Religion and Reform in Antebellum America
Protestant Christianity as a Social Force (pp. 258-265)
1. How did the relationship between church and state change after the American Revolution? Why?
2. What pivotal role did Thomas Jefferson play in establishing religious freedom in the United States?
3. According to the textbook, how did North Carolinians view church and state relations?
4. How did most other Americans view religious restrictions established by states like North Carolina
and New Hampshire?
5. In the religious revivals of the early 1800s that made the U.S. a genuinely Christian society, what
churches were the most successful? Why?
6. According to Figure 8.1 on p. 259, between 1790 and 1860 which 3 Christian denominations grew
the most?
7. How did those 3 denominations embody the republican character of the new nation?
8. According to Map 8.4 on p. 260, when and where did the Second Great Awakening begin?
9. According to Map 8.4 on p. 260, where was the “burned-over-district”, and why did it become
known as such?
10. How did the Second Great Awakening transform the denominational makeup of American religion?
11. How did evangelical religion in the South change to make it more popular among Southern churchgoers?
12. How did black Christians in the South adapt Protestant teachings to their experience?
13. How did Awakening ministers like Samuel Hopkins and John Rogers begin to change the meaning
of individual salvation for American Christians?
14. How was the Second Great Awakening different from the First Great Awakening?
15. As Protestants of many different denominations saw themselves as a united religious movement,
how did they envision the future of American politics?
16. How was this different than the vision of Founding Fathers Jefferson and Adams?
17. Why did women during the Second Great Awakening begin to take charge of religious and
charitable enterprises?
18. How did the religious practices of women change during the Second Great Awakening?
19. How did religious activism change educational opportunities for women?
20. What factors, along with fervent Protestantism, helped shape and emerging national identity in the
early 1800s?
IDENTIFY: (on a separate piece of paper)
Separation of Church and State
Second Great Awakening
Evangelical Church
Camp Meeting
Unitarianism
“Burned-Over-District”
The Benevolent Empire and Charles Grandison Finney (pp.293-297)
21. Who were the people that generally would join together to create organizations of conservative
social reform called the Benevolent Empire, and what was their goal?
22. What social evils were targeted by the Benevolent Empire?
23. How were their methods different from previous efforts to improve society?
24. How did reformers hope to change the treatment of mentally insane people and criminals?
25. How did the Market Revolution and other economic changes of the time pose a threat to the
traditional Christian observance of the Sabbath (Sunday)?
26. How did Sabbatarian reformers hope to make reforms to protect the “Lord’s Day”?
27. What was Charles Grandison Finney’s “new way” to propagate religious values during the Second
Great Awakening?
28. What was Finney’s central message, and to whom did this message appeal?
29. What was Finney’s most spectacular triumph in his evangelical career?
30. Who were some of the people who resisted the preachings of Finney?
31. What was the most successful evangelical social reform?
32. What were the methods employed by the successful reform movement in question 31?
33. Why did most immigrants of the mid-1800s prefer to settle in the Northeast rather than the South?
34. Who were the poorest immigrants of the mid-1800s, and why were they migrating?
35. What kinds of jobs did these poor immigrants take?
36. How did the wave of immigrants in the mid-1800s impact the religious make-up of the United States?
37. Why was Catholicism so objectionable to Protestant Americans like Samuel F.B. Morse?
38. How did the social tensions stemming from industrialization intensify Anti-Catholic sentiment?
39. How did the Benevolent Protestant reformers support anti-Catholicism?
IDENTIFY: (on a separate piece of paper)
Dorothea Dix
“Blue Laws”
Temperance Movement
Irish potato Famine
Nativism
Saving the Nation from Drink (pp.346-347) 3 Questions “Analyzing the Evidence”