation Curriculum'' for the 2006 General Convention of the Episcopal Church, page 5. Retrieved November 5, 2006. </ref> On June 16, 2006, the Episcopalian House of Bishops endorsed a resolution apologizing for its complicity in the institution of slavery and its silence over “Jim Crow” laws, segregation, and racial discrimination. By a unanimous vote, the House endorsed Resolution A123.<ref>[http://www.livingchurch.org/publishertlc/viewarticle.asp?ID=2189 Bishops Endorse Apology for Slavery Complicity]</ref>

===Recent controversies===

Several issues have recently created tensions in the Episcopal Church, including the reliability of scripture and historic church teachings as reliable sources for Church doctrine and the exclusive claims of Jesus regarding salvation<ref>[http://www.episcopalarchives.org/cgi-bin/acts/acts_resolution-complete.pl?resolution=2003-B001 The Acts of General Convention 2003 of the Episcopal Church]</ref> and the definition of Christian marriage.<ref>[http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acns/articles/42/50/acns4259.cfm The Archbishop of Canterbury's Presidential Address, paragraph 5.]</ref> The two most debated issues have been the ordination of women and the role of homosexuals in the church.

While speaking at a conference at the Vancouver School of Theology in May 2007, Jefferts Schori gave an overview of the Episcopal Church's troubles for a Canadian audience:

{{cquote|The bishop acknowledged the conservatives in her church - those people jarred by 35 years of constant change from the ordination of women through the inclusion of children to revisions in the prayer book - are fuelling the outrage of some outspoken African bishops over the open acceptance of gays and lesbians. 

However, Jefferts Schori, who calculates the disgruntled at one half of one per cent of her 2.4 million-member church, calculates the international disgruntlement at a similar level.<ref name=schorivancouver>[http://www.vancouver.anglican.ca/News/tabid/27/ctl/ViewArticle/ArticleId/503/mid/486/Default.aspx US Primate taks a 'long, calm view" 19 May 2007]</ref>}}

and

{{cquote|Asked if her position as the first female primate adds fuel to the fire, Jefferts Schori acknowledged female leadership runs out of step with the culture in some places in the Anglican Communion. 

'''Amerikanska Episkopalkyrkan''', Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society of the '''Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America''' (PECUSA), är den äldsta anglikanska kyrkan utanför de brittiska öarna.

PECUSA består av 110 stift i USA, Puerto Rico och Amerikanska Jungfruöarna, Haiti, Taiwan, Colombia, Dominikanska Republiken, Ecuador, Honduras, Venezuela och Europa.

Engelska kyrkan startade 1607 missionsverksamhet i Jamestown, Virginia. 
Episkopalkyrkan skiljdes officiellt från den engelska moderkyrkan 1789.
När prästerskapet i Connecticut utsåg Samuel Seabury till biskop så kunde han inte ordineras inom den Engelska kyrkan, eftersom denna var bunden av en trohetsed till den engelske monarken att inte utnämna icke-engelska biskopar.

Seabury ordinerades därför inom den Skotska Episkopalkyrkan, den 14 november 1784 i Aberdeen. 

== Splittring ==

2003 valdes den öppet homosexuelle Gene Robinson till biskop inom PECUSA.
Allt sedan dess har många inom kyrkan krävt att detta ”missförhållande” rättas till.
Det faktum att kyrkan dessutom välsignar samkönade par, har också vållat intern debatt.

Lördag den 8 december 2007 röstade det episkopala stiftet i San Joaquin, Kalifornien för att lämna PECUSA, i protest mot dess liberalteologiska hållning i dessa frågor. 173 delegater röstade för utträde, 22 emot - vilket räckte för att uppnå erforderliga två tredjedels majoritet.
Därefter beslutade stiftet att istället ansluta sig till den Anglikanska kyrkan i Sydamerika.
<ref>Dagen 11 december 2007</ref>

Enskilda församlingar har ockå beslutat lämna PECUSA. 
I oktober 2006 beslutade Church of the Messiah, i Chesapeake, Virginia att lämna kyrkan och ansluta sig till den Anglikanska gemenskapen i Nordamerika (CANA).
<ref>[http://www.churchofthemessiah.org/Chronology.htm Church of the Messiah] (Chesapeake, Virginia), 30 mars 2007</ref>