The Second Great Awakening
in the North
Religion in America
New England diaspora
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After 1783 into New York
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Erie Canal 1817-25
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Northwest Territories
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Iowa, California
Transplanting New England
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Best-organized migrants: State-chartered companies
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New England township
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Long house lots, separate farmland, commons, Congregational Church
Yankee Culture
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Yankees establish church, school, often a college
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Yankees dominate local and state governments
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Thrifty & righteous (or greedy & sanctimonious)
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Orderly, prosperous landscape
Fire in the “Burnt-Over
District”
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Charles Grandison Finney
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Presbyterian minister, from Connecticut
u Rejects
Calvinism
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“New measures,” 1825-1835
u “Protracted
meetings”
u The
“anxious seat”
u Role
of women
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The fires of revival spread!
Democratization of
religion
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Faith in the “common man”
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Right to decide for oneself
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Sola scriptura: pure Bible, pure doctrine
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Arminianism replaces Calvinism
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Vernacular preaching
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Mass-market religious press
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American popular religious music
Fervor sweeps the nation
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1820s-1836: High expectations
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America: a new kind of nation
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Freed from constraints of history
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Confidence that all would be solved
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1500 years of error to be overcome
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Widespread expectation of the Millennium
Disciples of Christ
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Dismay at proliferation of denominations
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Goal of Christian unity recedes
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Restorationism
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Thomas & Alexander Campbell, 1808
u “Where
the Scriptures speak, we speak;
where the Scriptures are silent, we are silent”
u Simple
creed; radical ecclesiology
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Popular on frontier, along Ohio River
The Mormons
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Joseph Smith, Palmyra, NY
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Confusion of denominations
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Treasure seeker
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Angel Moroni, Mt. Cumorah, golden plates
u Translation
of Book of Mormon, 1827-30
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Restoration of the true church
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Conversion in Kirtland, Ohio
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Battle in Far West, Missouri, 1839
The Mormon Zion
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Nauvoo, Illinois
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Schism & strange new doctrines
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Revelations
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Polygamy
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Arrested for destroying presses
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Killed by mob, 1844
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Brigham Young
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Trek to Utah, 1846-48
Millennialism
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William Miller, Baptist minister from Vermont
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Predicts millennium 1843
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Recalculated for 1844
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The “Great Disappointment”
u Hiram
Edson: cleansing of temple in heaven
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Seventh-Day Adventists, 1860-63
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Ellen G. White
Spiritualism
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The Fox sisters, Hydesville, New York, 1848
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Craze for séances
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Spirit rappings
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Spirit guides
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Levitations
Effects of the Second
Great Awakening
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Ministers: From office to profession
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Feminization of Christianity
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Christianization of the nation
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Association of nation with Protestantism
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Split between North and South
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Northern Puritan influence: goal of godly, just society
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Southern slave society: individualistic, gather the saved
u Attack
personal sins: dancing, drinking, gambling, etc.