First Great Awakening
 1730s & 1740s
 Jonathan Edwards – “Sinners
in the Hands of an Angry
God”
 George Whitefield
 Old Lights vs New Lights
 Gives rise to the separation
of Church and State
 Undermined religious control
of government (especially
local government)
Both
 Reaction to declining
church membership and a
lack of religious zeal
 Empowered people to
cultivate a direct
relationship with God
 SALVATION!
 People could study the Bible
and learn religion without
direct instruction from a
church leader
 Emphasized faith over
reason
 Emphasized fear and other
emotions
 Emphasized damnation for
sinfulness or those without
faith
 Much more emotional
 Put more control over
religion into the hands of the
people
 Ministers lost some authority
 Planting seeds of
democratic thought and
behavior
 Caused new divisions in
society
 Baptist & Methodist
denominations grow
Second Great Awakening
 1820s to 1850s
 Fed growth of voluntary
societies, reform
movements, and utopian
societies
 Charles Finney -- “BurnedOver District”
 Evangelical Sects vs
established Protestant
denominations
 Reaction especially to
Americans’ attention to
politics over faith
 Based on lessons of the free
market – individual success
or failure is in one’s own
hands;
 righteous living, self-control
and a strong moral compass
would lead to salvation
 Temperance movement?
 Anti-Catholic?
 Mormonism