The Importance Of The Second Great Awakening

The shift in thinking from the enlightenment sparked a change in thinking about religion in colonial America. The Great Awakening was a revitalization movement that ran across parts of Europe and the colonies in America. Because of the enlightenment people weren’t as religious as they used to be but during and after the Great Awakening people became more and more religious because of the different methods used by the preachers. Preachers used more emotion to deliver their sermons which made it more appealing to the people, George Whitefield being one of the most famous for this. The Great Awakening in a way unified the colonies, because it affected almost everyone in the country it brought together a sense of unity even though different types of christianity were formed due to the great Awakening.

Due to revivals the United states in the 1790 's-1830 's changed religion throughout the whole country. Which created the Second Great Awakening , this transformation changed Americans religon. In the beginning of the Revolution the largest denomomations were Puritan churches aslo called Congregationalist. Anglicans were also included,and Quakers. Methodism and Baptists, were also becoming a fast-growing relgions in the nation.

A religious movement, that made religion more popular, between 1730 - 1740. Jonathon Edwards and George Whitefield were the two who set off the great awakening. Jonathon Edwards helped set off the Great Awakening because of in his “powerful” sermons, he would call on colonists, also young people, to examine their lives. He would preach of god’s sweetness and beauty, but at the same time he would warn the listeners to pay attention to the bibles teachings. Otherwise, they would be sinners.

Taking Heaven by Storm by John H. Wigger tells the story about early American Methodism. This book argues that the Methodist changed America forever by giving the everyday American a sense of belonging, but Methodism also fit well with the existing culture, economic characteristics, and religious aspects of the early United States. Wigger focuses on Methodism between the years of 1770 to 1880, a time where this denomination spread rapidly. There are several factors to Methodism that contributed to this growth spurt. Wigger believes that the iterant preachers, treatment of African-Americans and women, and the overall Methodist attitude and way of life all helped this group develop a deep relationship with America, and Winger’s belief proves

In the novel The kingdom of Matthias by Paul E. Johnson & Sean Wilentz, captures the importance of the Evolution in early American history and the second Great Awakening. The reason this book is important is because it highlights the start of America going from rural to urban during the 19th century and the influence that religion had on America during this time period from the action of prophet Matthias and other like him. Furthermore the novel begins with the young man Elijah Pierson which comes from a strict Calvinist family. Following he moved to New York and he was known as one of the best for the religouis reforming that he conduct.

While the 1840s was obviously a period with a culture of racism, that racism was paired with an enormous religious culture. This time period comes at the end of the Second Great Awakening, a Protestant revival movement that swept the country, pushing for strong religious morality to prepare for the second coming of Christ. While Huck is with the Widow, he gets a different sort of education. The Widow and her sister, Miss Watson, are wealthy, proper and intensely religious, irreconcilable with Pap. Huck describes living in the Widow’s house, “She worked me middling hard for about an hour [with a spelling book]…Then for an hour it was deadly dull, and I was fidgety.

The Great Awakening was a spiritual event that swept the American Colonies. It was important how it prepared America for its War of Independence. During the awakening, the Colonists realized that religious power was in their own hands, not the Church of England, or any other religious authority. There were many effects from the great awakening, such as: faith in the Protestant religion was revived, Christianity was brought to African slaves, and a great increase in the interest of religion.

The Protestant Reformation was a religious movement in Europe during the sixteenth century. There were several people who were greatly involved in the Protestant Reformation. “The discovery that changed Luther’s life ultimately changed the course of church history and the history of Europe.” Martin Luther was largely responsible for initiating the Reformation on October 31, 1517 when he nailed his Ninety-Five Theses to the door of the Castle Church at Wattenberg.

4.1 THE SOCIAL GOSPEL AND EVANGELICAL REACTION IN EARLY TWENTIETH-CENTURY The nineteenth century saw Evangelicals in England playing a major role in the social justice issues of their time: the abolition of slavery, the establishment of volunteer societies working among the poor to alleviate suffering, and political advocacy for improved working conditions in the new industrial economy. As well, there was unprecedented momentum in foreign missions. The pattern set by British evangelicals was followed in North America and South Africa as well, sustained by the early revivalists who recognized the “social context, the social implications, the social causes, and the social effects of personal sin” (David O. Moberg: 1977).

Born in 1820, Susan B. Anthony experienced a time with various social changes causing by the Industrial Revolution and the urbanization in the United States. From 1830 to 1850, a wave of revolutionary fervor throughout the European and the United States, giving rise to many liberals who wanted to create a new order.1 Growing up in a politically active family, Susan calculated advanced ideas and consciousness about the needs for women to be personally and economically independent. Susan B. Anthony is a pioneer reformer in the abolition of the slavery, the emancipation of women as well as their acquisition of the right to vote. She dedicated most of her life to strive for the equal right of women, in which she organized meetings and gave speeches

Massachusetts impact to colonial America was thoroughly important. Many events leading up to the American Revolution occurred in Massachusetts; events such as the Boston Massacre and the Boston Tea Party. The crown responded to these events by closing Boston ports in 1774. These events fueled colonist’s desire to fight the Crown, and lit the fuze to the American Revolution. Founding Fathers such as John Adams, Samuel Adams, John Hancock, and Joseph Warren.

Religion was the main driving force throughout the entire period of European colonization of America. Most Europeans were motivated by desire for wealth, land, economic opportunity, and religious freedom. The First Great Awakening, although a religious revolution, had a huge impact on the class and colonial politics. This revolution helped formed a unity among colonists, allowed religious pluralism, and started the notion of state rule as a contract with the people. However, the downside of this revolution is that it combines religion and government together as well as created a fear and hatred of Catholicism.

The religious revival of the 1800s was a perfect storm that allowed birth and growth of many new religions. One of the religions to emerge was Shakers. There was three main causes that allowed Shakers to be to establish and grow like they did, disestablishment of church and state, mass westward migration, and the desire for communal living and equality. With the disestablishment of church and state is now now legal to form a new religions and all religions had to compete on the same terms, no longer suppressing new religions from forming.

In 1775, America was thrust into its first war on American soil, best known as the American Revolution. This was the first time that the British had recognized the United States as an independent country. There are several possibilities as to the cause of this well-known war and the true cause of the revolution was most likely multifactorial. However the most common themes as to the cause of the American Revolution was either an uprising and revolution between the original 13 colonies or a conservative reaction to British action against the colonies themselves.