Revivalism and Reform in Antebellum America

The Second Great Awakening Democratizes Salvation A Camp Meeting Second Great Awakening occurred in the context of great migration west and a fascination with the lifestyle of the American wilderness Admission of new states west of the Appalachians provided opportunity for Western expansion Thousands of people began moving west This put considerable strain on religion Churches needed to be more flexible due to these socio-economic upheavals The “parish” had to be reapplied to changing times Presbyterian preacher James McGready was instrumental in the Second Great Awakening Hosted what became known as frontier camp meetings Loosely organized church meetings in which preachers delivered informal sermons to large, non-affiliated congregations Many conversions took place during camp meetings

Charles Finney: "What a Revival of Religion Is" The Second Great Awakening rethought the old Calvinist doctrine of predestination Salvation is reserved for the "elect" who are pre-chosen by God It favored of the view that man is responsible for both his own salvation and the moral condition of society at large Led to profound changes in the institutional structure of the church Laypeople began to transform society in God's image through missionary, evangelical, and benevolent work Prominent Northern evangelist Charles Finney defined revivalism as a human effort to catalyze conversion and salvation for individual souls, rather than a miracle bestowed by God Charles Finney

Anti-Slavery Protestant Voices Protestant dissent to slavery came to prominence after the Second Great Awakening While not exclusively anti-slavery by nature, it did act as a catalyst for many anti-slavery Protestant voices to emerge One such advocate of abolition was William Wilson In The Great American Question, he calls for an abolitionist movement to take the 1848 election, thus linking politics and religion Slavery, argued Wilson, goes directly against all that is taught in the Bible John Fee wrote An Anti-Slavery Manual (1851) Admonishes slavery providing a slightly different religious argument Argues against slavery in terms of sin Like Wilson, Fee felt that slavery was an affront to Christianity Asserted that slave-holders needed to abolish slavery for fear for their souls Hell awaited those that did not renounce slavery An argument used by many fundamentalists within the Christian faith John Fee

The Temperance Movement A strong reformist impulse animated religious life during the Second Great Awakening The faithful sought to remake society in God's image This extended to civic life, as illustrated by the formation of thousands of Temperance societies Efforts were successful in reducing the per capita consumption and encouraging stricter state regulation of alcohol Lyman Beecher, father of Harriet Beecher Stowe, was a famous social activist Concerned about the negative impact of alcohol on society Abraham Lincoln, in a speech to the Washington Temperance Society, touched on the growing success and popularity of the temperance movement, and the obstacles that lay ahead The 1846 constitution of the Daughters of Temperance illustrates such societies’ creation of a new social outlet and leadership role for women in Antebellum American society Members of Martha Washington Salem Union No. 6 vowed to abstain from the use and sale of alcohol and promote temperance in their communities The club governed itself democratically and used collective resources to provide a kind of life insurance for members

The Rise of "Disinterested Benevolence" Evangelicals strove to prepare the world for the coming Kingdom of God by externalizing religion through the proliferation of disinterested benevolent societies Formed voluntary organizations dedicated to various causes including temperance, slavery, female morality, missionary work, poverty, and the plight of prisoners and the insane The 1853 article “Dedication of the Five Points’ Mission House” demonstrates the link between religion and civil society that was nurtured during the Second Great Awakening "Letter on Prostitution" was written in 1850 by Caroline W.H. Dall following the 1850 Women's Rights Convention Her views and work were more radical Linked women's rights to social reform illustrating the budding notions of gender equality Reformers began to see the feminine role as unique and invaluable to moral purity in the family and society at large In "Memorial to the Massachusetts Legislature," prominent mental facility reformer Dorothea Dix called attention to the deplorable treatment of the commonwealth's insane Her crusade for humane asylums for the mentally ill coincided with a movement to reform penitentiaries These reform efforts were a broader reflection of the emerging notion that the fallen could be rehabilitated and that Christian people ought to take responsibility for alleviating society's ills Dorothea Dix

Observations on Religion in Antebellum America Alexis de Tocqueville was a French political theorist who authored Democracy in America in the 1830's after an extensive tour of the United States Emphasized the tendency of Americans to focus on reform in this world His observations of Americans' unabashed religiousity reflects the growing perception of the American character as inherently Christian during this time Alexis de Tocqueville

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