After the Revolutionary War, there was a period of massive religious changes called the Second Great Awakening. Like the First, church membership increased and many preachers traveled the country spreading their beliefs about Christianity.
The First was caused by the orthodoxy and boringness of Calvinist (Puritan) churches. When people like Whitefield starting storytelling rather than talking typical preacher talk, many more people became interested and involved, reviving religion's importance in people's lives.
The Second was caused (again) by declining church attendance. People believed that going to church wasn't the deciding factor to get into heaven; instead, god would judge people based on how they lived their lives. Other people became too busy (thanks to the Market Revolution) to attend church. Thus, churches were low on attendance and wanted to increase it.
The way they increased attendance was with religious revivals. The success of Whitefield's style of preaching (all emotion, no dry rhetoric) inspired similar preaching. This too proved successful; thousands of people would gather in so called "camp meetings," where multiple preachers would speak over several days. The revivals were to convince people that they needed God (and therefore needed church too).
But the revivals did more than just help existing churches. New religious sects (like the Mormons and 7th Day Adventists) were created, but people also created groups focused on non-religious reform. Among these were abolitionist, women's rights, and education groups.
Overall, though the Second Great Awakening was similar to the First, it had more wide reaching effects.
Sources:
http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Second_Great_Awakening
https://www.davis.k12.ut.us/cms/lib09/UT01001306/Centricity/Domain/8236/Great%20Awakenings.pdf
I personally find the Second Great Awakening in many ways similar to the First in that the revival of religion has led to more community events and connection between citizens. I did not know that there were almost religious seminars, or "camp meetings," where different religious leaders spoke to groups of people to remind them that they needed God in their lives. One camp in particular, the Cane Ridge camp meeting, had between 10,000 and 25,000 people, and many people experienced bizarre emotions, such as entrancement, hysteria, and harsh twitching. These events were later believed to have arisen from the large crowds, and possibly claustrophobia.
ReplyDeleteSource: https://www.christianhistoryinstitute.org/magazine/article/return-of-the-spirit-second-great-awakening/
Anya, I found your article to be interesting and enlightening. The comparison between the First and Second Great Awakenings was well done, and I was surprised to learn that the Mormons arose during this period. One question I have is in regards to the location of the Second Great Awakening. The First Great Awakening was fairly wide in its influence, but was the Second Great Awakening similarly so? Where specifically in America did it have influence?
ReplyDeleteAnya, I thought you did a great job comparing and drawing parallels between the first and second great awakenings. I was wondering how Mormonism was founded in the context of the Second Great Awakening, and what exactly caused them to start their branch of religion in present day Salt Lake City UT. Also, do you think that the oncoming Belle Epoque era had anything to do with the creation of new denominations and religious beliefs?
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