Second Great Awakening

===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.