Second Great Awakening

The Second Great Awakening was a revival movement that had occurred in the 1730s with the goal of creating a Protestant creed that would maintain the idea of Christian community in a period of rapid individualism and competition. As our book mentions, the Second Great Awakening was “one of the most momentous episodes in the history of American religious. This tidal wave of spiritual fervor left in its wake countless converted souls, many shattered and reorganized church, and numerous new sects. It also encouraged an effervescent evangelicalism that bubbled up into innumerable areas of American life…” (308). Some of those key features that were reformed were prison reform, the temperance cause, the women’s movement and feminization of religion, and the crusade to abolish slavery.

Some of the key people of the Awakening were Charles Grandison Finney who led a series of revivals in Rochester and New York, Dorothea Dix, who stirred others to “create a system to deal with the mentally ill”, and Pete Cartwright, a Methodist.

In my opinion, if the Second Great Awakening had not taken place, the reform movements would not have taken place either. The Second Great Awakening was what pushed people and gave them motivation to change and do something. As our book also mentioned, “a key feature of the Second Great Awakening was the feminization” (309). Like never before, women were actually more involved then men. “They made up the majority of the new church members” (309). The teaching offered women a more active role than ever and they would bring their husband and families back to God. The Awakening also made people concerned with the moral fiber of the nation and many became strongly against things like alcohol and slavery. Overall, this movement improved the morality of the people, and as a result of that, people felt empowered and encouraged to work towards reform as