Chapter 15Second Great Awakening

and Reform

Many of the significant reform movements in American history began during the Jacksonian era and in the following

decades. The goals of these reformers included temperance, suffrage, education

and the abolition of slavery

Deism Embraced by many of the

Founding Fathers, including Jefferson and Franklin

Deists relied on the concept of reason rather than revelation, on science rather than the Bible

They rejected the concept of original sin and denied Christ’s divinity

Yet Deists believed in a Supreme Being who had created the universe

The Second Great Awakening In response to the

“liberalism” of religion, revivals sprang up

Religious revivals swept across the U.S. in the early 19th century

Successful preachers were audience centered and easily understood by the uneducated

They offered salvation for all

1839 Methodist camp meeting

Revivalism in New York In 1823, a Presbyterian

minister named Charles G. Finney started a series of religious revivals in upstate NY

All were free to be saved through faith and hard work

Western NY became known as the “burned-over district” for its “hell and brimstone” revivals

The “Burned-Over District”

The “Burned-Over” Districtin Upstate New York

The “Burned-Over” Districtin Upstate New York

Finney and Rochester Finney arrived in Rochester

in Sept., 1830, after taking a “packet canal boat” on the Erie Canal

He would stay until June,1831

Many historians claim that Rochester was his most successful revival

Revivalism In the South, Baptist and

Methodist preachers traveled and preached

Circuit preachers attracted thousands to outdoor revival meetings

These preachers converted many of the unchurched into respectable members of the community

Mormons (Church of the Latter-Day Saints)

Joseph Smith Founded by Joseph Smith in 1830 in upstate NY (Palmyra)

Facing persecution, Mormons moved from NY to OH, MO and IL

Facing more problems in IL, Brigham Young led the Mormons to the Great Salt Lake, UT

The Mormon “Trek”The Mormon “Trek”

Effects of the Second Great Awakening

Like the first, it caused new divisions in society between the newer, evangelical sects and the older Protestant churches

Only in northern states did the Great Awakening play a significant role in social reform

Activist religious groups provided the leadership that drove reform

Ideas, the Arts and Literature Transcendentalists:

individualistic, questioned doctrines of churches, challenged materialism, supported many reforms

Ralph Waldo Emerson: wrote essays and gave lectures evoking a nationalistic spirit for Americans by urging them not to imitate European culture but create an entirely original American culture. Against slavery

Ideas, the Arts and Literature Henry David Thoreau: close

friend to Emerson Lived by himself for two years

in woods outside Concord, MA

Walden, published in 1854 Observation of nature , truths

about life Essay: “On Civil

Disobedience” advocates nonviolent protest, not obeying unjust laws (Gandhi, King)

Communal Experiments

Shaker Meeting, 1885 Withdrawing from conventional society to create an ideal community or utopia

Open lands proved a fertile ground for over a hundred experimental communities

Shakers, New Harmony, Oneida community

Arts and Literature Frederick Church

emphasized the beauty of the American landscape

Twilight in the Wilderness (1859)

George Caleb Bingham paints common people in various settings

Raftsmen Playing Cards (1847)

Reforming Society - Temperance American Temperance

Society founded in 1826 Protestant ministers and

others felt alcohol led to many social ills (crime and poverty)

Total abstinence Opposition by German and

Irish immigrants Path to middle-class

respectability

Reforming Society – Public Asylums What happens to the

criminals, emotionally disturbed persons and paupers?

Often forced to live in horrendous conditions

Dorothea Dix (school teacher from MA) works tirelessly to improve conditions for emotionally disturbed persons – 1840s

Public Education Middle class reformers

focused on need for est. free public schools for children of all classes

Motivated by growing number of immigrants and poor

Horace Mann was leading advocate

Working in MA, for improved schools and tax supported schools

Higher Education Second Great Awakening

fuels the growth of private colleges

Protestant denominations founded schools in new states (OH, IL, IN)

Some schools begin to admit women (Oberlin College in OH)

Women’s Rights Seneca Falls Convention,

1848 NY, leading women meet at the first women’s rights convention in American history

Issue a document modeled on Dec. of Indepedence

Declaration of Sentiments “All men and women are

created equal” Elizabeth Cady Stanton,

Susan B. Anthony

Women’s Rights

Women’s Rights

Susan B. Anthony House Mostly a middle class movement

Campaigning for equal voting, legal and property rights

Susan B. Anthony lived in Rochester

Arrested for voting in 1872 In 1850s, women’s rights is

overshadowed by the slavery crisis

Anthony and Frederick Douglass

“Let’s Have Tea”

Frederick Douglas-Susan B. Anthony Memorial Bridge

Antislavery Movement

Second Great Awakening encourages movement

American Colonization Society: transporting freed slaves to Liberia in Africa

American Antislavery Society: in 1831 William Lloyd Garrison began to publish The Liberator

Wanted immediate emancipation

Founded Am. Antis. Soc.

Antislavery Movement

James Birney Liberty party: group of northerners look to take political action

Formed in1840 Ran James Birney for

president in 1840 and 1844 In 1840 he received 7,000

popular votes and no electoral votes

Antislavery Movement Frederick Douglass:

escaped slave, lived in Rochester

In 1847 begins journal, The North Star

Underground Railroad Harriet Tubman, Sojourner

Truth and William Still

Frederick Douglass and Rochester “This Fourth of July is yours, not

mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn. . . . What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer; a day that reveals to him, more than any other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim.”

• Frederick Douglass

• Rochester, NY 1852

Anthony and Douglass Gravesites: Mt. Hope Cemetery

Antislavery Movement Some African-Americans

had a very radical view – slaves should rebel against their “masters”

Denmark Vesey led ill fated rebellion in NC in 1822

In 1831, Nat Turner, a slave in VA, led a revolt that killed 55 whites

In retaliation, whites killed hundreds of blacks

Fear

Underground Railroad