The article discusses the situation of the Russian Orthodox Church in the United States. Particular attention is paid to the processes taking place in the last third of the 19th century within the Church itself, in particular to the issues of expanding the ethnic composition of the clergy, the gradual spread of Orthodoxy throughout North America and the increase in the number of Orthodox communities. It is shown that it is precisely these factors that determined the obvious need for revising missionary tasks, working methods, and the forms of organizing charitable and social activities. In addition, the dependence of the dioceses on the Holy Synod of Russia became increasingly unnatural, not meeting the needs of the development of Orthodoxy in North America. The appearance in 1870 of the first Orthodox jurisdiction in the United States objectively indicated an alternative to transforming the Aleutian diocese of the Russian Church into an independent American Orthodox Church.