Second Great Awakening

==Spread of revivals==
===Background===
Like the [[First Great Awakening]] a half century earlier, the Second Great Awakening in [[North America]] reflected [[Romanticism]] characterized by enthusiasm, emotion, and an appeal to the [[supernatural]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Henry B. Clark|title=Freedom of Religion in America: Historical Roots, Philosophical Concepts, Contemporary Problems |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0sJQNxqTxJwC&pg=PA16 |year=1982|publisher=Transaction Publishers|page=16|isbn=9780878559251 }}</ref> It rejected the skepticism, [[deism]], [[Unitarianism]], and [[rationalism]] left over from the [[American Enlightenment]],<ref name="Cott p15">{{cite journal| first=Nancy |last=Cott | author-link=Nancy Cott |title=Young Women in the Second Great Awakening in New England |journal=Feminist Studies |year=1975 |volume=3|issue=1|pages=15–29 | jstor=3518952 | doi=10.2307/3518952 }}</ref> about the same time that similar movements flourished in [[Europe]]. [[Pietism]] was sweeping [[Germany|Germanic countries]]<ref>{{cite book|author=Hans Schwarz|title=Theology in a Global Context: The Last Two Hundred Years|url=https://archive.org/details/theologyinglobal0000schw|url-access=registration|year=2005|publisher=Williamm B. Eerdmans|page=[https://archive.org/details/theologyinglobal0000schw/page/91 91]|isbn=9780802829863}}</ref> and [[evangelicalism]] was waxing strong in [[England]].<ref>{{cite book | author=Frederick Cyril Gill|title=The Romantic Movement and Methodism: A Study of English Romanticism and the Evangelical Revival| year=1937 }}</ref>

The Second Great Awakening occurred in several episodes and over different denominations; however, the revivals were very similar.<ref name="Cott p15"/> As the most effective form of evangelizing during this period, revival meetings cut across geographical boundaries.<ref>{{cite book | first=Susan Hill | last=Lindley | title =You Have Stept Out of Your Place: a History of Women and Religion in America | publisher =Westminster John Knox Press | year =1996 | location =Louisville, Kentucky | page=59 }}</ref> The movement quickly spread throughout [[Kentucky]], [[Indiana]], [[Tennessee]], and [[southern Ohio]], as well as other regions of the United States and Canada. Each denomination had assets that allowed it to thrive on the frontier. The Methodists had an efficient organization that depended on itinerant ministers, known as [[Circuit rider (religious)|circuit riders]], who sought out people in remote frontier locations. The circuit riders came from among the common people, which helped them establish rapport with the frontier families they hoped to convert.

===Theology===
{{main|Postmillennialism}}
[[Postmillennialist]] theology dominated American Protestantism in the first half of the 19th century. Postmillennialists believed that Christ will return to earth after the "[[millennialism|Millennium]]", which could entail either a literal 1,000 years or a figurative "long period" of peace and happiness. Christians thus had a duty to purify society in preparation for that return. This duty extended beyond American borders to include [[Christian Restorationism]]. [[George M. Fredrickson|George Fredrickson]] argues that Postmillennial theology "was an impetus to the promotion of Progressive reforms, as historians have frequently pointed out."<ref name="Fredrickson">George M. Fredrickson, "The Coming of the Lord: The Northern Protestant Clergy and the Civil War Crisis," in {{cite book|editor1-first=Randall M. |editor1-last=Miller |editor2-first=Harry S. |editor2-last=Stout |editor3-first=Charles Reagan |editor3-last=Wilson |title=Religion and the American Civil War|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y3NZ6LvDfikC&pg=PA115 |year=1998 |publisher=Oxford University Press|pages=110–30 |isbn=9780198028345}}</ref> During the Second Great Awakening of the 1830s, some [[Divination|diviners]] expected the Millennium to arrive in a few years. By the late 1840s, however, the great day had receded to the distant future, and postmillennialism became a more passive religious dimension of the wider [[middle-class]] pursuit of reform and progress.<ref name="Fredrickson"/>

===Burned-over district===
{{Main|Burned-over district}}
Beginning in the 1820s, [[Western New York]] State experienced a series of popular religious revivals that would later earn this region the nickname "the [[burned-over district]]," which implied the area was set ablaze with spiritual fervor. This term, however, was not used by contemporaries in the first half of the nineteenth century, as it originates from [[Charles Grandison Finney]]'s ''Autobiography of Charles G Finney'' (1876), in which he writes, "I found that region of country what, in the western phrase, would be called, a 'burnt district.' There had been, a few years previously, a wild excitement passing through that region, which they called a revival of religion, but which turned out to be spurious."<ref>Whitney R. Cross, ''The Burned-over District: The Social and Intellectual History of Enthusiastic Religion in Western New, 1800–1850'' (1951)</ref><ref>Judith Wellman, ''Grassroots Reform in the Burned-over District of Upstate New York: Religion, Abolitionism, and Democracy'' (2000) [https://www.amazon.com/Grassroots-Reform-Burned-over-District-Upstate/dp/0815337922/ excerpt and text search]</ref><ref>{{cite book|author1=Geordan Hammond|author2=William Gibson|title=Wesley and Methodist Studies|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jxglaxiqXsoC&pg=PA32|date=March 1, 2012|publisher=Clements|page=32|isbn=9781926798134}}</ref> During this period, a number of [[Nonconformist (Protestantism)|nonconformist]], [[folk religion]], and [[Evangelicalism|evangelical]] sects flourished in the region.

The extent to which religious fervor actually affected the region was reassessed in last quarter of the twentieth century. Linda K. Pritchard used statistical data to show that compared to the rest of New York State, the [[Ohio River|Ohio River Valley]] in the lower Midwest, and the country as a whole, the religiosity of the Burned-over District was typical rather than exceptional.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Linda K. |last=Pritchard |title=The burned-over district reconsidered: A portent of evolving religious pluralism in the United States |journal=Social Science History |year=1984 |volume=8 |issue=3 |pages=243–265 |jstor=1170853 |doi=10.2307/1170853}}</ref> More recent works, however, have argued that these revivals in Western New York had a unique and lasting impact upon the religious and social life of the entire nation.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Johnson |first1=Paul |title=A shopkeeper's millennium: Society and revivals in Rochester, New York, 1815-1837 |date=2004 |publisher=Hill and Wang |isbn=9780809016358 |edition=1st rev. |location=New York}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Kruczek-Aaron |first1=Hadley |title=Everyday religion: An archaeology of protestant belief and practice in the nineteenth century |date=2015 |publisher=University Press of Florida |isbn=9780813055503 |location=Gainesville}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Ferriby |first1=Peter Gavin |title=History of American Christian Movements: Introduction |url=https://library.sacredheart.edu/american_christianity |website=Sacred Heart University Library |publisher=Sacred Heart University Library |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201001193810/https://library.sacredheart.edu/american_christianity |access-date=9 June 2021|archive-date=2020-10-01 }}</ref>

===West and Tidewater South===
On the [[American frontier]], evangelical denominations, especially [[Methodism|Methodists]] and [[Baptists]], sent missionary preachers and exhorters to meet the people in the backcountry in an effort to support the growth of church membership and the formation of new congregations.{{citation needed|date=January 2019}} Another key component of the revivalists' techniques was the [[camp meeting]]. These outdoor religious gatherings originated from field meetings and the [[Scotland|Scottish]] [[Presbyterian]]s' "[[Communion season|Holy Fairs]]", which were brought to America in the mid-eighteenth century from [[Ireland]], [[Scotland]], and Britain's border counties. Most of the Scotch-Irish immigrants before the [[American Revolutionary War]] settled in the backcountry of [[Pennsylvania]] and down the spine of the [[Appalachian Mountains]] in present-day [[Maryland]] and [[Virginia]], where Presbyterian emigrants and Baptists held large outdoor gatherings in the years prior to the war. The Presbyterians and Methodists sponsored similar gatherings on a regular basis after the Revolution.<ref>{{cite journal| author= Kimberly Bracken Long | title =The Communion Sermons of James Mcgready: Sacramental Theology and Scots-Irish Piety on the Kentucky Frontier | journal =Journal of Presbyterian History | volume =80 | issue =1 | pages =3–16 | year=2002 }}{{ISSN|0022-3883}}. {{JSTOR|23336302}}. See also: {{cite web| author=Elizabeth Semancik |title=Backcountry Religious Ways: The North British Field-Meeting Style | work =Albion's Seed Grows in the Cumberland Gap | publisher =University of Virginia | date =May 1, 1997 |url=http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ug97/albion/areligio.html | access-date =January 9, 2019}}</ref>

The denominations that encouraged the revivals were based on an interpretation of man's spiritual equality before God, which led them to recruit members and preachers from a wide range of classes and all races. Baptists and Methodist revivals were successful in some parts of the [[Tidewater (region)|Tidewater]] South, where an increasing number of common planters, [[Plain Folk of the Old South|plain folk]], and slaves were converted.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ppu4DwAAQBAJ&q=Tidewater+South,+second+great++awakening&pg=PA9|title=Imagining the End: The Apocalypse in American Popular Culture|last=Holte|first=Jim|date=2019-11-11|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-4408-6102-4|language=en}}</ref>

===West===
{{main|Revival of 1800}}

In the newly settled frontier regions, the revival was implemented through camp meetings. These often provided the first encounter for some settlers with organized religion, and they were important as social venues. The camp meeting was a religious service of several days' length with preachers. Settlers in thinly populated areas gathered at the camp meeting for fellowship as well as worship. The sheer exhilaration of participating in a religious revival with crowds of hundreds and perhaps thousands of people inspired the dancing, shouting, and singing associated with these events. The revivals also followed an arc of great emotional power, with an emphasis on the individual's sins and need to turn to Christ, and a sense of restoring personal salvation. This differed from the Calvinists' belief in predestination as outlined in the [[Westminster Confession of Faith]], which emphasized the inability of men to save themselves and decreed that the only way to be saved was by God's electing grace.<ref>{{cite web|publisher=ushistory.org |title=Religious Transformation and the Second Great Awakening |work=U.S. History Online Textbook |url=http://www.ushistory.org/us/22c.asp |date=2018 |access-date=January 9, 2019}}</ref> Upon their return home, most converts joined or created small local churches, which grew rapidly.<ref>{{cite book | author =Dickson D. Bruce Jr. | title =And They All Sang Hallelujah: Plain Folk Camp-Meeting Religion, 1800–1845 | publisher =University of Tennessee Press | year =1974 | location =Knoxville | url =https://archive.org/details/andtheyallsangha00bruc | isbn =0870491571 | url-access =registration }}</ref>

The [[Revival of 1800]] in [[Logan County, Kentucky]], began as a traditional Presbyterian sacramental occasion. The first informal camp meeting began in June, when people began camping on the grounds of the [[Red River Meeting House]]. Subsequent meetings followed at the nearby [[Gasper River]] and Muddy River congregations. All three of these congregations were under the ministry of Presbyterian Reverend James McGready. A year later, in August 1801, an even larger sacrament occasion that is generally considered to be America's first camp meeting was held at [[Cane Ridge, Kentucky|Cane Ridge]] in [[Bourbon County, Kentucky]], under [[Barton W. Stone]] (1772–1844) with numerous [[Presbyterianism|Presbyterian]], Baptist, and Methodist ministers participating in the services. The six-day gathering attracting perhaps as many as 20,000 people, although the exact number of attendees was not formally recorded. Due to the efforts of such leaders as Stone and [[Alexander Campbell (clergyman)|Alexander Campbell]] (1788–1866), the camp meeting revival spread religious enthusiasm and became a major mode of church expansion, especially for the Methodists and Baptists.<ref name="autogenerated2005">Douglas Foster, et al., ''The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement'' (2005)</ref><ref name=Case3-4>{{cite book | author= Riley Case | title =Faith and Fury: Eli Farmer on the Frontier, 1794–1881 | publisher =Indiana Historical Society Press | year =2018 | location =Indianapolis | pages =3–4 | isbn =9780871954299}}</ref> Presbyterians and Methodists initially worked together to host the early camp meetings, but the Presbyterians eventually became less involved because of the noise and often raucous activities that occurred during the protracted sessions.<ref name=Case3-4/>

As a result of the Revival of 1800, the [[Cumberland Presbyterian Church]] was founded in 1810 near Dickson, Tennessee<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.cumberland.org/center/CPC_Home_Page/About_Us.html | title=About Us }}</ref> by the Revs: Samuel McAdow,<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.cumberland.org/hfcpc/minister/McAdowS.htm | title=Rev. Samuel McAdow, 1760-1844 }}</ref> Finis Ewing,<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.cumberland.org/hfcpc/minister/EwingF.htm | title=Rev. Finis Ewing, 1773-1841 }}</ref> and Samuel King<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.cumberland.org/hfcpc/minister/KingS.htm | title=Rev. Samuel King, 1775-1842 }}</ref> and became a strong supporter of the revivalist movement.<ref>{{cite book | author=L. C. Rudolph | title =Hoosier Faiths: A History of Indiana's Churches and Religious Groups | publisher =Indiana University Press | year =1995 | location =Bloomington | pages=117–22 | isbn =0253328829}}</ref> Cane Ridge was also instrumental in fostering what became known as the [[Restoration Movement]], which consisted of non-denominational churches committed to what they viewed as the original, fundamental Christianity of the [[New Testament]]. Churches with roots in this movement include the [[Churches of Christ]], [[Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)]], and the [[Evangelical Christian Church in Canada]]. The congregations of these denomination were committed to individuals' achieving a personal relationship with Christ.<ref name="Sydney"/>

===Church membership soars===
[[File:1839-meth.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.25|1839 Methodist camp meeting]]
The Methodist circuit riders and local Baptist preachers made enormous gains in increasing church membership. To a lesser extent the [[Presbyterians]] also gained members, particularly with the [[Cumberland Presbyterian Church]] in sparsely settled areas. As a result, the numerical strength of the Baptists and Methodists rose relative to that of the denominations dominant in the colonial period—the [[Anglicanism|Anglicans]], Presbyterians, [[Congregational church|Congregationalists]]. Among the new denominations that grew from the religious ferment of the Second Great Awakening are the [[Churches of Christ]], [[Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)]], the [[Seventh-day Adventist Church]], and the [[Evangelical Christian Church in Canada]].<ref name="Sydney">Sydney E. Ahlstrom, ''A Religious History of the American People'' (2004)</ref><ref name=Melton>Melton, ''Encyclopedia of American Religions'' (2009)</ref>

The converts during the Second Great Awakening were predominantly female. A 1932 source estimated at least three female converts to every two male converts between 1798 and 1826. Young people (those under 25) also converted in greater numbers, and were the first to convert.{{sfnp|Cott|1975|pp=15–16}}