The 2nd Great Awakening &

TranscendentalismAPUSH

LEAVENWORTH HIGH SCHOOL

The 2nd Great

Awakening

RELIGIOUS REVOLUTION

There is a third revolution in the early 1800s besides politics and the economy It was a commitment to reform the character of

Americans into more upstanding, God fearing, and literate

Church attendance still a regular ritual for Americans ¾ of 23 million people attend church in 1850

Second Great Awakening As a result of the Second Great Awakening

(a series of revivals in the 1790s-early 1800s), the dominant form of Christianity in America became evangelical Protestantism Membership in the major Protestant churches

—Congregational, Presbyterian, Baptist, and Methodist—soared

the Methodists emerged as the largest denomination in both the North and the South

DEISM

The nature of American religion was changing though, the French Revolution had softened the orthodoxy

Many Founding Fathers, including Jefferson and Franklin, and anticlerics embraced the liberal doctrines of Deism Relied on reason rather than revelation, on science rather than the Bible They rejected the concept of original sin, denied Christ’s divinity

Deism helped inspire a New England spinoff from its severe Puritan past at the end of the 1700s: the Unitarians Believed God existed only in one person and not the trinity; denied

divinity of Jesus appealed to intellectuals whose optimism contrasted sharply with hellfire

doctrines of Calvinism

1816 -> American Bible Society Founded

Revivalism and the Social Order

Society during the Jacksonian era was undergoing deep and rapid change The revolution in markets brought both economic

expansion and periodic depressions. To combat this uncertainty reformers sought

stability and order in religion Religion provided a means of social control in a

disordered society Churchgoers embraced the values of hard work,

punctuality, and sobriety Revivals brought unity and strength and a sense of

peace

Second Great Awakening

The reactive 1800s movement against this growing liberalism in faith was known as the Second Great Awakening: Fresh wave of revivals beginning in the south and moving north Also began a new spirit of evangelicalism that spread into prison reform,

the temperance cause, and the abolition movement

Started with large “camp meetings” in the south As many as 25,000 people would gather for several days “fire and brimstone” atmosphere with attendees dancing, rolling, and

shouting – EMOTIONALLY INTENSE

These revivals spread across the nation The largest affected denominations were Baptist and Methodists Revivals boosted church membership

Charles Finney Charles Finney

conducted his own revivals in the NE in the 1830s

Greatest revivalist preacher

He rejected the Calvinist doctrine of predestination adopted ideas of free

will and salvation to all

Charles Finney and the Conversion Experience

New form of revival Meeting night after night to build

excitement Speaking bluntly Praying for sinners by name Encouraging women to testify (pray) in

public Denounced alcohol and slavery

EFFECTS

Feminization of religion In terms of membership and theology Middle class women were the most fervent revival

enthusiasts Were the wives and daughters of businessmen Evangelicals preached a gospel that appealed to them:

female spiritual worth and the role of bringing their husbands back to God

With that message many women turned their effort into saving the rest of society

They formed charitable organizations and spearheaded many of the era’s reform movements

Burned Over District

Burned over district in Western NY got its name from a “wild fire of new religions” Gave birth to Seventh Day Adventists

The Millerites believed the 2nd coming of Christ would occur on October 22, 1843

Members sold belonging, bought white robes for the ascension into heaven

Believers formed new church on October 23rd

Other Churches Founded

While the Protestant revivals sought to reform individual sinners, others sought to remake society at large

Mormons – The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

Founded by Joseph Smith in western NY in 1830In 1844 Smith and his brother were

murdered by a mob in Carthage IllinoisThe movement seemed near collapseThe leadership torch was picked up by

Brigham Young

Mormons• Brigham Young,

Smith’s successor, led the Mormons westward

in 1846-1847 to Utah where they could live and worship without

interference• Through irrigation methods they

made the Utah desert bloom and they became a populated and

prosperous group

Other Religious Groups

The Shakers Ann Lee – 1774 The Shakers used dancing as a worship

practice Shakers practiced celibacy, separating the

sexes as far as practical Shakers worked hard, lived simply (built

furniture), and impressed outsiders with their cleanliness and order

Lacking any natural increase, membership began to decline after 1850, from a peak of about 6000 members

Utopian Communities The Oneida Community Brook Farm New Harmony

The Oneida CommunityNew York, 1848

John Humphrey Noyes(1811-1886)

Millenarianism --> the 2nd coming of Christ had already occurred.

Humans were no longer obliged to follow the moral rules of the past.

Key to happiness is suppression of selfishness

No private propertyNo private relationshipsAll of these breed jealousy and

quarrelingPracticed “free love” all residents married to each other.Prospered due to steel and silver work

Communal work according to skill

Transcendentalism

ROMANTICISM Early American writing was sneered and lampooned internationally

Much was plagiarized from Great Britain After 1820 young American authors began to answer the call for authentic

literature

Much was influenced by the arrival of Romanticism in America Emphasized imagination over reason; Nature over civilization Intuition over calculation; Self over society Emotion, expression were core values

Washington Irving (1783 – 1859) The Sketch Book

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow Rip Van Winkle

 James Fenimore Cooper (1789 – 1851) Last of the Mohicans (1826)

Transcendentalism Golden Age of American literature

Began in New England (Concord, Mass.) in 1830’s From 1830 to 1855 transcendentalists argued

that humans are naturally goodTo transcend means to “rise above”Every person possesses an inner light that puts you in touch

with God/“Oversoul”Self reliance, self culture, self disciplineTaught that the process of spiritual discovery would lead a

person to profound truthsReject outward rituals, favor inward searchingThis would help lead a moral life where you could help society

Ralph Waldo Emerson1803 - 1882

Leader of the transcendentalists movement Trained as a Unitarian Boston minister

He began an “American Renaissance” in literature He stressed self reliance, self improvement, self confidence,

optimism, and freedom Try to improve the world around; spent much time in reflection

In “The America Scholar” speech at Harvard in 1837 he urged American writers throw off European traditions and delve into rich American tales Many of his essays started as lectures

Henry David Thoreau1817 - 1862

Among his themes were the value of leisure, living in nature, anti-slavery, and working for common good Condemned a government that supported slavery Refused to pay Mass. Poll tax and was jailed for a night

Walden: Or Life in the Woods (1854) Records two years of simple life spent in a hut that he built on

Walden Pond in Concord Mass Favored quest for isolation in nature to get away from

corruptions of society

Influenced Gandhi and MLK

Transcendentalist Intellectuals/Writers

Concord, MA

Ralph WaldoEmerson

Henry DavidThoreau

Nature(1832) Walden

(1854)Resistance to

Civil Disobedience

(1849)

Self-Reliance (1841)

“The American Scholar”

(1837)

Walt Whitman

From Brooklyn – more bold, confident, swagger Leaves of Grass (1855)

Collection of poems Gave divinity to nature and human body Glorification of self

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABOae1jGB3w&feature=related

ABOUT POP CULTURE

Transcendentalists writers Emerson and Thoreau wrote about that the modern newspapers & novels just contained murderous stories, carried a haunted nature, and ruined the works of mankind

LITERARY LIGHTS

Other great works were created during this age by literary giants who were not associated with transcendentalism

Professor Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) One of most popular American poets; popular in Europe as well Evangeline (1847); The Song of Hiawatha (1855)

  Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888)

Little Women (1868)

Emily Dickinson (1820-1886) Explored universal themes of love, death, nature, immortality

DISSENTERS

There were also contrary writers who did not believe so keenly in human progress and goodness They explored darker realms of human experience with pain, fear, grief, and the supernatural

Edgar Allen Poe (1808-1849) Specialized in gothic horror and detective stories The Raven (1845); The Murders in the Rue Morgue (1841) His career was cut short when found drunk in a Baltimore gutter; dying shortly after

  Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804 – 1864)

Lived in Salem, Mass. Grew up with the heavy atmosphere of Puritan ancestry The Scarlet Letter (1850) Puritan sin, romance

  Herman Melville (1819 – 1891)

Went to sea as a youth; served 18-months as a whaler Moby Dick (1851)

• Conflict between Captain Ahab and giant white whale Moby Dick

EDGAR ALLEN POE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIp4m_v9xGs