WC

Great Awakening lecture

Canvas Review Quiz

  • Due tonight, focus on William Miller

Introduction to Religion and the Antebellum Period

  • Timeframe of discussion: Early 19th Century

  • Central Topic: The Second Great Awakening

Overview of the Great Awakenings

  • First Great Awakening:

    • Series of religious revivals in the 13 colonies

    • Contributed to the American Revolution

  • Second Great Awakening:

    • Occurred about 100 years later in the early 1800s

    • Main Argument: Made American Christianity more evangelical and democratic

    • Timeframe: 1810s to 1840s

Characteristics of the Second Great Awakening

  • Connected to economic and social changes of the antebellum period

  • Comparison with First Great Awakening:

    • Similarity: Emotional outdoor revivals

    • Difference: Increased emotionality in worship and a focus on individual experiences

Revival Meetings

  • Features of Revivals:

    • Outdoor settings, traveling preachers

    • Emotional experiences: crying, yelling, fainting, running, shouting, speaking in tongues, singing

    • Visitor experience quoted:

    • "The noise was that like the roar of Niagara Falls… My heart beat tumultuously, my knees trembled…"

  • Chaotic atmosphere elevating the emotional spiritual experience

Theological Shifts

  • Departure from Calvinism:

    • Predestination:

    • Traditional Calvinist belief that God predetermined one's eternal fate

    • Dominant in New England, especially among Puritans

    • In the Second Great Awakening:

    • Ministers emphasized free will

    • Assurance of salvation for those who experience personal conversion

Key Figures

  • Charles Grandison Finney:

    • Leading minister of the Second Great Awakening

    • Background: Poor farming family, originally planned to be a lawyer

    • Conversion: Intense revival experience led him to ministry at age 31

    • Revival preaching along Erie Canal, promoting emotional appeals for conversion

    • Introduced the Anxious Bench to compel attendees to come forward for salvation

    • Quote from Finney:

    • "God has made man a moral agent who can choose salvation over hell fire."

Growth of Evangelicalism

  • Definition of Evangelicalism:

    • Aggressive spread of Christianity

  • Dominance of Baptist and Methodist Denominations:

    • By 1860, 70% of Protestants were Baptists or Methodists

    • Baptist practices emphasize adult baptism for personal meaning

    • Methodists utilized Circuit Riders to reach rural areas

    • Preachers traveled large distances to spread their message

Democratic Aspects of the Second Great Awakening

  • Widening of who could preach and hold authority, including:

    • Women and African American ministers preaching to mixed crowds

  • Following conversion, congregants expected to work towards societal improvement, as reflected in:

    • Perfectionism: Belief in the ability to perfect the world, remove sin, and convert non-believers.

    • Reform movements emerged, including missionaries, literacy efforts, establishment of libraries, and Sunday schools

    • American Tract Society: Published 65 million pages emphasizing Protestant values

    • Reform movements that emerged included:

    • Temperance

    • Anti-prostitution

    • Anti-poverty

    • Prison and asylum reform

    • Women's suffrage

    • Anti-slavery

Relationship to the Market Revolution

  • Second Great Awakening strongest in areas affected by the Market Revolution:

    • Northeastern regions along new canals, roads, and rail systems

  • Reasons for Revivals in Commercial Areas:

    • Mobility and social change created a need for community and shared experiences

    • Democratic impulses reflected in both religious revivalism and social movements of the antebellum period

Impact on the South and Frederick Douglass's Account

  • Fewer revivals in the South, reflecting its rural, slave society nature

  • Notable Account from Frederick Douglass:

    • His master's conversion did not lead to a change in his treatment of slaves

    • Douglass observed, "I was disappointed… it made him more cruel and hateful in all his ways…"

Emergence of New Religious Movements

  • New sects arose beyond traditional Christianity:

    • Context of an open, democratic preaching environment allowed for diverse interpretations

  • William Miller and Adventism:

    • Predicted the end of the world using biblical interpretations

    • Gained followers through mathematical predictions for the apocalypse,

    • Notably, predicted October 22, 1844, which resulted in The Great Disappointment when nothing occurred

  • Joseph Smith and Mormonism:

    • Founded Latter-day Saints, experienced persecution, and migrated westward due to opposition

  • Spiritualism:

    • Founded by Fox sisters, involved communication with the dead, offering comfort and the notion of an afterlife

    • Reflected the emotional appeal of connecting with deceased loved ones in the high-mortality 19th century

Conclusion

  • The Second Great Awakening marked a significant turn towards more evangelical, democratic, and varied religious expressions in America, leading to transformative social and cultural changes during the antebellum period.