General Awakening 1830
General Awakening 1830
The General Awakening, also known as the Second Great Awakening, was a complex
and multifaceted phenomenon that occurred in the United States from approximately
1790 to 1840, with a peak period between 1830 and 1840. Several factors contributed
to this awakening: The Baptists and Methodists often worked together in these
revivals. Both religions believed in free will with personal redemption. The Baptists
were highly decentralized with no hierarchical structure in place and preachers lived
and worked among their congregation. The Methodists, on the other hand, had more
Francis Asbury (1745–1816) and the "Backwoods Preacher" Peter Cartwright (1785–
1872) would travel the frontier on horseback converting people to the Methodist faith.
They were quite successful and by the 1840s the Methodists were the largest
Revival meetings were not restricted to the frontier or to white people. In many
areas, particularly the south, Black people held separate revivals at the same time with
the two groups joining together on the last day. "Black Harry" Hosier (1750–1906),
the first African American Methodist preacher and a fabled orator despite being
illiterate, was a crossover success in both Black and white revivals. His efforts and
those of the ordained minister Richard Allen (1760–1831) led to the founding of the
meetings, and many times the event turned quite chaotic with impromptu singing or
1. Westward Expansion: The rapid expansion of the United States westward led to the
growth of new communities, which often lacked established churches and social
structures. The population of the United States grew from almost 4 million in 1790 to
17 million in 1840
American economy, leading to the growth of factories, cities, and a new industrial
working class.
Religious Factors
Congregational and Episcopal churches, were seen as formal and distant from the
3. Camp Meetings and Revivals: The camp meeting movement, which began in the
early 19th century, brought people together for intense periods of preaching, singing,
intuition, and personal experience, which resonated with the evangelical emphasis on
2. Bible Societies and Sunday Schools: The establishment of Bible societies and
Sunday schools helped to promote literacy, biblical knowledge, and moral education.
contributed to the sense of moral urgency and social responsibility that characterized
1. Charles Finney: A prominent evangelical leader and revivalist who emphasized the
importance of personal conversion and social reform. Finney was a minister in the
belief that God already knows which people are saved, regardless of any action these
saved people might take in their lives. Finney and other preachers of his time
modified the Calvinist doctrine. Finney preached that people could and should
exercise free will. He urged his followers to choose to reject sin and instead to live
Finney was inspired to become a preacher after attending a revival in 1821. In turn, he
then preached at revivals. “Religion,” Finney said, “is something to do, not something
to wait for.” He also said, “Away with the idea that Christians can remain neutral and
keep still, and yet enjoy the approbation [or praise] and blessing of God.”
slavery.
Finney preached at revivals from 1825 to 1835. He began preaching in the western
frontier and then moved on to upstate New York. After his years at revivals, he
2. Lyman Beecher: A Presbyterian minister who played a key role in the development
of the evangelical movement and the abolitionist cause.Lyman Beecher helped build
the organizations that became known as the "benevolent empire" and gave religion in
The son of a blacksmith, Beecher attended Yale University, where he came under the
in 1799, he plunged into the religious fervor of the Second Great Awakening. Moving
away from strict Calvinist doctrine, Beecher acknowledged that human beings were
deeply sinful, but he also taught that they also had the ability to accept God's grace, if
Conn. The Congregational Church was the established church in Connecticut, and it
held on to its favored status even while other state churches were being disestablished.
But in 1818, with much trepidation, Connecticut decided to end ties between church
and state. Beecher fought hard against this move and lamented the day that it was
accomplished: "It was as dark a day as ever I saw. The odium thrown upon the
ministry was inconceivable. The injury done to the cause of Christ, as we then
But Beecher changed his mind and made a public about-face -- from leading defender
that the end of the church's dependence upon the state made it a more vital, more
... the best thing that ever happened to the State of Connecticut. It cut the churches
loose from dependence on state support. It threw them wholly on their own resources
and on God. ... They say ministers have lost their influence; the fact is, they have
gained. By voluntary efforts, societies, missions, and revivals, they exert a deeper
influence than ever they could by queues, and shoe-buckles, and cocked hats, and
gold-headed canes.
In 1832, Beecher moved his family to Cincinnati. Eagerly absorbing tales from
travelers who had ventured as far West as California, Beecher exalted that only then
"did I perceive how God, who seeth the end from the beginning, had prepared the
West to be mighty."
Beecher's ebullient hopes for the West reflected his brimming expectations for the
country as a whole. For Beecher, the United States was uniquely blessed by divine
purpose and endowed with a special destiny. He believed America had a duty to serve
as "a light to the nations," to demonstrate by example what other peoples can achieve.
He expressed this view in a famous sermon: "Look now at the history of our fathers
and behold what God hath wrought, ... a powerful nation in full enjoyment of civil
and religious liberty, where all the energies of men ... find scope and excitement on
Beecher believed that the bright and shining promise of America would be fulfilled in
the West. Tamed and guided by religion and morality, its future would be "glorious."
But there was one problem: the growing Roman Catholic Church in America. In
1832, Beecher delivered a series of lectures and published an influential book, A Plea
for the West, denouncing the church and warning of its inevitable and corrupting
influence. In the wake of his warnings, a Boston mob, influenced by false rumors that
schoolgirls were being held captive against their will, burned the Ursuline Convent in
Charlestown, Mass.
reform and the spread of Christianity -- the American Bible Society, American
Educational Society, American Sunday School Union, American Tract Society and
these organizations contributed to social cohesion and unity, and Beecher believed
that religious leaders should look past denominational differences to come together to
reform the nation: "With trumpet-tongue, the providence of God is calling upon
Christians of every denomination, to cease from their limited views, and selfish ends,
and to unite in the conflict which is to achieve the subjugation of the world to Christ."
3. Asahel Nettleton: Asahel Nettleton (1783-1844) was one of the great spiritual
leaders instrumental in the revival work in different areas of the eastern states during
the Second Great Awakening (1787-1843). While he never pastored a church, wrote a
book, or led an organization, "Nettleton was one of the earliest itinerant preachers
Nettleton was converted at the beginning of the Second Great Awakening after a
long struggle to understand God’s sovereignty and election. His early ministry in
eastern Connecticut, where the First Great Awakening produced some disorder,
heightened his awareness of the potential dangers of some measures that can lead to
fanaticism. Nettleton combined his preaching with personal discussions with those
concerned about their spiritual state. He was greatly concerned about the "new
measures" used by Finney and his followers in revival meetings. He was afraid that
the result of those revivals will be superficial conversions based on hasty decisions,
without a thorough conviction of sin. Both Nettleton and Finney had a genuine
motivation, but their methods were different due to different theological convictions.
abolitionist movement.
REFERENCE:
Bilhartz, Terry D. "Urban Religion and the Second Great Awakening: Church and
1986.
Hankins, Barry. "The Second Great Awakening and the Transcendentalists." Westport
Religious Pluralism in the United States." Social Science History 8.3 (1984): 243–65.
Ahlstrom, Sydney E. A Religious History of the American People. New Haven: Yale
Benson, Louis FitzGerald. The English Hymn: Its Development and Use in Worship.
Birney, George Hugh. The Life and Letters of Asahel Nettleton, 1783-1844. Ph.D.
from 1815 to 1818: Collected from Numerous Publications and Letters from Persons