The Second Great Awakening was a
Protestant
Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...
religious
revival during the late 18th to early 19th century in the United States. It spread religion through revivals and emotional preaching and sparked a number of reform movements. Revivals were a key part of the movement and attracted hundreds of converts to new Protestant denominations. The
Methodist Church used
circuit riders to reach people in
frontier
A frontier is a political and geographical term referring to areas near or beyond a boundary.
Australia
The term "frontier" was frequently used in colonial Australia in the meaning of country that borders the unknown or uncivilised, th ...
locations.
The Second Great Awakening led to a period of
antebellum social reform and an emphasis on salvation by institutions. The outpouring of religious fervor and revival began in Kentucky and Tennessee in the 1790s and early 1800s among the
Presbyterians,
Methodists, and
Baptists
Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...
. New religious movements emerged during the Second Great Awakening, such as
Adventism
Adventism is a branch of Protestant Christianity that believes in the imminent Second Coming (or the "Second Advent") of Jesus Christ. It originated in the 1830s in the United States during the Second Great Awakening when Baptist preacher Will ...
,
Dispensationalism, and the
Latter Day Saint movement
The Latter Day Saint movement (also called the LDS movement, LDS restorationist movement, or Smith–Rigdon movement) is the collection of independent church groups that trace their origins to a Christian Restorationist movement founded by ...
. The Second Great Awakening also led to the founding of several well-known colleges, seminaries, and mission societies.
Historians named the Second Great Awakening in the context of the
First Great Awakening of the 1730s and 1750s and of the
Third Great Awakening of the late 1850s to early 1900s. The First Awakening was part of a much larger
evangelical
Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...
religious movement that was sweeping across England, Scotland, and Germany.
Spread of revivals
Background
Like the
First Great Awakening a half century earlier, the Second Great Awakening in
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...
reflected
Romanticism
Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century. The purpose of the movement was to advocate for the importance of subjec ...
characterized by enthusiasm, emotion, and an appeal to the
supernatural
Supernatural phenomena or entities are those beyond the Scientific law, laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin 'above, beyond, outside of' + 'nature'. Although the corollary term "nature" has had multiple meanin ...
. It rejected the skepticism,
deism,
Unitarianism
Unitarianism () is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian sect of Christianity. Unitarian Christians affirm the wikt:unitary, unitary God in Christianity, nature of God as the singular and unique Creator deity, creator of the universe, believe that ...
, and
rationalism
In philosophy, rationalism is the Epistemology, epistemological view that "regards reason as the chief source and test of knowledge" or "the position that reason has precedence over other ways of acquiring knowledge", often in contrast to ot ...
left over from the
American Enlightenment,
about the same time that similar movements flourished in
Europe
Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
.
Pietism
Pietism (), also known as Pietistic Lutheranism, is a movement within Lutheranism that combines its emphasis on biblical doctrine with an emphasis on individual piety and living a holy Christianity, Christian life.
Although the movement is ali ...
was sweeping
Germanic countries and
evangelicalism
Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...
was waxing strong in
England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
.
The Second Great Awakening occurred in several episodes and over different denominations; however, the revivals were very similar.
As the most effective form of evangelizing during this period, revival meetings cut across geographical boundaries. The movement quickly spread throughout
Kentucky
Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...
,
Indiana
Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...
,
Tennessee
Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...
, and
southern Ohio, as well as other regions of the United States and Canada. Each denomination had assets that allowed it to thrive on the frontier. The Methodists had an efficient organization that depended on itinerant ministers, known as
circuit riders, who sought out people in remote frontier locations. The circuit riders came from among the common people, which helped them establish rapport with the frontier families they hoped to convert.
Theology
Postmillennialist theology dominated American Protestantism in the first half of the 19th century. Postmillennialists believed that Christ will return to earth after the "
Millennium
A millennium () is a period of one thousand years, one hundred decades, or ten centuries, sometimes called a kiloannum (ka), or kiloyear (ky). Normally, the word is used specifically for periods of a thousand years that begin at the starting ...
", which could entail either a literal 1,000 years or a figurative "long period" of peace and happiness. Christians thus had a duty to purify society in preparation for that return. This duty extended beyond American borders to include
Christian Restorationism.
George Fredrickson argues that Postmillennial theology "was an impetus to the promotion of Progressive reforms, as historians have frequently pointed out."
[George M. Fredrickson, "The Coming of the Lord: The Northern Protestant Clergy and the Civil War Crisis," in ] During the Second Great Awakening of the 1830s, some
diviners expected the Millennium to arrive in a few years. By the late 1840s, however, the great day had receded to the distant future, and postmillennialism became a more passive religious dimension of the wider
middle-class
The middle class refers to a class of people in the middle of a social hierarchy, often defined by occupation, income, education, or social status. The term has historically been associated with modernity, capitalism and political debate. Commo ...
pursuit of reform and progress.
Burned-over district
Beginning in the 1820s,
Western New York
Western New York (WNY) is the westernmost region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. The eastern boundary of the region is not consistently defined by state agencies or those who call themselves "Western New Yorkers". Almost all so ...
State experienced a series of popular religious revivals that would later earn this region the nickname "the
burned-over district," which implied the area was set ablaze with spiritual fervor. This term, however, was not used by contemporaries in the first half of the nineteenth century, as it originates from
Charles Grandison Finney's ''Autobiography of Charles G Finney'' (1876), in which he writes, "I found that region of country what, in the western phrase, would be called, a 'burnt district.' There had been, a few years previously, a wild excitement passing through that region, which they called a revival of religion, but which turned out to be spurious." During this period, a number of
nonconformist,
folk religion, and
evangelical
Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...
sects flourished in the region.
The extent to which religious fervor actually affected the region was reassessed in last quarter of the twentieth century. Linda K. Pritchard used statistical data to show that compared to the rest of New York State, the
Ohio River Valley in the lower Midwest, and the country as a whole, the religiosity of the Burned-over District was typical rather than exceptional. More recent works, however, have argued that these revivals in Western New York had a unique and lasting impact upon the religious and social life of the entire nation.
West and Tidewater South
On the
American frontier
The American frontier, also known as the Old West, and popularly known as the Wild West, encompasses the Geography of the United States, geography, History of the United States, history, Folklore of the United States, folklore, and Cultur ...
, evangelical denominations, especially
Methodists and
Baptists
Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...
, sent missionary preachers and exhorters to meet the people in the backcountry in an effort to support the growth of church membership and the formation of new congregations. Another key component of the revivalists' techniques was the
camp meeting. These outdoor religious gatherings originated from field meetings and the
Scottish Presbyterian
Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...
s' "
Holy Fairs", which were brought to America in the mid-eighteenth century from
Ireland
Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
,
Scotland
Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
, and Britain's border counties. Most of the Scotch-Irish immigrants before the
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...
settled in the backcountry of
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...
and down the spine of the
Appalachian Mountains
The Appalachian Mountains, often called the Appalachians, are a mountain range in eastern to northeastern North America. The term "Appalachian" refers to several different regions associated with the mountain range, and its surrounding terrain ...
in present-day
Maryland
Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...
and
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...
, where Presbyterian emigrants and Baptists held large outdoor gatherings in the years prior to the war. The Presbyterians and Methodists sponsored similar gatherings on a regular basis after the Revolution.
The denominations that encouraged the revivals were based on an interpretation of man's spiritual equality before God, which led them to recruit members and preachers from a wide range of classes and all races. Baptists and Methodist revivals were successful in some parts of the
Tidewater South, where an increasing number of common planters,
plain folk, and slaves were converted.
West
In the newly settled frontier regions, the revival was implemented through camp meetings. These often provided the first encounter for some settlers with organized religion, and they were important as social venues. The camp meeting was a religious service of several days' length with preachers. Settlers in thinly populated areas gathered at the camp meeting for fellowship as well as worship. The sheer exhilaration of participating in a religious revival with crowds of hundreds and perhaps thousands of people inspired the dancing, shouting, and singing associated with these events. The revivals also followed an arc of great emotional power, with an emphasis on the individual's sins and need to turn to Christ, and a sense of restoring personal salvation. This differed from the Calvinists' belief in predestination as outlined in the
Westminster Confession of Faith, which emphasized the inability of men to save themselves and decreed that the only way to be saved was by God's electing grace. Upon their return home, most converts joined or created small local churches, which grew rapidly.
The
Revival of 1800 in
Logan County, Kentucky, began as a traditional Presbyterian sacramental occasion. The first informal camp meeting began in June, when people began camping on the grounds of the
Red River Meeting House. Subsequent meetings followed at the nearby
Gasper River and Muddy River congregations. All three of these congregations were under the ministry of Presbyterian Reverend James McGready. A year later, in August 1801, an even larger sacrament occasion that is generally considered to be America's first camp meeting was held at
Cane Ridge in
Bourbon County, Kentucky, under
Barton W. Stone (1772–1844) with numerous
Presbyterian
Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...
, Baptist, and Methodist ministers participating in the services. The six-day gathering attracting perhaps as many as 20,000 people, although the exact number of attendees was not formally recorded. Due to the efforts of such leaders as Stone and
Alexander Campbell (1788–1866), the camp meeting revival spread religious enthusiasm and became a major mode of church expansion, especially for the Methodists and Baptists.
[Douglas Foster, et al., ''The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement'' (2005)] Presbyterians and Methodists initially worked together to host the early camp meetings, but the Presbyterians eventually became less involved because of the noise and often raucous activities that occurred during the protracted sessions.
[
As a result of the Revival of 1800, the Cumberland Presbyterian Church was founded in 1810 near Dickson, Tennessee by the Revs: Samuel McAdow, Finis Ewing, and Samuel King and became a strong supporter of the revivalist movement. Cane Ridge was also instrumental in fostering what became known as the Restoration Movement, which consisted of non-denominational churches committed to what they viewed as the original, fundamental Christianity of the ]New Testament
The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...
. Churches with roots in this movement include the Churches of Christ
The Churches of Christ, also commonly known as the Church of Christ, is a loose association of autonomous Christian congregations located around the world. Typically, their distinguishing beliefs are that of the necessity of baptism for salvation ...
, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination in the United States and Canada. The denomination started with the Restoration Movement during the Second Great Awakening, first existing during the 19th ...
, and the Evangelical Christian Church in Canada. The congregations of these denomination were committed to individuals' achieving a personal relationship with Christ.
Church membership soars
The Methodist circuit riders and local Baptist preachers made enormous gains in increasing church membership. To a lesser extent the Presbyterians also gained members, particularly with the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in sparsely settled areas. As a result, the numerical strength of the Baptists and Methodists rose relative to that of the denominations dominant in the colonial period—the Anglicans, Presbyterians, Congregationalists. Among the new denominations that grew from the religious ferment of the Second Great Awakening are the Latter Day Saint movement
The Latter Day Saint movement (also called the LDS movement, LDS restorationist movement, or Smith–Rigdon movement) is the collection of independent church groups that trace their origins to a Christian Restorationist movement founded by ...
, Restoration Movement, Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses is a Christian denomination that is an outgrowth of the Bible Student movement founded by Charles Taze Russell in the nineteenth century. The denomination is nontrinitarian, millenarian, and restorationist. Russell co-fou ...
, Churches of Christ
The Churches of Christ, also commonly known as the Church of Christ, is a loose association of autonomous Christian congregations located around the world. Typically, their distinguishing beliefs are that of the necessity of baptism for salvation ...
, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination in the United States and Canada. The denomination started with the Restoration Movement during the Second Great Awakening, first existing during the 19th ...
, the Seventh-day Adventist Church
The Seventh-day Adventist Church (SDA) is an Adventist Protestant Christian denomination which is distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the seventh day of the week in the Christian (Gregorian) and the Hebrew calendar, as the Sa ...
, and the Evangelical Christian Church in Canada.[Sydney E. Ahlstrom, ''A Religious History of the American People'' (2004)][Melton, ''Encyclopedia of American Religions'' (2009)]
The converts during the Second Great Awakening were predominantly female. A 1932 source estimated at least three female converts to every two male converts between 1798 and 1826. Young people (those under 25) also converted in greater numbers, and were the first to convert.
New movements
Adventism
The Advent Movement emerged in the 1830s and 1840s in North America, and was preached by ministers such as William Miller, whose followers became known as Millerites
The Millerites were the followers of the teachings of William Miller, who in 1831 first shared publicly his belief that the Second Advent of Jesus Christ would occur in roughly the year 1843–1844. Coming during the Second Great Awakening, ...
. The name refers to belief in the soon Second Advent of Jesus (popularly known as the Second coming
The Second Coming (sometimes called the Second Advent or the Parousia) is the Christianity, Christian and Islam, Islamic belief that Jesus, Jesus Christ will return to Earth after his Ascension of Jesus, ascension to Heaven (Christianity), Heav ...
) and resulted in several major religious denominations, including Seventh-day Adventists, Advent Christians, and Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses is a Christian denomination that is an outgrowth of the Bible Student movement founded by Charles Taze Russell in the nineteenth century. The denomination is nontrinitarian, millenarian, and restorationist. Russell co-fou ...
.
Holiness movement
Though its roots are in the First Great Awakening and earlier, a re-emphasis on Wesleyan teachings on sanctification
Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual respect or devotion; or inspires awe or reverence among believers. The property is often ascribed to objects ( ...
emerged during the Second Great Awakening, leading to a distinction between Mainline Methodism and Holiness churches.
Restoration Movement
The idea of restoring a "primitive" form of Christianity grew in popularity in the U.S. after the American Revolution
The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...
.[C. Leonard Allen and Richard T. Hughes, ''Discovering Our Roots: The Ancestry of the Churches of Christ,'' Abilene Christian University Press, 1988, ] This desire to restore a purer form of Christianity without an elaborate hierarchy contributed to the development of many groups during the Second Great Awakening, including the Latter Day Saints and Shakers
The United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, more commonly known as the Shakers, are a Millenarianism, millenarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian sect founded in England and then organized in the Unit ...
. Several factors made the restoration sentiment particularly appealing during this time period:
* To immigrants in the early 19th century, the land in the United States seemed pristine, edenic and undefiled – "the perfect place to recover pure, uncorrupted and original Christianity" – and the tradition-bound European churches seemed out of place in this new setting.
* A primitive faith based on the Bible alone promised a way to sidestep the competing claims of the many denominations available and for congregations to find assurance of being right without the security of an established national church.
The Restoration Movement began during, and was greatly influenced by, the Second Great Awakening.[Douglas Allen Foster and Anthony L. Dunnavant, ''The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement: Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Christian Churches/Churches of Christ, Churches of Christ'', Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2004, , , 854 pages, entry on ''Great Awakenings''] While the leaders of one of the two primary groups making up this movement, Thomas Campbell and Alexander Campbell, resisted what they saw as the spiritual manipulation of the camp meetings, the revivals contributed to the development of the other major branch, led by Barton W. Stone. The Southern phase of the Awakening "was an important matrix of Barton Stone's reform movement" and shaped the evangelistic techniques used by both Stone and the Campbells.
Culture and society
Efforts to apply Christian teaching to the resolution of social problems presaged the Social Gospel of the late 19th century. Converts were taught that to achieve salvation they needed not just to repent personal sin but also work for the moral perfection of society, which meant eradicating sin in all its forms. Thus, evangelical converts were leading figures in a variety of 19th century reform movements.
Congregationalists set up missionary societies to evangelize the western territory of the northern tier. Members of these groups acted as apostles for the faith, and also as educators and exponents of northeastern urban culture. The Second Great Awakening served as an "organizing process" that created "a religious and educational infrastructure" across the western frontier that encompassed social networks, a religious journalism that provided mass communication, and church-related colleges. Publication and education societies promoted Christian education; most notable among them was the American Bible Society, founded in 1816. Women made up a large part of these voluntary societies. The Female Missionary Society and the Maternal Association, both active in Utica, NY, were highly organized and financially sophisticated women's organizations responsible for many of the evangelical converts of the New York frontier.
There were also societies that broadened their focus from traditional religious concerns to larger societal ones. These organizations were primarily sponsored by affluent women. They did not stem entirely from the Second Great Awakening, but the revivalist doctrine and the expectation that one's conversion would lead to personal action accelerated the role of women's social benevolence work. Social activism influenced abolition groups and supporters of the Temperance movement
The temperance movement is a social movement promoting Temperance (virtue), temperance or total abstinence from consumption of alcoholic beverages. Participants in the movement typically criticize alcohol intoxication or promote teetotalism, and ...
. They began efforts to reform prisons and care for the handicapped and mentally ill. They believed in the perfectibility of people and were highly moralistic in their endeavors.
African Americans
Baptists and Methodists in the South
South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both west and east.
Etymology
The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...
preached to slaveholders and slaves alike. Conversions and congregations started with the First Great Awakening, resulting in Baptist and Methodist preachers being authorized among slaves and free African Americans more than a decade before 1800. " Black Harry" Hosier, an illiterate freedman
A freedman or freedwoman is a person who has been released from slavery, usually by legal means. Historically, slaves were freed by manumission (granted freedom by their owners), emancipation (granted freedom as part of a larger group), or self- ...
who drove Francis Asbury on his circuits, proved to be able to memorize large passages of the Bible
The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...
verbatim and became a cross-over success, as popular among white audiences as the black ones Asbury had originally intended for him to minister.[Morgan, Philip. ''Slave Counterpoint: Black Culture in the Eighteenth-Century Chesapeake and Lowcountry'']
p. 655
UNC Press ( Chapel Hill), 1998. Accessed 17 October 2013. His sermon at Thomas Chapel in Chapeltown, Delaware
Delaware ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic states, South Atlantic regions of the United States. It borders Maryland to its south and west, Pennsylvania to its north, New Jersey ...
, in 1784 was the first to be delivered by a black preacher directly to a white congregation.[Smith, Jessie C. ''Black Firsts: 4,000 Ground-Breaking and Pioneering Historical Events'' (3rd ed.)]
pp. 1820–1821
"Methodists: 1781". Visible Ink Press ( Canton), 2013. Accessed 17 October 2013.
Despite being called the "greatest orator in America" by Benjamin Rush[Webb, Stephen H.]
Introducing Black Harry Hoosier: The History Behind Indiana's Namesake
. ''Indiana Magazine of History'', Vol. XCVIII (March 2002). Trustees of Indiana University. Accessed 17 October 2013. and one of the best in the world by Bishop Thomas Coke,[ Hosier was repeatedly passed over for ordination and permitted no vote during his attendance at the Christmas Conference that formally established American Methodism. Richard Allen, the other black attendee, was ordained by the Methodists in 1799, but his congregation of free African Americans in Philadelphia left the church there because of its discrimination. They founded the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME) in Philadelphia. After first submitting to oversight by the established Methodist bishops, several AME congregations finally left to form the first independent African-American denomination in the United States in 1816. Soon after, the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church (AME Zion) was founded as another denomination in New York City.
Early Baptist congregations were formed by slaves and free African Americans in South Carolina and Virginia. Especially in the Baptist Church, African Americans were welcomed as members and as preachers. By the early 19th century, independent African-American congregations numbered in the several hundreds in some cities of the South, such as ]Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the List of municipalities in South Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint of South Carolina's coastline on Charleston Harbor, an inlet of the Atla ...
, and Richmond and Petersburg, Virginia
Petersburg is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 33,458 with a majority bla ...
.[Albert J. Raboteau, ''Slave Religion: The 'Invisible Institution' in the Antebellum South''](_blank)
New York: Oxford University Press, 2004, p. 137, accessed 27 Dec 2008 With the growth in congregations and churches, Baptist associations formed in Virginia, for instance, as well as Kentucky and other states.
The revival also inspired slaves to demand freedom. In 1800, out of African-American revival meetings in Virginia, a plan for slave rebellion was devised by Gabriel Prosser, although the rebellion was discovered and crushed before it started. Despite white attempts to control independent African-American congregations, especially after the Nat Turner uprising of 1831, a number of African-American congregations managed to maintain their separation as independent congregations in Baptist associations. State legislatures passed laws requiring them always to have a white man present at their worship meetings.
Women
Women, who made up the majority of converts during the Awakening, played a crucial role in its development and focus. It is not clear why women converted in larger numbers than men. Various scholarly theories attribute the discrepancy to a reaction to the perceived sinfulness of youthful frivolity, an inherent greater sense of religiosity in women, a communal reaction to economic insecurity, or an assertion of the self in the face of patriarchal rule. Husbands, especially in the South, sometimes disapproved of their wives' conversion, forcing women to choose between submission to God or their spouses. Church membership and religious activity gave women peer support and place for meaningful activity outside the home, providing many women with communal identity and shared experiences.
Despite the predominance of women in the movement, they were not formally indoctrinated or given leading ministerial positions. However, women took other public roles; for example, relaying testimonials about their conversion experience, or assisting sinners (both male and female) through the conversion process. Leaders such as Charles Finney saw women's public prayer as a crucial aspect in preparing a community for revival and improving their efficacy in conversion. Women also took crucial roles in the conversion and religious upbringing of children. During the period of revival, mothers were seen as the moral and spiritual foundation of the family, and were thus tasked with instructing children in matters of religion and ethics.
The greatest change in women's roles stemmed from participation in newly formalized missionary and reform societies. Women's prayer groups were an early and socially acceptable form of women's organization. In the 1830s, female moral reform societies rapidly spread across the North making it the first predominantly female social movement. Through women's positions in these organizations, women gained influence outside of the private sphere.
Changing demographics of gender also affected religious doctrine. In an effort to give sermons that would resonate with the congregation, ministers stressed Christ's humility and forgiveness, in what the historian Barbara Welter calls a "feminization" of Christianity.
Prominent figures
* Richard Allen, founder, African Methodist Episcopal Church
The African Methodist Episcopal Church, usually called the AME Church or AME, is a Methodist denomination based in the United States. It adheres to Wesleyan theology, Wesleyan–Arminian theology and has a connexionalism, connexional polity. It ...
* Francis Asbury, Methodist, circuit rider and founder of the Methodist Episcopal Church
The Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC) was the oldest and largest Methodist denomination in the United States from its founding in 1784 until 1939. It was also the first religious denomination in the US to organize itself nationally. In 1939, th ...
* Henry Ward Beecher, Congregationalist, son of Lyman Beecher
* Lyman Beecher, Presbyterian
Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...
* Antoinette Brown Blackwell, Congregationalist and later Unitarian, the first ordained female minister in the United States
* Alexander Campbell, Presbyterian, and early leader of the Restoration Movement
* Thomas Campbell, Presbyterian, then early leader of the Restoration Movement
* Peter Cartwright, Methodist
Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...
* Lorenzo Dow, Methodist
* Timothy Dwight IV, Congregationalist
* Charles Grandison Finney, Presbyterian and anti-Calvinist
Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. In the modern day, it is largely represented by the Continental Reformed Protestantism, Continenta ...
, second president of Oberlin College
Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1833, it is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational lib ...
* " Black Harry" Hosier, Methodist, the first African American to preach to a white congregation
* Adoniram Judson, early Baptist missionary.
* Ann Lee, Shakers
The United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, more commonly known as the Shakers, are a Millenarianism, millenarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian sect founded in England and then organized in the Unit ...
* Jarena Lee, Methodist, a female AME circuit rider
* Robert Matthews, cult following as Matthias the Prophet
* William Miller, Millerism, forerunner of Adventism
Adventism is a branch of Protestant Christianity that believes in the imminent Second Coming (or the "Second Advent") of Jesus Christ. It originated in the 1830s in the United States during the Second Great Awakening when Baptist preacher Will ...
* Asahel Nettleton
Asahel Nettleton (April 21, 1783 – May 16, 1844) was an American theologian and Evangelist from Connecticut who was highly influential during the Second Great Awakening. The number of people converted to Christianity as a result of his minis ...
, Reformed
* Benjamin Randall, Free Will Baptist
* Luther Rice, Baptist missionary to India, and Baptist missionary in the US South
* Joseph Smith
Joseph Smith Jr. (December 23, 1805June 27, 1844) was an American religious and political leader and the founder of Mormonism and the Latter Day Saint movement. Publishing the Book of Mormon at the age of 24, Smith attracted tens of thou ...
, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...
, early leader of the Restoration Movement
* Barton Stone, Presbyterian non-Calvinist, then early leader of the Restoration Movement
* Nathaniel William Taylor, heterodox Calvinist
* Ellen G. White, Seventh-day Adventist Church
The Seventh-day Adventist Church (SDA) is an Adventist Protestant Christian denomination which is distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the seventh day of the week in the Christian (Gregorian) and the Hebrew calendar, as the Sa ...
prophetess
Political implications
Revivals and perfectionist hopes of improving individuals and society continued to increase from 1840 to 1865 across all major denominations, especially in urban areas. Evangelists often directly addressed issues such as slavery, greed, and poverty, laying the groundwork for later reform movements.[Timothy L. Smith, ''Revivalism and Social Reform: American Protestantism on the Eve of the Civil War'' (1957).] The influence of the Awakening continued in the form of more secular movements. In the midst of shifts in theology and church polity, American Christians began progressive movements to reform society during this period. Known commonly as antebellum reform, this phenomenon included reforms against the consumption of alcohol, for women's rights
Women's rights are the rights and Entitlement (fair division), entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st c ...
and abolition of slavery, and a multitude of other issues faced by society.
The religious enthusiasm of the Second Great Awakening was echoed by the new political enthusiasm of the Second Party System. More active participation in politics by more segments of the population brought religious and moral issues into the political sphere. The spirit of evangelical humanitarian reforms was carried on in the antebellum Whig party.[Daniel Walker Howe, "The Evangelical Movement and Political Culture in the North During the Second Party System", The Journal of American History 77, no. 4 (March 1991), p. 1218 and 1237.]
Historians stress the common understanding among participants of reform as being a part of God's plan. As a result, local churches saw their roles in society in purifying the world through the individuals to whom they could bring salvation, and through changes in the law and the creation of institutions. Interest in transforming the world was applied to mainstream political action, as temperance activists, antislavery advocates, and proponents of other variations of reform sought to implement their beliefs into national politics. While Protestant religion had previously played an important role on the American political scene, the Second Great Awakening strengthened the role it would play.
See also
* Advent Christian Church
* Christian revival
* Christianity in the 19th century
* The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...
* Cumberland Presbyterian Church
* Ethnocultural politics in the United States
* Holiness movement
* Restoration Movement
* Seventh-day Adventist Church
The Seventh-day Adventist Church (SDA) is an Adventist Protestant Christian denomination which is distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the seventh day of the week in the Christian (Gregorian) and the Hebrew calendar, as the Sa ...
References
Further reading
* Abzug, Robert H. ''Cosmos Crumbling: American Reform and the Religious Imagination'' (1994) ()
* Ahlstrom, Sydney. ''A Religious History of the American People'' (1972) ()
* Billington, Ray A. ''The Protestant Crusade.'' New York: The Macmillan Company, 1938.
* Birdsall, Richard D. "The Second Great Awakening and the New England Social Order", ''Church History'' 39 (1970): 345–364. .
* Bratt, James D. "Religious Anti-revivalism in Antebellum America", ''Journal of the Early Republic'' (2004) 24(1): 65–106. . .
* Brown, Kenneth O. ''Holy Ground; a Study on the American Camp Meeting.'' Garland Publishing, Inc., (1992).
* Brown, Kenneth O. ''Holy Ground, Too, the Camp Meeting Family Tree.'' Hazleton: Holiness Archives, (1997).
* Bruce, Dickson D. Jr. ''And They All Sang Hallelujah: Plain Folk Camp-Meeting Religion, 1800–1845'' (1974)
* Butler, Jon. ''Awash in a Sea of Faith: Christianizing the American People.'' 1990.
* Carwardine, Richard J. ''Evangelicals and Politics in Antebellum America.'' Yale University Press, 1993.
* Carwardine, Richard J. "The Second Great Awakening in the Urban Centers: An Examination of Methodism and the 'New Measures, ''Journal of American History'' 59 (1972): 327–340. . .
* Cott, Nancy F. "Young Women in the Second Great Awakening in New England," ''Feminist Studies,'' (1975), 3#1 pp. 15–29. .
* Cross, Whitney, R. ''The Burned-Over District: The Social and Intellectual History of Enthusiastic Religion in Western New York, 1800–1850'', (1950).
* Foster, Charles I. ''An Errand of Mercy: The Evangelical United Front, 1790–1837'', (University of North Carolina Press, 1960)
* Grainger, Brett. ''Church in the Wild: Evangelicals in Antebellum America'' (Harvard UP, 2019
online review
* Hambrick-Stowe, Charles. ''Charles G. Finney and the Spirit of American Evangelicalism.'' (1996).
* Hankins, Barry. ''The Second Great Awakening and the Transcendentalists.'' Greenwood, 2004.
* Hatch, Nathan O. ''The Democratization of American Christianity''. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1989.
* Heyrman, Christine Leigh. ''Southern Cross: The Beginnings of the Bible Belt'' (1997).
* Johnson, Charles A. "The Frontier Camp Meeting: Contemporary and Historical Appraisals, 1805–1840", ''The Mississippi Valley Historical Review'' (1950) 37#1 pp. 91–110. . .
* Kyle, I. Francis, III. ''An Uncommon Christian: James Brainerd Taylor, Forgotten Evangelist in America's Second Great Awakening'' (2008). Se
Uncommon Christian Ministries
* Long, Kimberly Bracken. "The Communion Sermons of James Mcgready: Sacramental Theology and Scots-Irish Piety on the Kentucky Frontier", ''Journal of Presbyterian History'', 2002 80(1): 3–16. . .
* Loveland Anne C. ''Southern Evangelicals and the Social Order, 1800–1860'', (1980)
* McLoughlin William G. ''Modern Revivalism'', 1959.
* McLoughlin William G. ''Revivals, Awakenings, and Reform: An Essay on Religion and Social Change in America, 1607–1977'', 1978.
* Marsden, George M. ''The Evangelical Mind and the New School Presbyterian Experience: A Case Study of Thought and Theology in Nineteenth-Century America'' (1970).
* Meyer, Neil. "Falling for the Lord: Shame, Revivalism, and the Origins of the Second Great Awakening." ''Early American Studies'' 9.1 (2011): 142–166. .
* Posey, Walter Brownlow. ''The Baptist Church in the Lower Mississippi Valley, 1776–1845'' (1957)
* Posey, Walter Brownlow. ''Frontier Mission: A History of Religion West of the Southern Appalachians to 1861'' (1966)
* Raboteau, Albert. ''Slave Religion: The "invisible Institution' in the Antebellum South'', (1979)
* Roth, Randolph A. ''The Democratic Dilemma: Religion, Reform, and the Social Order in the Connecticut River Valley of Vermont, 1791–1850'', (1987)
* Smith, Timothy L. ''Revivalism and Social Reform: American Protestantism on the Eve of the Civil War'' (1957)
Historiography
* Conforti, Joseph. "The Invention of the Great Awakening, 1795–1842". ''Early American Literature'' (1991): 99–118. .
* Griffin, Clifford S. "Religious Benevolence as Social Control, 1815–1860", ''The Mississippi Valley Historical Review'', (1957) 44#3 pp. 423–444. . .
* Mathews, Donald G. "The Second Great Awakening as an organizing process, 1780–1830: An hypothesis". ''American Quarterly'' (1969): 23–43. . .
* Shiels, Richard D. "The Second Great Awakening in Connecticut: Critique of the Traditional Interpretation", ''Church History'' 49 (1980): 401–415. .
* Varel, David A. "The Historiography of the Second Great Awakening and the Problem of Historical Causation, 1945–2005". ''Madison Historical Review'' (2014) 8#
online
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