“M is for Methodist Episcopal Church, South. The debate over slavery at the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1844 resulted in the division of the denomination into northern and southern branches. The critical issue was Georgia James O. Andrew’s ownership of slaves inherited from his wife. By Georgia law he could not free the slaves and Bishop Andrew offered to retire. The southern delegates refused his request, and a Plan of Separation was adopted, allowing the southern annual conference to withdraw. In 1845 the denomination was created at a meeting in Louisville, Kentucky. The following year Ellison Capers became the first native South Carolinian to become a Methodist bishop. In 1938, the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, the Methodist Episcopal Church, and the Methodist Protestant Church reunited as the Methodist Church.