Evangelicalism In The Second Great Awakening

While new religious ideas fanned out and denominations proliferated, social activism, in response, also began to escalate. The Second Great Awakening stirred the initiation of

God would choose a select few to save as per his sovereign plan. Once chosen, the select few would be justified by faith alone. The select few would still be subject to backsliding because of the weak human nature, and would, therefore, make efforts to live in Godly ways (Bryant 7). Between 1830 and 1850, this doctrinal conservatism was widely adopted by many people in the rural parts of the United States. The revivalist adopted reform as a preparation to receive grace rather than as a means to grace. The sin of the flesh such as drunkenness was used to mark evil doing with the aim of convincing sinners to receive grace. Sobriety was construed as a marker of grace for those converted. This reformism caught on widely, particularly in New York. The Great Awakening was moved in its fervor with the intense migration from the East to Mississippi Valley. This resulted in the development of a common religious culture in the Mississippi valley that is persistent to the present day.

The Second Great Awakening refers to a period of religious revivals that occurred in the United States in the 1830s. After this, many more Americans became Christians. The Second Great Awakening made Americans want to reform the United States. Reformers began gathering many social and political changes. There was a push to prohibit alcoholic beverages, to increase public education, to support rights for women, and to outlaw war. One of the movements to arise out of the Reform movements was the Abolition Movement which called for immediate end for slavery. Therefore, the Second Great Awakening and the reform movements that it inspired helped

The Second Great Awakening revolved around the new concept of national reform through religious and moral changes. These changes and transitions occurred for the benefit of the country, by withdrawing the negative aspects of society such as alcohol overuse, low quality education and prisons, and most notably slavery. Religious leaders encouraged salvation and worshipping the Christian God to be best solution for successfully reforming and improving the nation’s predicaments. Religious ideas had a remarkable role constructing reform movements in the first half of the nineteenth century in behalf of religion offering the most moral and logical path towards a better society. People of the United States were in necessity of reforms, applying the religious ideas opened up new resolutions for all classes, races, and groups of people.

Between 1820 and 1860, Americans constructed 40,000 new churches compared to the 10,000 they constructed in the 40 years before 1820. At the end of the revival period, ”one-third of all Americans attended church regularly.”(P.400) Many of the early revival preachers embraced Christian evangelicalism, the established groups sought to take advantage of the popular enthusiasm to build their particular denominations. Methodists and the Baptists established themselves as leading American denominations as a result of the Second Great Awakening. The two faiths had a mutual sense of affinity with regard to doctrine, but the Baptists created a radically decentralized hierarchy that empowered local ministers and individual churches.

In African-American history, "the church" has been the center of Black communities and has been established as the greatest source for African American religious enrichment and development. The term, "the Black Church” represents many details of racial and religious lifestyles unique to Black history. By 1700, most Protestant and Catholic slave owners came to a conclusion, that if a slave had a soul, conversion to Christianity had no effect on them being a slave. Some slave owners searched for passages in the Bible that made it sound as if the Bible approved the enslavement of black men and woman. During the 1730s, the "Great Awakening" movement brought about a demand for the use of livelier music called hymns in worship service. This new

The major changes in American religion that occurred in the early nineteenth century were the Second Great Awakening. The Second Great Awakening was a Christian Revival movement during the early nineteenth century. The movement began around 1800, it had begun to gain momentum from the 1820. With the Second Great Awakening; new religions were established, there were different academic curriculums, a change from the trinity to just one deity and they would touch on American culture and reform.

The Second Great Awakening accentuated belief and impacted later change developments, for example, those concerning moderation, instruction, ladies' rights, and eradication. The Second Great Awakening and the reform developments that grew all through the historical America had to do with enhancing the "ethical strength" of the country. The Great Awakening was a spiritual development, so these changes happened in light of the fact that liquor, education, ladies' rights, and nullification were incorporated with religion. In the late 1820s, a few campaigners composed the Temperance Movement. This development was a crusade against liquor misuse. Some felt that the utilization and creation of liquor ought to be limited for it totally conflicted

Some called it the Second Great Awakening because it “raised people’s hopes for the second coming of the Christian messiah and the establishment of God’s kingdom on earth.” (Norton, et. al., Mindtap, 10-7) With industrialization on the rise and new cities in development, many people began to take certain aspects of culture as symbols of evil. The Second Great Awakening was a way to prevent evil in American cities in the hope of creating a perfect Christian society. “Revivalists strove for large-scale conversions. Rural women, men, and children traveled long distances to camp meetings, where they heard fiery sermons preached day and night from hastily constructed platforms and tents in forests or fields.” (Norton, et. al., Mindtap, 10-7) Many people were traveling great distances to hear sermons because they were persuaded to believe that society needed to be cleansed before the messiah’s return. The most popular preachers of this revival were Lyman Beecher and Charles G. Finney. These two preachers “argued that evil was avoidable,” and anyone could be cleansed from sin. (Norton, et. al., Mindtap, 10-7a) Charles G. Finney was a law-turned-Presbyterian minister who conducted revivals in towns along the Erie Canal. Finney was most successful in conversions in New York. New York at the time was experiencing a high level of technologic change. Along with technologic advancement

The First Great Awakening was a religious movement that took place between 1720 and 1750, affecting every colony and greatly affecting history (Garrigus). People started feeling that religion was dull and not as significant as it once was seen (Ppt). Preachers began to feel like people were not putting their emotions on their faith. They wanted people to be physically and emotionally involved (Garrigus). This is where Christians began to turn away from the standard approach of worship. The Great Awakening created a substantial change on how early American’s viewed worship, social standards, political standards, economical standards, and Christianity.

The First Great Awakening spread throughout the 13 colonies as an emotional religious revival movement from 1720s to 1740s that appeared due to the increase of secularism and rationalism religion in which evangelist had challenged established denominations and pushed towards a more personal relationship with God (3 + 12).The Second Great Awakening was a religious revival movement from in the 19th century, which called for an individualized relationship between the people and God, promoting it through Baptist and Methodist beliefs, which held a more egalitarian attitude in the case of everyone being able to achieve salvation. The First Great Awakening and Second Great Awakening both transformed religious ideology by introducing individualism, a belief where men have a closer and direct relationship with God. The First and Second Great Awakenings had a transformation in their methods of worship with a change in venue, with the First Great Awakening having people preach to the masses on the street corners outside; while in the Second Great Awakening, having revivals and camp meetings with people screaming and jumping, a change from the traditional, to a wholly new method of worship.

The Great Awakening was a series of religious revivals that greatly contributed to the separation of church and state, it did this because it played a part in the growth of different types of Protestantism. In addition, the Great Awakening embraced evangelical style teachings and focused on church congregations. Furthermore, the Great Awakening formed new boundaries between the church and state that before were nonexistent by changing church membership requirements, growth in the variety of religion and making religion a more emotional and personal experience.

Religion has been around since the discovery of America. Many European immigrants came to America to escape the traditions of the Church of England. The people wanted religious freedom. Most, however, tried to force their religious beliefs on the people who came to settle in their colonies creating a divide. It wasn’t until The Great Awakening, which started in the New England colonies, occurred that people rose up and revolted against the norms of religion and began to worship the way they wanted to. This divisive time period greatly impacted the American colonies by allowing true religious freedom to all the people.

In the Social Order the Evangelicalism way where fulfilled by having big impacts in many ways. They group had significant affects on three aspects of American culture. One of the three aspects was the drinking habit of the people. Another aspect was ideals of women and the family. Also another aspect and probably the most important to the group were the Protestant attitudes towards a growing population of Roman Catholics.

Nevertheless, these striking movements of the nineteenth century, however, did not surge along customary denominational lines. Consequently, these increasing liberties of the times allowed Christians to make a host of spiritual societies to minister to English life in some very important way or to transmit the gospel abroad. Nonetheless, these societies were not churches in the customary sense of sacraments, religious doctrines, and predestined ministers. Therefore, these were groups of private Christians working for some exact objective, the delivery of Bibles, and for the relief of poor people. “They emphasized the apostolic succession of bishops through history and the Church’s, God-given authority to teach