The Second Great Awakening marked a fundamental transition in American religious life. Many early American religious groups in the Calvinist tradition had emphasized the deep depravity of human beings and believed they could only be saved through the grace of God. The new evangelical movement, however, placed greater emphasis on humans' ability to change their situation for the better. By stressing that individuals could assert their free will in choosing to be saved and by suggesting that salvation was open to all human beings, the Second Great Awakening embraced a more optimistic view of the human condition. The repeated and varied revivals of these several decades helped make the United States a much more deeply protestant nation than it had been before.
Church Membership SoarsThe Methodist circuit riders and local Baptist preachers made enormous gains during the second great awakening. As a result, the numerical strength of the Baptists and Methodists rose relative to that of the denominations dominant in the colonial period. The converts during the Second Great Awakening were predominantly female. Younger people also converted in greater numbers, and were the first to convert. |
Impact of the Second Great Awakening
The Second Great Awakening was extremely important as it led to the establishment of reform movements to address injustices and alleviate suffering such as the Temperance Movement, the Women's suffrage Movement and the Abolitionist Movement in which people advocated for emancipation on religious grounds.
Women's Suffrage
Women, who made up the larger part of converts amid the Awakening, assumed a pivotal part in its advancement and core interest. Church enrollment and religious action gave women peer support and a place for significant action outside the home, providing numerous women with mutual character and shared encounters. Amid the time of the revival, mothers were viewed as the ethical and religious foundations of the family, and were accordingly entrusted with educating youngsters in issues of religion and morals. The largest change in women's roles originated from support in recently formalized missionary and reform societies. Women's devotion gatherings were an early and socially adequate type of women's association. Through their positions in these associations, women picked up impact outside of the private circle. Changing socioeconomics of gender likewise influenced religious precept. With an end goal to give messages that would reverberate with the assembly, clergymen focused on Christ's humility and pardoning.
Women, who made up the larger part of converts amid the Awakening, assumed a pivotal part in its advancement and core interest. Church enrollment and religious action gave women peer support and a place for significant action outside the home, providing numerous women with mutual character and shared encounters. Amid the time of the revival, mothers were viewed as the ethical and religious foundations of the family, and were accordingly entrusted with educating youngsters in issues of religion and morals. The largest change in women's roles originated from support in recently formalized missionary and reform societies. Women's devotion gatherings were an early and socially adequate type of women's association. Through their positions in these associations, women picked up impact outside of the private circle. Changing socioeconomics of gender likewise influenced religious precept. With an end goal to give messages that would reverberate with the assembly, clergymen focused on Christ's humility and pardoning.
Abolitionist Movement
The Abolitionist Movement, or the freedom of slaves, had roots in the Second Great Awakening. Early Baptist assemblies were shaped by slaves and free African Americans in South Carolina and Virginia. Particularly 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 hundred in some cities of the South, such as Charleston, South Carolina, and Richmond and Petersburg, Virginia. 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.
The Abolitionist Movement, or the freedom of slaves, had roots in the Second Great Awakening. Early Baptist assemblies were shaped by slaves and free African Americans in South Carolina and Virginia. Particularly 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 hundred in some cities of the South, such as Charleston, South Carolina, and Richmond and Petersburg, Virginia. 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.
Temperance Movement
The goal of the temperance movement was to decrease people's drinking habits originally, and eventually tried to stop them altogether. Women did not want their husbands to come home drunk and angry, nor did business owners want hungover or still drunk workers. Ministers wanted people to drink less so their would be more attendance at Church on Sunday. The Cold Water Army and the Temperance Movement were both formed in support of this movement. The eighteenth amendment in 1919 actually accomplished prohibition in America.