Free Presbyterian Church Synod of the United States

John Rankin, a fervent abolitionist and pastor of a New School Presbyterian Church in Ripley, Ohio, who had unsuccessfully petitioned the General Assembly of his denomination to exclude slaveholders from membership.

The church launched a newspaper, the Free Presbyterian in 1850 and Iberia College in 1854.

[3] The church never developed a strong organization and in theology remained close to Presbyterian orthodoxy.

Rankin had no desire to create his own ecclesiastical empire, and no other strong leaders appeared to solidify the organization.

[4] Although the Free Church may have challenged the conscience of the older Presbyterian bodies, it dwindled with the coming of the American Civil War.