ipl-logo

Essay On The Second Great Awakening

809 Words4 Pages

In the mid 18th century, the First Great Awakening swept across British North America. The decline of orthodox Calvinist belief made way for the protestant perspective of christianity. The most influential preachers for this awakening were Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield. John Edwards, as he started it. Edwards started in 1930 Massachusetts. He was inspired by the lack of believe that humans were truly sinful, and destined for hell. He then began traveling around the country, delivering intense, and emotional, theatric sermons.He taught that every person would go to hell unless they changed their behavior, and surrender their soul to God. This new, reformed Protestant belief was centered obedience to God’s will in order to gain access …show more content…

This allowed for religious ideas to flow easily, growing the awakening even more. He was so influential, even Ben Franklin printed his works. Whitefield preached discipline, social harmony, and morality. He also brought old, conservative churches into the light, by igniting debates. America became a frenzy of “old vs. new light” debates; they weren’t expecting such a religious upset. This awakening had lasting effects. The idea that old white men had all of the opinion in religion was thrown out, and societal bonds began to weaken.
The Second Great Awakening began in 1801. It is still of Protestant origin, but this awakening is far more experimental. Many new beliefs entered the mix, such as methodists, baptists, and African congregations. Now that the establishment clause was in effect, churches had to think of new ways to get people go go, and support them. This resulted in a spike in church attendance. Before it started, a mere 1 in 20 Americans attended church regularly, but the number raised to 1 in 7 by 1830. This caused a shift from the popularization of Protestant beliefs to the Evangelical. They focused on an idea called perfectionism. Perfectionism required the person to conquer the sin

Show More
Related
466 Words | 2 Pages

America’s Bible culture began with the colonists’ prevalent usage of the KJV Bible. With an increasing Protestant identity in the colonies and the conviction that God’s favor was upon the land, two Great Awakenings surfaced in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The first Awakening, led by a KJV Bible inspired Methodist, George Whitefield, emphasized the personal conversion experience. The movement along with the KJV Bible spread throughout the south paving the way for the second Great Awakening, which was in part formed out of resistance to American deism. Stressing a morally reformed Christian nation, the second Great Awakening brought about a form of evangelical Christianity.

Read More
1359 Words | 6 Pages

During this time many people wanted to continue with slavery and treat others inferior. However, in the sermons given out about Chirstianity people spread the message that everyone is equal to God which is why slavery should be abolished. In document 3, Walker talks about the importance of being free and reaches out to people to become abolitionists and to slaves to fight for their freedom. This is significant because the author wants to help abolish slavery due to all of the suffering slaves have gone through and he does this to support the idea that everyone is the same and that they should show God that they can fight for their freedom. This shows that the religious ideas of the Second Great Awakening did have a great impact in the slavery abolition movements because due to the sermons and the idea that everyone is equal in God’s perspective many people were influenced to become abolitionists and help end slavery.

Read More
592 Words | 3 Pages

This revival also brought new missionaries to go and preach to the Native Americans and black slaves which spread the message to thousands and thousands of more

Read More
844 Words | 4 Pages

As urbanization continued to expand, many issues were prevalent and visible to the public due to the presence of muckrakers. This caused outrage from different types of people, all advocating for one goal: the common man's rights. The progressive era advocated for some changes similar to the Second Great Awakening. However, these changes were felt much more throughout society. Progressive reforms in the late 19th century began to shape the future of the United States, pivotal changes took place in American society including political, temperance, and women's rights changes.

Read More
1757 Words | 8 Pages

Butler, on the other hand, describes the Great Awakening as multiple sporadic events that appeared too erratically and in too few colonies for such generalizations to be accurate (“Enthusiasm Described and Decried” 319). Butler states that the revivals were regional events and only occurred in half the colonies. Literally every Great Awakening study and general history focuses on the New England region, but then apply the impacts in this region alone to the entire colonial region (“Enthusiasm Described and Decried” 319). Butler brings forward the further evidence that the term Great Awakening was never even used by people in prerevolutionary society, and was developed by historians in the late 19th century who probably exaggerated the event’s impact. The only exhibit of the term “Great Awakening” being used at the time was in an essay by the preacher Jonathan Edwards, however, he used it interchangeably with terms like “religious flourishing”, except by Jonathan Edwards in one writing, but he used it interchangeably with words like “religious flourishing”, which Butler says was a more accurate description of the time period(“Enthusiasm Described and Decried” 319).

Read More
1763 Words | 8 Pages

Literary analysis of “The sinners in the hands of an angry god” The great awakening was a religious revival that occurred in the 1730s and 1740s. It started in England and then gradually made its way over to the American colonies. During this time, many different preachers and religious speakers went around and gave speeches to the people. Jonathan Edwards was one of Americas most important and original philosophical theologians who also went around and gave speeches about God and hell.

Read More
532 Words | 3 Pages

The American Enlightenment and the Great Awakening were two very important motivators that changed the colonial society in America through religious beliefs, educational values, and the right to live one’s life according to each individual’s preference. The Great Awakening and the American Enlightenment movements were two events in history that signaled a grand distinction to the teachings among religious believers. New beliefs of how a person should worship in order to be considered in “God’s good graces” soon became an enormous discussion among colonists across the land. “Men of the cloth,” such as George Whitefield and Jonathan Edwards were well respected and closely followed when preaching about the love of God and damnation.

Read More
192 Words | 1 Pages

The First Great Awakening was brought over to America from Europe in the early 1700’s, which brought Pietism, Enlightenment and Protestant faith. The Protestant faith was established in the United States during the colonial era with the first Great Awakening and grew after the War of 1812. Men were mostly of the hierarchy till the roles of the women transitioned through the war. A while later, the Second Great Awakening increased the churches to a lucrative Christian society in which preached spiritual equality and could democratically govern themselves within a hierarchy (Henretta). During the Second Great Awakening there was a substantial amount of importance for religious women in the church as they searched for a social, political and cultural

Read More
1010 Words | 5 Pages

In America today, we have many ideals and societal norms that we interact with on a daily basis, and yet we never stop to think where they might have come from. As it turns out, many most likely began to form in a period of new ideas and thinking in the colonies called the Great Awakening. The great awakening began around the 1730’s and lasted until around the 1770’s. During the great awakening, preachers traveled the colonies, preaching new ideas of equality and individualism. These preachers believed that the church and the clergy had too much power, and that people should begin taking their religiousness into their own hands.

Read More
820 Words | 4 Pages

Richard Kaplan also said, “the theological belief in the potential mutability, indeed perfectibility, of people also encouraged a reforming attitude toward social institutions. Humanity and earthly society were not inherently sinful and, thus, could and should be reformed.” With the new quantity of religious people, the belief that there should no longer be sinful or unjust things grew tremendously. With this belief, people began to believe that things that needed to be reformed, should be reformed. The Second Great Awakening sparked a nationwide wave of reform movements that had a huge impact on American society throughout the 19th century.

Read More
620 Words | 3 Pages

In the late 1800’s several Americans was not regularly attending Church, and God did not play a important role in the citizens daily life. Slavery at this time was getting worse with harsh punishments and cruel treatment. Women were controlled by the men and had no opinion in decisions. Theses problems led to the Second Great Awakening, which attempted to resolve these issues. The Second Great Awakening occurred during the 1800’s and included several social movements involving religion, abolitionist, and women’s rights; which encouraged people to go to Church again and stand up for what they believe in.

Read More
1246 Words | 5 Pages

Despite the intricate positions on abolition, the Second Great Awakening influenced many leaders and developed new principles that radiated throughout the country. Christianity was the one unifying factor that most Americans could identify with at the time. The Enlightenment Era challenged old ideas of divine authority and stimulated a more progressive church aiming for equality. With leaders in the church declaring that slavery was a sin, and promoting the idea of a forgiving God, many northerners began to reach out and spread the word of God and secure their eternal salvation. These values were preached to most Americans from a very young age through song and childrens books.

Read More
1076 Words | 5 Pages

The Protestant movement was as successful as it was due to the theologian, John Calvin. This movement changed the lives of many people, and the world's view on religion. For most, the movement had a positive impact on people's lives. John Calvin was the most influential of all religious leaders in sixteenth century Europe, during the Reformation. John Calvin's early years greatly influenced what he would achieve in his later years.

Read More
1330 Words | 6 Pages

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

Read More
1498 Words | 6 Pages

A social system based on inequality and submission of the individual to feudal lords and the church cannot be associated with natural and human nature. However, people will immediately start to live in accordance with the natural law and will find harmony and happiness if somebody enlighten their minds, explaining to them the truth. For scholars, the mind can be "alpha and omega" of everything: world`s nature and the way of gaining the knowledge, the only criterion of truth, and a means of rehabilitation and improvement of human society. XVIII century is also called the century of Intelligence, the smartest of all ages.

Read More

More about Essay On The Second Great Awakening

Related Topics

Open Document