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Chapter 8, Section 1
Religion Sparks Reform
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The Second Great Awakening
O The Second Great Awakening was a religious movement that swept across the United
States after 1800
O It relied on emotional sermons in meetings called revivals
O A revival might last several days
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The Second Great Awakening
O Its participants were known as revivalists
O During the day, revival participants studied the Bible
O In the evening, they heard emotional preaching that could make them cry or tremble with
fear
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The Second Great Awakening
O Preachers, such as Charles G. Finney, gave exciting sermons to bring out emotional
responses from their audiences
O They preached that each person had the responsibility to find salvation
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The Second Great Awakening
O They also stressed that people could change themselves and society
O Charles Finney and other preaches influenced more people in the United States to attend
church
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The Second Great Awakening
O The revivalist movement, with its message of salvation, attracted numerous AfricanAmericans
O In the South, slave owners feared that African-American slaves would use the message of
salvation as a call to revolt
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The Second Great Awakening
O In Philadelphia, Richard Allen started the African Methodist Episcopal Church
O The church became a political, cultural, and social center for many African-Americans
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Transcendentalism and Reform
O Many people sought an alternative to traditional religion
O One philosophical and literary movement was based on the ideas of Ralph Waldo Emerson,
a New England writer and philosopher
O Emerson led a group practicing transcendentalism
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Transcendentalism and Reform
O According to transcendentalism, people could find truth by looking at nature and within
themselves rather than in any organized system of beliefs
O Transcendentalists believed in the dignity of the individual
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Transcendentalism and Reform
O They fought for social changes such as getting rid of slavery and improving conditions in
prisons
O They also contributed to a literary movement that stressed freedom and self-reliance
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Transcendentalism and Reform
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O Emerson’s friend and fellow writer Henry David Thoreau practiced self-reliance
O He left his regular life and built a cabin on the shore of Walden Pond, near Concord,
Massachusetts
O He lived alone there for two years
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Transcendentalism and Reform
O Thoreau believed in civil disobedience
O This meant he believed that people should protest and not obey laws they considered
unjust
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Transcendentalism and Reform
O The Unitarian movement was another spiritual movement that grew during this time
O Unitarianism appealed to reason, not to emotion
O It objected to revival meetings as too emotional
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Transcendentalism and Reform
O The movement attracted wealthy and educated people
O Unitarian ministers, like revivalists, stressed the power of the individual
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Transcendentalism and Reform
O Some reformers wanted to create ideal living environments, or utopian communities
O In these experimental communities, people tried to create a “perfect” place by living in
harmony and self-sufficiency out in the country
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Transcendentalism and Reform
O Several utopian communities were established, but none of them succeeded
O Many Americans worked to reform society during the early 1800s
O
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Transcendentalism and Reform
O In the 1830s, Americans began to demand tax-supported public schools
O By the 1850s, every state had a law that created an elementary school system
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Transcendentalism and Reform
O Dorothea Dix worked for reform in the treatment of mentally ill people
O She was successful in getting some states to pass laws aimed at improving conditions
O She also persuaded some Southern states to set up public hospitals for the mentally ill
O Other reformers worked to improve conditions in the nation’s prisons and schools
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