The Second Great Awakening on the Frontier
The Roots of The Second Great Awakening
For many, the God of the rationalists (Deists) was not very appealing. He was a cold, indifferent being
who had set the world in motion, and then had then gone off leaving us to fend for ourselves. The
pendulum--having swung from Orthodoxy to Rationalism (Deism)—began to swing back. This time it
swung away from a religion of the head (intellect) toward a religion of the heart.
The Scottish revivalist Thomas Chalmers had put it this way: "moonlight preaching ripens no harvest."
Religion had become so tepid in the hands of rationalists like Chauncy and the Deists that it had almost no
power to change the individual. Just enough of the old faith remained to inoculate people from catching
the real thing. It was into this environment that the Second Great Awakening took root.
It was part and parcel of a larger phenomenon. In England, this movement became known as the
Methodist revival. On the European continent, the pietist movement appeared. In North America there
were the two Great Awakenings. All of these movements were in part a reaction against the
intellectualism and lax morality of the Enlightenment, and the rigid conservatism and ritualism of
orthodox Protestantism.
The Role of the Frontier in Shaping the Second Great Awakening
Up until the Revolutionary War, significant westward expansion had been halted at the Appalachian
Mountains. In 1775, Daniel Boone blazed the Cumberland Trail, and in 1783 the Treaty of Paris gave the
newly formed United States all lands west to the Mississippi River. With the end of the war, American
interest in the West reached a new level of intensity. The Congress that formed under the Articles of the
Confederation passed the Northwest Ordinance in 1787. The provisions that were included in this Act for
land grants gave an impetus to settlement which is reflected in the rapid admission of new states beyond
the Appalachians. Entering the Union in short order were: Kentucky-1792, Tennessee-1796, Ohio-1803,
Louisiana-1812, Indiana-1816, Alabama-1817, Illinois-1818, Mississippi-1819, Missouri-1821.
This second great migration had significant impact on American society. The historian Frederick Jackson
Turner put forward his famous thesis that America's history, culture, and its social institutions can only be
understood with reference to this shift in population. He insisted that: "the existence of free land, its
continuous recession, and the advance of American settlement westward, explain American
development." In recent years this thesis has come under attack, but it is clear that this westward
movement was a major factor in the nation's subsequent development. And that was certainly the case
where American Christianity was concerned.
In the wake of the Revolution, churches faced three major tasks: (1) organization (2) reviving vital
religion and (3) following the population westward. The future of the Church was contingent on dealing
with all three problems.
Churches soon recognized that the old parish system--which assumed a town--would not work on the
frontier. This led to the adoption of an itinerant system. Concerns that the West would lapse into
barbarism—or worse—that Catholic missionaries would reach these people first created a crisis
atmosphere in some quarters. French Catholics had long been active in the Northwest and along the
Mississippi, and the first Catholic diocese was established at Bardstown, Kentucky.
People on the frontier, however, were resistant to any efforts to convert them. Strongly independent, they
took religion into own hands. These were people who "preferred their whiskey straight, and their politics
and religion red hot." They were attracted to those who preached a more emotional faith, and dismissed of
the more sophisticated rational faith of the Eastern seaboard. Churches that proved flexible in seeking
people out and giving them what they wanted became the dominant denominations (Baptists and
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Methodists). An example is the Methodist Church and its circuit-riding clergy. It was said there were
more Methodist circuit riders than crows.
One of these preachers was a man named Peter Cartwright. Often, when he would arrive in a new area, he
would have to prove himself physically before was accepted. Since many local sinners did not wish to be
preached too, he often had to beat up those who threatened him before he was free to share with them the
message of grace. Peter Cartwright discovered that people on the frontier were not interested in
theological discourse or speculation. But they did respond to sermons on Hell. And so he resorted to a
tried and true evangelistic style of preaching. And in the course of doing so, he helped foster a series of
revivals that eclipsed the Great Awakening. This wave of revivals would sweep back and forth for two
generations.
The Second Great Awakening Catches Fire
The Second Great Awakening was ignited by the preaching of James McGready, a Presbyterian, in the
area of Logan County, Kentucky, a community that Peter Cartwright deemed "Rogue's Harbor."
Describing the area, Cartwright wrote: "There was not a newspaper printed south of the Green River, no
mill short of forty miles, and no schools worth the name. We killed our meat out of the woods, wild; and
beat our meal...As for coffee, I am not sure that I ever smelled it for ten years." The preaching of
McGready and others touched a nerve, however, and at a Camp Meeting at Red River the ground was
"covered by the slain." "Their screams for mercy pierced the heavens...[and] the most notorious profane
swearers and Sabbath-breakers [were] pricked to the heart."
This outbreak of revival ignited others at Gasper River, and at Cane Ridge. The Cane Ridge Revival
became the most famous, and was led by Barton Stone who latter founded the Christian Church. This
meeting was a vast gathering (10-25,000). In order to appreciate how big this gathering must have
seemed, one need only note that the largest town in the state--Lexington--numbered 1,795 persons. These
large gatherings gave neighbors an opportunity to speak and share one another's company. The
represented a break from the isolation of frontier life. And it is said that as many souls were born as were
saved as a result of some of these gatherings.
Because they were dealing with a moving, floating population, the preachers at these Camp Meetings--as
they came to be called--had to press for an immediate decision. This led them to emphasize and play to
the emotions: compressing what Winthrop Hudson refers to as the cycle of guilt, despair, hope, and
assurance into a few days or hours. The resulting conversion would occur in an outburst of shouting,
weeping, falling, running, jumping, jerking, and barking.
These emotional aspects of the Second Awakening disturbed Presbyterians as they had earlier in the first
Great Awakening. A God of order would not countenance such confusion they argued. A split ensued that
led Barton Stone to leave the denomination and found his own non-denominational denomination: the
Church of Christ. Methodists and Baptists on the other hand took advantage of the converts produced by
the revivals. Methodists and Baptists grew exponentially, gaining 10,000 converts each in Kentucky in a 3
year period while Presbyterians declined in numbers because of the splits brought about by the revival.
The Impact of the Awakening
The impact of the Second Great Awakening was not limited to a realignment among the denominations.
Among its other consequences were:
1) An incipient (developing) ecumenicity (friendly relations between different religions). At the camp
meetings 8-10 ministers of different denominations would position themselves around the grounds.
Presbyterian, Methodist and Baptist preachers would be present and preach at the same time at the same
camp meeting. But what became noteworthy was the fact that whatever the preacher's denomination, there
was a common response to the preaching whatever its stripe. The falling, jerking, rolling, barking, and
laughing were not the province of any one denomination. In addition, the revival meetings would last all
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day and night, and would be accompanied by an ecumenical service at end in which there would be
communion. In such situations, there was no way to police the table to insure proper church order, or to
enforce denominational restrictions on who could and could not commune. The authorization to come to
the table was not given by the clergy or the denomination, but by the inner heart of the individual. Just as
survival on the frontier was largely result of the individual's own efforts, so too people came to see
salvation in the same light. This attitude would serve to place severe limits on the authority of the clergy
in subsequent years.
2) The Circuit Rider came into its own as an institution of the American frontier. These men rarely lived
to reach middle age. Francis Asbury was the exception. Most died very young and were encouraged not to
marry. While the personal price was high, this strategy of itinerating (traveling) ministers allowed
Methodists to direct resources to where settlements were occurring. This afforded a rapid response to
population changes, permitting the Methodists to gather persons into a church, and move on. When the
circuit rider would revisit--which he did with regularity--he would preach, as well as conduct weddings
(couples who wished to marry would often set up housekeeping together and wait for the circuit rider
before solemnizing their union.)
A parallel development among Baptists was the ease with which a group of people could gather and call
an articulate brother to serve as pastor. This person would farm during week, and preach on weekends.
What these men lacked in education, they made up in sincerity and earnestness, and closeness to his flock.
3) Music and hymns came to be way congregation learned theology. In an environment where there were
no opportunities for education, few books, and most did not know how to read, songs could be easily
memorized. This was done through "lining" in which someone who could read would line out the song for
the other congregants, who would then repeat it. Hymnody gave people a sense of theology in which
Divine Providence looks after and cares for human kind. They also reflected the rising anthropology of
the frontier. Where people once sang "Devote your sacred head for such a worm as I," the lyrics evolved
to "Devote your sacred head for a wretch such as I," to "Devote your sacred head for one such as I." With
each change, man's status gets better.
4) Theology became indistinguishable from ethics. Simply put, a saved person was expected to behave in
certain ways.
5) The idea of Disinterested Benevolence began to take root. Sin comes to be equated with selfishness.
With conversion, one shifts from focusing on one's self to a disinterested benevolence towards others.
Faith is to be expressed in action, and a growing stress on perfectionism comes to mark the preaching of
the Second Great Awakening. Again, the Revival is seen in terms of the end of time. God is remaking
society in anticipation of the coming Kingdom. As a result, voluntary organizations form to bring about
the necessary reform, among them being the American Bible Society, the American Colonization Society,
and the American Anti-Slavery society. This is a period when countless numbers of educational
institutions are established (including Wake Forest) and overseas missions are launched. The goal is to
purify American society and make it ready for the coming Kingdom.
(6) The Second Awakening helped advance the liberation of women. The various societies that developed
to purify society offered women entry into a new kind of life. These became the first institutions where
women could make a contribution, and begin to take on leadership roles.
(7) Where the First Great Awakening had been a spontaneous outpouring, the Second quickly became one
that was promoted and organized. Techniques that were successful in gaining new converts--such as the
Camp Meeting or calling sinners in the congregation by their name--were quickly copied.
(8) Temperance has its roots in this period. The number of Temperance societies formed was significant.
One of the things that was happening with temperance movement, however, was that religion was being
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externalized. One really can't observe a person's faith. And yet here, religion is very public. The person
who is saved is one who gives to missions, doesn't drink, and goes to church.
(9) The West came to be seen as the natural setting for the coming of the Kingdom. Indeed, American
mythology looks to the future, rather than to a classical golden age. New England had proven not to be the
expected Eden. Serpents had cropped up in the form of Unitarians, etc. In the South, the problem of
slavery had developed. Perhaps in the West, the hope and promise of the New World could be realized.
(10) The emerging dominance of evangelical religion means that increasingly to be an American is to be a
Christian.
(11) A growing anti-slavery movement emerges even in South. From 1808-1831, the South is the nation's
leader in Anti-Slavery societies. There are Anti-Slavery societies in Kentucky by 1808, in Tennessee by
1815, and in N.C. by 1816. By 1826, there are 45 societies in the South, and the region also led the nation
in the number of anti-slavery newspapers.
This created real dissonance for the South. The vast majority of Southerners did not own slaves, and those
who did owned on average between 1 and 11. It also coincided with a major technological innovation that
would have profound repercussions. Eli Whitney was staying at General Nathaniel Greene's plantation on
Cumberland Island, Georgia. He noticed a Tom Cat trying to get at the chickens in a coop. Each time the
cat reached in he pulled out a claw full of feathers. It was this observation that gave him the insight to
build the Cotton Gin. Before the development of the gin in 1793, the South produced 4000 bales of
cotton. In 1860 it produced 4,500,000. With the growth of cotton agriculture, came an increase in demand
for labor and for slavery. Where many had expected slavery's eventual demise for economic reasons
(slavery had become marginal in economic terms in many areas), now there was a strong economic
incentive to retain the "peculiar institution," and see it grow.
Thus, at the same time anti-slavery sentiment was growing within evangelical circles, so too, a proslavery argument was beginning to emerge. This argument had three dimensions.
The first was economic. Thomas Dew was the principle advocate for this position. He defended slavery
by arguing that slaves represented the capital of the South. How would such labor ever be replaced?
Greece and Rome were great cultures, and their advances in science, art, architecture, etc. would have
been impossible without the slaves who handled the mundane aspects of life, and allowed the Greeks and
Romans the freedom to pursue their intellectual and artistic visions. It is no accident that many
communities in the South are named: Athens, Sparta, Corinth, Rome, or that Greek style columns were
used in many Plantations. Southerners fancied themselves the heirs to classical culture.
The second argument was political. John C. Calhoun was the chief proponent of this line of attack. He
recognized that slave holders were in an ever increasing minority even within their own region, and so he
developed a philosophy of minority rights over against a majority.
The final line of debate was religious. Put forward by James Henley Thornwell and Richard Furman, this
line of argument insisted that slavery is in accord with the Bible. To make this argument work, they were
forced to also view and defend Scripture as being the Inerrant Word of God. If there are laws in Scripture
pertaining to slavery, then it must be in accord with God's will. Clearly, if one accepts Scriptural
inerrancy, and claims the Scripture must be taken literally, then support for slavery follows almost as a
matter of course.