The Second Great Awakening positively affected American culture. It is known for their revivals and their religious turn around, as well as how the culture of American people changed. Revivals were these camp meetings that 100s-1000s of people attended. There was singing, preaching, emotions and conversions. The Second Great Awakening was about people changing their freedom. Also, during that time, women and African American roles improved. It gave an enhancement to Baptists, Methodists and Presbyterians, it rejected predestination and believed that individuals could triumph over sin. During the movement, it emphasized emotion. Charles Grandison Finney once said, “Religion is the work of man. It is something for man to do” (Notes). He also believed that every one was a “moral free agent” – ‘that is, a person free to choose between a Christian life and sin’” (Foner, 272). He also came up with “new measures,” they “triggered alarm among conservative clergy” (Charles Grandison Finney Article). The new measures were to watch what the ministry was doing and if they were doing something that was not for the people to say something. He believed that God offered himself to everyone and we can only be saved through him (Charles Grandison Finney Article). …show more content…
It “encouraged identification of American freedom without the absence of restraints on self-directed individuals seeking economic and personal development” (Foner, 267). There are many things that the American culture is trying to do to become a culture where people have their right to do what they want because before the revivals they did not do too much, all the people did were work, cook and clean, there was nothing much to do unless you were an elite. So, for everyone else this was something that everyone was really into because it gave them something to do. The Second Great Awakening emphasized personal faithfulness over schooling and
After a classical education at Dartmouth, he started to read for the law before breaking it off, dissatisfied. While studying for the ministry at Yale, he was attracted by the Wesleyan doctrine of Holiness, and so began to follow a group of New Haven theologians who called them-selves Perfectionists. Christian perfection, according to the Wesleyan tradition, did not mean a reversal of the fall, but rather a maturity in faith and an increasing love of God. Faith working outwardly through love resulted in an ever purer and more
Walter Rauschenbusch is a clergyman and a theology professor who led the social movement in the United States. Rauschenbusch linked Christianity to emerging theories of democratic socialism which he believed would lead to a more equality and a fair society. The movement was lead between 1870 to 1920. The movement advocators interpreted that the Kingdom of God as requiring social as well as individual salvation and sought the betterment of the industrialized society as well as distinct salvation and pursued the betterment of industrialized society through the application of the bible. The Social Gospel was particularly publicized among liberal Protestants minster, which included Washington Gladden and Lyman Abbot.
Through the text, God, his abilities, and his manner of operating are the most constant subjects, which conveys that people were driven by their beliefs in God. The text manifests that “There is no fortress that is any defense from the power of God.” and that “The sword of divine justice is every moment brandished over their heads, and ‘tis nothing but the hand of arbitrary mercy, and God’s mere will, that holds it back.” (Belasco and Johnson 348). This shows that many Early American people believed that anyone against God or what they desired shall be “cast into hell” (Belasco and Johnson 348).
During the Great Awakening, New England colonies –experimented-- a period of spiritual renewal that involved rigorous, emotional prayer and vehement sermons. The purpose of this religious revival was to inspire people to attend to Church and convert nonbelievers. It is of our knowledge that Edwards grew up in an atmosphere composed of Puritan piety and teachings, therefore he was a liege believer in good and evil. According to Puritan doctrine, each individual is directly responsible to God, ergo they had to accept the consequences of their blasphemous actions. Jonathan Edwards was invited to lecture a Connecticut congregation the consequences of sin and being nonbelievers.
The awakening prompted changes in the value of politics and daily life, which enabled America to
He used passages from the bible to further support his religious standpoint, which was very logical. The structure and thought put into this sermon was made prominent to the Puritans, stirring up religious seriousness and creating action to be done within their beliefs. The well execution and
He speaks about his beliefs and God in a very negative way. He and other Puritans “felt that their congregations had grown too complacent, or self-satisfied” (Applebee et all 152). They thought that this profusely angered God . He believes that it is already decided if people are going to Heaven or Hell. He shows this by saying, “So that, thus it is natural men are held in the of God, over the pit of hell; they have deserved the fiery pit, and are already sentenced to it”
On the other hand, the Second Great Awakening celebrated personal self-improvement and self-determination which swept the country. This religious revival was originally created by religious leaders who
One of his well-known sermon is “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” preached at the meeting house in the village of Enfield, Connecticut, on Sunday, July 8, 1741, at the height of the great awakening. In this sermon, Edwards focused on the consequences of leading a sinful life, the power of God and repenting of ones sins, in order to be saved from hell. The purpose behind this piece of writing was not to terrorize or dismay the hearers, but to make them repent and believe in God again. This piece was aimed at those who lacked belief in God as well as churches.
In the wake of the second Great Awakening in the early 1800’s, societal morals regarding slavery, lack of rights for women, the prison system, education, and other institutions were questioned. Unitarianism stressed salvation through good works, and both religious converts and transcendentalists initiated social reform movements in an attempt to improve the moral state of America. Two of these movements that included perhaps the most controversy and struggle included abolitionism and women’s rights. Although both the abolitionist and women’s rights movements were able to eventually create lasting societal and political change, the fact that only a small portion of the population had any democratic rights showed the initial weaknesses of American democracy.
At the beginning of the nineteenth century, American society began to focus on the welfare of minority groups. Women’s suffrage and abolition were rooted as deeply as the history of America, but asylum and prison reform sprouted with the Second Great Awakening, a movement that occurred in the early 1800s. The Second Great Awakening was led by religious leaders who advocated for changes in American society through the unity of the American people (Doc. Due to the Second Great Awakening, reform movements were established between 1825 and 1850 in order to represent the changes the people sought for in the issues of slavery, suffrage, and asylum and prison reform. The social aspect of the abolition movement led to the visible democratic changes in society and politics.
The Second Great Awakening, beginning in about 1790, influenced a reform movement that encouraged mandatory, free, public education. In 1805, the New York Public School Society was created by wealthy businessmen and was intended to provide education for poor children. In 1817, a town meeting in Boston, Massachusetts called for establishment of free public primary schools. Many wage earners opposed this proposal. Josiah Quincy, mayor of Boston, supported the idea that education should be a priority by saying, “(By) 1820, an English classical school is established, having for its object to enable the mercantile and mechanical classes to obtain an education adapted for those children whom their parents wished to qualify for active life, and thus
Reform movements sought to expand democratic ideals in the years 1825 to 1850. These reform movements ranged from religion to women’s rights. While some movements were a success there were failures as well such as nativism and utopias. They failed to exemplify to democratic society. The reform movements were ignited by the Second Great Awakening.
Slavery was a major part of the american way of life, but there were many causes of the resistance to it. Even though many states in the United States opposed and are resisting the act of slavery, many events had a big impact on the ending of slavery. The second great awakening, industrial revolution, and abolishment movement are underlying forces of growing opposition to slavery in the United States from 1776 to 1852. The opposition and abolishment of slavery changed american history.
The market revolution produced new technological advances which brought America into a new era. However, with this powerful new change reform was inevitable. The roads, canals, and trains of the new revolution changed the producers’ market into a large pool of buyers rather than only aiming to be self-sufficient. The Second Great Awakening revived many Americans in order to save them from the evils of greed centered market society. The protestant revival movement also served the purpose of reuniting split communities and saving those who could not manipulate the market for their own fortune.