A Shopkeeper's Millennium By Paul E. Johnson

In his exceptionally well-written book, A Shopkeeper’s Millennium, Paul E. Johnson illustrates the dramatic changes in American economics, politics, and religion during the Second Great Awakening through profiling the new city of Rochester, New York. Through his thoroughly-researched depiction of life from the year 1815 to 1837, Johnson seeks to explain how the religious revival in Rochester changed the lives of middle class members and thus Rochester’s society. He further strives to prove his point by showing how the Rochester revival related to what was happening in the rest of America at that time.

The early nineteenth century saw a time of growth for many cities in the Northern United States, including Rochester. In the fifteen years between

In an essay on the subject of religious revivals, Nathan O. Hatch, among other remarks on the empowerment and different directions of the revival time, states that, “the wave of popular religious movements that broke upon the United States in the half century after independence did more to Christianize America society than anything before or since.” Collectively, these revivals are often referred to as the Second Great Awakening. Revivalists across the country called upon others to renounce “evil” things, such as drinking and using swear words. They hoped such positive behavioral changes would bring about Christ’s Second Coming and the millennium of peace to follow it. When one such revivalist, Charles Finney, arrived in Rochester, he found a relatively young town bursting with men of the working class and a government aimed toward outlawing sinful activities. To help the reader understand what Finney encountered, Johnson introduces Rochester economy and

He introduces this topic with the statement that the government of Rochester was the only institution in town that could regulate those people causing trouble in the town. These people could not be controlled by the church, household leaders, or the relationships within the community. This leads into discussion about the separate factions that began to develop and eventually a reorganizing of the town government. Issues such as temperance (abstaining from alcohol consumption) and social behavioral informalities were part of the cause for the government change: the government needed the power to “outlaw