The Scots-Irish party stressed a dogmatic adherence to confessional standards, professional ministry, and the orderly and authoritarian nature of church government.
[2][3] A dispute between these two groups over whether the synod should require ministers to affirm the Westminster Confession led to the subscription controversy of the 1720s.
[4] The New England or anti-subscription party preferred declaring the Bible to be the common standard for faith and practice.
Rather than scrutinizing the beliefs of ministerial candidates, the anti-subscriptionists thought it would be more helpful to examine their personal religious experience.
The Adopting Act was a compromise that required affirmation or "subscription" only for those parts of the confession considered "essential" to the faith.
On account of this perceived violation of their rights and the Plan of Union, the Old Side members of the Presbytery of Donegal withdrew from Synod and Revs.
John Ewing and Alexander McDowell, both Old Side ministers, protested the decision of synod to split Donegal.
[8] The New Hampshire town of Derry seceded in 1827 from its western neighbour, Londonderry, using the boundary that had resulted from the split into east and west parishes during the controversy.