Download Second Great Awakening 2013

Second Great Awakening
Democratic Religion?
Revival of interest in relig
 Focus on Bible, need all to read, interpret
 Possibly because of social anxiety (econ,
urban, women, etc.)

At same time as . . .
Spread of universal white male suffrage
 Growth of educational opportunities, esp.
lyceums
 Hoopla for “common man”
 Tech change made material culture
cheaper
 Believed tech could solve probs
 Belief in “self-made man” – success up to
you

And . . .
Availability of land important part of
democracy
 Wilderness made America different from
Europe, part of US identity


Democracy, Individuality, Progress
Edwin Church
Natural
Bridge,
Virginia
Hudson River School
NOT ed institution!
 Romanticism
 Idealized nature
 Peaceful coexistence
 Expansion, settlement
 Nationalistic, proud
 Large canvases

Thomas Cole, The Oxbow
“Why, I can be saved!”
Individ responsible for salvation, so no
predestination
 Emotional response; reject rationalism
 Active! Revivalist! Intense!
 “Fanatical and almost wild spiritualism”
 Camp meeting in absence of churches

Missionary aspects
Individual can change
 Society can change
 Growth of sects, denominations
 Faith + good works = salvation
 Volunteer work
 U.S. is “called nation”
 At least 80 communal experiments active
in 1840s

How fit with rest of chapter?
Brook Farm
Started by Unitarians, inspired by
Transcendentalism
 Joint-stock ($500 entry fee)
 Share work, worth based on work done
 Balance labor and leisure
 Meant as example to rest of world of
“industry without drudgery, true equality
w/o vulgarity.”

Farming = close to nature, independence
 Lots of playing, dancing at The Hive
 Individual freedom, incl. wives from
husbands
 Fails after 6 years

Fruitlands

Vegetarian, whatever grows up (no roots)
Oneida
Abandonment of self for good of whole
 “Bible communism”
 Share children (nurseries), wives (complex
marriage), secrets (Criticism)
 Perfectionism

Oberlin College
1832 idea of Oberlin College and colony –
a pastor and his friend decided to found "A
new Jerusalem, a city without sin, in the
wilderness."
 Charles Finney becomes president soon
after
 Admits women and African-Americans
 Stop on Underground Railroad

Artwork at Oberlin