Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History
Benson Lossing, Ed.

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Protestant Episcopal Church,

A religious body which dates back for its permanent establishment in America to 1693, when Trinity parish in New York City was instituted. Two years later Christ Church was founded in Philadelphia, and from then on individual [326] churches sprang up in various localities until 1785-89 when the Protestant Episcopal Church was formally organized as a branch of Christ's Church. The doctrines of this body consist of the Apostles' and Nicene creeds, and the Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of England, with a few changes. The legislative power is vested in a general convention which meets every three years. This body is composed of the house of bishops and the house of the clerical and lay representatives. The latter are chosen by the diocesan conventions, each of which is allowed a delegation of four clergymen and four laymen. In each diocese there is a convention made up of the clergymen and lay delegates and presided over by the bishop of the diocese. The reports for 1900 were as follows: Ministers, 4,961; churches, 6,686; members, 716,431.