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Essay On The Second Great Awakening

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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

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