Pennsylvania, which at the same time was planning a union with the Reformed, took the initiative in the movement. At the convention at Harrisburg, 1818, they declared it "desirable that the various Lutheran synods should stand in closer connection with each other," appointed a committee to prepare a feasible plan of union, and invited the different synods to send representatives to her next meeting in Baltimore, 1819, where the contemplated Lutheran, union was the principal topic of discussion. A tentative constitution, drafted by Shober and a committee of the Pennsylvania Synod, was approved with 42 against 8 votes and published over the signatures of its officers,— the so-called Planentwurf, which, in a somewhat modified form, was adopted 1820 at Hagerstown as the Constitution (Grundverfassung) of the General Synod. At the first regular convention of the new body, held at Frederick (Fredericktown, Friedrichstadt), Md., in October, 1821, twenty delegates were present, representing the synods of Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Maryland-Virginia. It was a beginning fraught with discouragements. Owing to religious indifference, the rationalistic New York Ministerium had immediately permitted its connection to lapse, till resumed in 1837. The Tennessee Synod violently condemned the new body as hierarchical, and because its constitution did not so much as mention the Bible and the Augsburg Confession. The Ohio Synod, which, in 1819, after a discussion of the Planentwurf, had approved of the formation of a General Synod, now stood aloof, because a number of her ministers denounced its Constitution, not for confessional reasons, but because of its alleged hierarchical features. (Graebner, Geschichte 1, 701.) In 1823 the Pennsylvania Synod declared her withdrawal on account of the union planned with the Reformed, and because some of her congregations, fearing infringements of their liberties, protested against the connection. It was due chiefly to the exertions of S. S. Schmucker, then but twenty-five years of age, that the second regular convention, 1823, in Frederick, was held, the newly organized West Pennsylvania Synod forming the third body required by the constitution.

12. From the Early Proceedings.—The report of 1823 closes as follows: "On bended knees, and with hearts filled with holy emotion, the brethren then united with the Rev. J. G. Schmucker in a most impressive address to the mercy-seat of Christ, in an acknowledgment of the gratitude for the past blessing of the great Head of the Church, and in humble supplication for the future guidance of His Holy Spirit. And when they had sung an hymn, they separated to return to their several abodes." (8.) Regarding the withdrawal of the Pennsylvania Synod, the resolution was adopted: "Resolved, That it is with feelings of deepest regret that we learn from the minutes of the Synod of Pennsylvania that they were induced by peculiar circumstances, for the present, to recede from an institution which they aided in establishing, and which they still profess to regard as proper and highly beneficial to the interests of the Church; but that this Synod entertain the highest confidence in their brethren of Pennsylvania, and confidently trust that they will without delay resume their connection with the General Synod." (5.)— The "Address of the General Synod to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the United States," added to the Minutes of 1823, remarks: "Whilst the General Synod, with due deference to the judgment of this respectable Synod, cannot divest themselves of doubt as to the expediency of the temporary recession of the Pennsylvania Synod from the general union of the Lutheran Church, they rejoice that in the very act of withdrawing they declare their unaltered conviction of the propriety and utility of such a union, and intimate that their recession shall continue only until the prejudices against the General Synod shall in some measure have subsided. But, most of all, the General Synod rejoiced in the measures which have already been taken by the brethren west of the Susquehanna, among whose churches these prejudices do not exist, to return to the general union of the Lutheran Church." (11.)The minutes of 1823: "Several delegates were absent in consequence of indisposition, but a representation of a majority of the synods in connection with the General Synod being present, the brethren, in reliance on the guidance of the Holy Spirit, proceeded to business." (4.) With respect to the fears expressed by Tennessee that the establishment of a General Synod would endanger both the Lutheran and American liberties, the "Address" of 1823 states: "The brethren of this Conference [Tennessee], as well as individuals in some other sections of the United States, have heretofore doubted the utility of the General Synod; but it is hoped their apprehensions will be dissipated when a few years of experience shall have demonstrated its utility, and when maturer reflection on the nature of our constitution shall have convinced them that, if ever our Church at large should so far degenerate as that a majority of any future General Synod should not only be so void of common Christian integrity, but so destitute of every sentiment of probity and honor, as to wish those evils which have been feared, still even then the attainments of them would, in our happy government, be physically and civilly impossible." (14.) Repudiating the charge of the Tennessee Synod that the object of the General Synod was an amalgamation with other Protestant denominations, and urging the Carolina and Tennessee Synods to cover their doctrinal differences by charity, the "Address" continues: "Whilst the General Synod disclaim the intention which has perhaps, through want of better knowledge, sometimes been attributed to them, namely, to form a union of different denominations, one object at which they aim certainly is to prevent discord and schism among the different portions of the Lutheran Church. It is therefore with much pleasure that they perceive that the Carolina Synod adopted measures at their last session to bring about, if possible, a reconciliation with several brethren [Tennessee Synod], who had seceded from them. And the General Synod cannot forbear recommending to both parties the exercise of that charity, toleration, and forbearance which were so illustriously exemplified in the life of our divine Redeemer, and urging on them the impressive declaration of His Apostle: 'Follow after charity'; 'Charity suffereth long and is kind,' 'seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked'; 'charity beareth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.' Therefore we beseech you, brethren, by the mime of our Lord Jesus Christ, 'that there be no divisions among you, but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.'" (12.)

13. Vigorous Growth Following Disappointments.—During the period of 1831 to 1864 a large number of district Synods joined the General Synod. The Hartwick Synod, organized 1830 in Schoharie Co., N.Y., by seven pastors who had separated from the New York Ministerium in order to satisfy more fully their craving for revivals, was admitted by the General Synod in 1831; in 1908 it merged in the New York Synod. The South Carolina Synod, organized 1824, entered the General Synod in 1835. The New York Ministerium returned 1837. The Synod of Virginia, organized in 1829 by eight ministers and two lay delegates and confessing the Unaltered Augsburg Confession, was admitted by the General Synod in 1839. The Synod of the West, embracing Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri, of which Wyneken was a member till 1845, was organized in 1835 and united with the General Synod in 1840. In 1846 this body was divided into three parts; one called the Synod of the Southwest, located in Kentucky and Tennessee, another called the Synod of Illinois, located in the State of Illinois, and the third retaining the name of the Synod of the West, located in Indiana.(Proceedings, 1848, 47.) The East Ohio Synod, since 1836 a