Download 2nd Great Awakening

Second Great
Awakening
1800-1840
What Was It?
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New religious revivalism
Mostly in the rural areas of
New England, Middle States,
and Western areas of the U.S.
Camp-meetings --25, 000 at
some gatherings
Energetic and emotional;
based on revelation and faith
conversion
Faith over reason
Very democratic in nature
Majority were women
slaves
working class
Spread by itinerant preachers
Burned-Over District
Second Great Awakening:
Causes
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Secularism of the American Revolution
Scientific attacks on religion: the Enlightenment
Poor church attendance
New England: attacks on Puritan pre-destination
Apparent absence of God in daily lives
Market Revolution: The New Materialism
The Intensity of SGA
1831
Camp Meetings
Abolitionist Meetings
Cane Ridge Revival (1801)
"The noise was like the roar of
Niagara. The vast sea of human beings
seemed to be agitated as if by a storm.
I counted seven ministers, all
preaching at one time, some on stumps,
others in wagons and one standing on a
tree which had, in falling, lodged
against another. At one time I saw at
least five hundred swept down in a
moment as if a battery of a thousand
guns had been opened upon them, and
then immediately followed shrieks and
shouts that rent the very heavens.
Kentucky
Week long; 25,000 attendees
- James Finley, later a Methodist circuit rider
Why Did It Catch On?
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Upheaval caused by the
market revolution
Expanding transportation
network
Western expansion: Lack
of religion
Expanding slave
population
Economic uncertainty
caused by Panics of 1819
& 1837
Expanding middle class
Second Great Awakening:
A Comparison
First Great Awakening
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God Granted Salvation
Sinful nature of humans
Incapacity to change
behavior
“Fire and Brimstone”
Predestination
Spawned colleges
Second Great Awakening
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Individuals controlled
salvation
Innate goodness of humanity
Rejected predestination
Capacity to change behavior
Stressed personal
accountability
Spread and expanded religion
Emotional connection God
Also spawned colleges
George Finney
Most prominent and dynamic
preacher of the Second Awakening
Began preaching in
1829 in Upper New York
Impact
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Dramatically increased church attendance
Expanded Christianity
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Baptists
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Methodists
Provided for public participation for women: social outlet for middle
class
Emphasized the importance of religion for slaves
Emphasized the importance of missionary work amongst the
Indians and foreign nations
Emphasized the importance of missionary work amongst the Indians
and foreign nations
Spawned reform movements: Attempts at perfection: individuals and
society
Reform
Abolitionism
Reform
Temperance
Reform
Treatment of Mentally Ill
Dorothea Dix
Reform
Prison Reform
Reform
Utopian
Experiments
Reform
Education
Reform
Status of
Women
Reform
Juvenile Crime
Reform
Diet & Nutrition