This is a body of colored Methodists having the same general doctrines and usages as other branches of Methodism. It was organized in 1813 in Wilmington, Del., by a number of colored members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, led by Rev. Peter Spencer, a colored preacher.

The church has 42 organizations, with 35 church edifices, valued at $187,600, and 2279 communicants; 2 halls, with a seating capacity of 250, are occupied as places of worship. There are three annual conferences, with two general superintendents or bishops, who are elected for life.

3.—THE AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.

This branch of American Methodism was organized in Philadelphia in 1816 by a number of colored members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. They withdrew from the parent body in order that they might have larger privileges and more freedom of action among themselves than they believed they could secure in continued association with their white brethren. The Rev. Richard Allen was elected the first bishop of the new church by the same convention that organized it. In the year 1787 Mr. Allen had been made the leader of a class of forty persons of his own color. A few years later he purchased a lot at the corner of Sixth and Lombard Streets, Philadelphia, where