Perusall Annotations Introduction

• branches of the Second Great Awakening Christianity differed greatly in their beliefs and practices
    * $Second Great Awakening:$ protestant religious revival in the US from about 1795-1835
• most of them preached:
    * salvation was an individual choice
    * $Millenarianism:$ the second coming of Christ was quickly coming
• they argued that the US had a divine mission to prepare world for the second coming
    * this meant not just saving souls, but remaking the entire society
• different groups of Americans would apply their religious beliefs to solve problems they saw in their country
    * they want to make the US as perfect as possible in comparison to other countries
    * these problems included, but weren’t limited to:
      * alcohol abuse
      * poverty
      * racial abuse
      * gender inequality
• women took on leading roles in the social reform movements
    * they overturned the ideal of domesticity
      * $domesticity:$ life at home taking care of your house and family
      * women were treated as if all women were good for was to cook, clean, and take care of the children at home (as if they had no other purpose)
• women’s equality was made into its own reform movement
• abolition was the most controversial and important reform cause
    * trying to end chattel slavery in the US
      * $chattel slavery:$ enslaving and owning of human and their children as property that are able to be bought, sold, and forced to work without pay
    * Blacks and Whites united to try to convince society that slavery was sinful
    * some radical abolitionists used the Second Great Awakening to ideas and theories to inspire the violent overthrow of slavery

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