Presbyterian Church in the United States

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The Presbyterian Church in the United States was the Southern branch of Presbyterianism in America. This group split from the Northern body of Presbyterianism largely over the issue of slavery in 1861 and was known during the American Civil War as the Presbyterian Church in the Confederate States of America. Among the notables involved with the PCCSA/PCUS through its history were James Henley Thornwell, Robert Lewis Dabney, Benjamin Morgan Palmer, John L. Giradeau and L. Nelson Bell (father-in-law of Billy Graham).

The PCUS was one of the more conservative bodies of Presbyterianism throughout most of its history until merger talks began with the Northern Presbyterian Church, the UPCUSA. Among some of the other liberalizing trends were the acceptance of the ordination of women to the offices of elder and deacon, the ratification of a pro-choice position on abortion by the General Assembly, and the rejection by that assembly of the plenary verbal inspiration of the Bible. The Presbyterian Church in America was formed in 1973 by congregations which had left the PCUS, criticising it for "[a] long-developing theological liberalism which denied the deity of Jesus Christ and the inerrancy and authority of Scripture."

After the PCA congregations left, the PCUS was able to work more closely with the United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (UPCUSA) towards a merger, which finally happened in 1983 as the two formed the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), which is now the largest Reformed/Presbyterian denominational body in the country, with over 2.3 million congregants.