The Second Great Awakening

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The Second Great Awakening
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The Second Great Awakening

• Rejected Calvistic ideas that God determined who
  was damned and who was saved
• Beliefs during 2nd G.A. similar to Jacksonian
  democracy ? the common citizen has the power

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Revivalism

• Often located in the West
• Movement that used emotional meetings when
  conversion happened in an experience
• Impassioned preaching
• Bible studies
• Examination of souls
• Strong impact on American public
• 1800 1 in 15 belonged to a church
• 1850 1 in 6 belonged to a church

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Unitarian

• Often located in the Northeast
• Disliked Public emotionalism, but shared the idea
  of faith in the individual
• Emphasized reason and appeals to conscience as
  path to perfection as a gradual process
• The Perfection of human nature, the elevation of
  men into nobler beings
• Individual reform
• Social reform

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Transcendentalism

• Definition a philosophical literary movement
  that emphasized living a simple life and
  celebrated the truth found in nature and in
  personal emotion and imagination, rather than in
  any organized system of belief.
• Not a religious experience, but a reformation of
  individuals
• Fought for humanitarian reforms
• Abolition of slavery
• Improved conditions of schools and prisons
• Stressed American ideals of optimism, freedom,
  and self-reliance

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African American Church

• Revivalism feared by Slave Holders
• Slaves began to interpret Christian message as a
  promise of freedom
• Church offered more than place of worship
• Political, Cultural, Social, Educational centers

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How could these movements promote change in
American society?
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Effects

• Sought to improve society and the human
  condition
• Prison reform
• Education reform
• Abolitionist Movements
• Womens Suffrage Movements
• Industrial Labor Movements