Historically, Presbyterians were divided over the issue of slavery. This was one of the topics that caused the presbyterian split into Old school and New school branches in 1837-38.
Charles Hodge wrote in 1836 that abolitionism would increase dissension in the North and promote hatred in the South. Slavery was not condemned as sinful in Scripture, Hodge wrote,but he did hope that it would end as the gradual improvement of the blacks brought it about. (from [i]The Dictionary of the Presbyterian and Reformed Tradition in America[i], 1999 Hart and Noll)
