Notes CH 15 Part 1 pp. 320 -332, “wilderness,” The Ferment of Reform and Culture, 1790 -1860
Opening Quote: really describes aspects of a Unique American Identity…”We [Americans] will walk on
our own feet; we will work with our own hands; we will speak our own minds.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson, “The American Scholar,” 1837
Intro:
Revolutions during this era transforms politics and the economy…what about a revolution in the
Marketplace of Ideas….
How do people make sense of the enormous changes that occur…affecting their lives so
dramatically… Remember most people do not respond well to change… How do they attempt to
control change…
2nd Great Awakening…is often used to describe the period generally due to the many religious
revivals and reform movements that arise due to the radical changes occurring at this time. Is also
more specifically defined by the inclusion of just the religious changes that occur.
Some Citizens Goals were : To improve the character of ordinary Americans, to make them more
upstanding, God-fearing, and literate. REFORM is the key idea…
Better or the establishment of Free Public Schools
Women’s Rights
Miracle Medicine
Utopian Communities…some religiously based…some not.
Polygamy
Celibacy
Prophets
Spirits
Temperance
Protecting the Sabbath
Abolitionism***most significant at this time…
Asylums
End of Debtor’s Prisons
Reformatories
Many of the above movements drew their energy from religion…beginning in the 1790’s and lasting
well into the middle of the 19th century…THE 2ND GREAT AWAKENING….swept across America’s
Protestant churches, TRANSFORMING THE PLACE OF RELIGION IN AMERICAN LIFE….and sending a
generation of believers on MISSIONS TO PERFECT THE WORLD.
Reviving Religion
By 1850 ¾ of Americans were regular church goers…Alexis de Tocqueville, in his famous book that
wrote about his observations of America in the 1830’s, “Democracy in America,” stated that there was,
“NO COUNTRY IN THE WORLD WHERE CHRISTIAN RELIGION RETAINS A GREATER INFLUENCE OVER
THE SOULS OF MEN THAN IN AMERICA.”
The motivation for this revival was in part due to the decline in fervor of religion that occurs during the
revolutionary period and reflected by beliefs of people who were influenced so heavily by
ENLIGHTENMENT philosophies…THE AGE OF REASON… Thomas Paine, in his book, “The Age of Reason,”
States that all churches were “set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit.”
Pretty harsh…
SOME HISTORIANS….point to Ben Franklin and Thomas Jefferson as examples of our founding fathers
who were DEISTS…that me should rely more on reason rather than revelation, on science rather than the
bible… rejecting the concept of original sin and denying Christ’s divinity….BUT…believing in a Supreme
being who had created a knowable universe and endowed human beings with a capacity for moral
behavior…THIS IS STILL CONTROVERSIAL TODAY – THIS IDEA ABOUT FRANLIN AND TJ…there exists
contradictory evidence…
The UNITARIAN faith growing during this period is more evidence of the decline of piety during this
period…inspired by DEISM…this rises in NE at the end of the 18th century….they believed that GOD
existed in only ONE person…not in the TRINITY…denying the divinity of Jesus…Unitarians stressed the
essential goodness of human nature and proclaimed their belief in FREE WILL and the possibility of
salvation through good works….(in stark contrast to the harsh Calvinist doctrines that a majority of
NEers had been raised with) The UNITARIAN movement appealed to intellectuals who rationalism and
optimism contrasted sharply with Calvinism…
*****About 1800…A REACTION TO THE ABOVE BELIEFS AND LESSENING PIETY OF THE PERIOD…
began. THE 2ND GREAT AWAKENING…a fresh wave of revivals that begins in the South rolls into Northern
Cities. THIS WAS EVEN LARGER THAN THE 1ST GT AWAKENING…and ONE OF THE MOST
MOMENTUS EPISODES IN THE HISTORY OF AMERICAN RELIGION….
This tidal wave swept up countless converted souls, shattered and reorganized churches, and inspired
many new SECTS…it encouraged EVANGELICALISM that bubbled up into many areas of American
life….REFORMS A PLENTY- prison reform, temperance, women’s, and abolition to name a few.
The 2nd GT Awakening began in the South at CAMP MEETINGS (one of the oldest in the USA is annually
held in Denver, NC still today) as many as 25,000 people would gather for several days to hear preachers
and get “SAVED” …many of these EVANGELICALS…would feel the power of the ‘HOLY SPIRIT” and roll,
dance, yell, speak in tongues, etc… This Emotional ecstasy founded on THE WORD… stimulated church
membership, sent missionaries to Native Americans, Hawaii, and Asia.
Note: some of these early families who go to China, and Hawaii…. Eventually become very powerful in
this country…. In Hawaii….the children of these missionaries and their children eventually become large
planters that overthrow Queen Liliokolani in the 1890’s…. and in China…these original missionary
families can count in their children several Presidents, Supreme Court Justices, Congressmen, etc…
Methodists and Baptists are the biggest benefactors of this movement…both sects stressed
personal conversion, democratic control of church affairs, and ROUSING EMOTIONALISM
They were EVANGELICALS- emphasizing personal salvation with strong beliefs…
Methodists in the South used “Circuit Riders” to enable smaller communities to be served by the
Church. These men would ride from town to town on a circuit and bring Christ to many who otherwise
would not be able to attend church due to their isolation. PETER CARTWRIGHT (1785 – 1872) was
considered to be the best known of this class of preacher. He traveled for over 50 years form Illinois to
Tennessee flexing his Muscular brand of Evangelical Methodism.
The Greatest of the Revival Preachers was CHARLES GRANDISON FINNEY…this man led huge revivals in
the North. From Buffalo to New York City, Finney and his wife were able to begin the concept of FREE
CHURCHES…were one did not have to tithe to have a pew, all accepted in membership….This was done
initially in Rochester then Buffalo… after his wife met with the wives of the wealthiest men in these
cities… the consistent travel and revival along the Canals and eventually Railroads proves that not just
goods are transported by the revolution….but also the MARKETPLACE OF IDEAS….as the area just below
the great lakes, the link to the West and NE became known as the BURNED-OVER DISTRICT…due to the
many Hellfire and brimstone revivals conducted along this path….. Interestingly…..not just religious
revivals were centered here but many of the UTOPIAN COMMUNITIES, Oneida, the center of the
ABOLITIONIST MOVEMENT was here, as well as the SENECA FALLS CONVENTION on Women’s rights,
and Temperance Movement….many influential politicians and people of new wealth were instrumental in
funding reform from this area.
-One of my favorites Brown Boxes illustrates the power of the 2nd Great Awakening on the
temperance and abolitionist movements….Finney is speaking on p. 323 in the digital edition of the
text or close in the hand held version… His sermon illustrates how the 2nd great awakening
eventually causes people to choose…*********.Civil WAR******* is precipitated by the splitting of the
Evangelical Churches, Baptists, Methodists, and Presbyterians- North and South…and then the Two
Major National Political Parties, Whigs and Democrats - North and South….then the NATION, North
and South.
The 2nd Great Awakening brought the FEMINIZATION OF RELIGION, a KEY FEATURE of this
movement…similar to the effects of the Half-way covenant in early puritan Mass…. In both membership
and in this case theology…MIDDLE CLASS WOMEN, the wives and daughters of businessmen, as
described above, WERE THE FIRST AND MOST FERVENT ENTHUSIASTS OF RELIGIOUS
REVIVALISM…they made up THE MAJORITY OF NEW CHURCH MEMBERS….and were long term
committed ….due to the positivity of the message, FEMALE SPIRITUAL WORTH, no longer would they be
bound with EVE…and original sin…after saving themselves and their family THEY NEXT TURN TO SAVE
SOCIETY… spearheading many, IF NOT ALL, of the reform movements illustrated in this text during this
period.
Denominational Diversity
Western NY, as mentioned earlier, was known as the BURNED-OVER DISTRICT….due to the origins of
many FRAGMENTED RELIGIONS ….and revivals….that happened in this area..
Millerites or Adventists, rose from this region in the 1830’s …Preaching the end of the world in 1844…or
Christ’s return…it did not happen (I don’t think) but the movement continued anyway…
The 2nd Great Awakening was strongest in the middle and poorer classes in the South and West…and in
Rural communities elsewhere…BUT it affected everyone, everywhere in this Nation.
A Desert Zion in Utah
Like the Millerites, BUT substantially longer lasting, VERY VERY strong today across the
WORLD…another sect comes to the USA…This time an original, created in Western NY’s Burned-Over
District as well, the MORMONS.
Joseph Smith, 1830, received golden plates from an Angel…when deciphered…the constituted the
BOOK OF MORMON… and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints was founded.
A tail of hostility, discrimination, and violence plagued the Mormons wherever they went. According to
our text, maybe not the best source for this info…. But…, the church aroused antagonism due to its
strength of voting together and business successes….as well as its policy of POLYGAMY (this is somewhat
controversial, depending on your perspective, remember) IN 1844, JOSEPH SMITH AND HIS BROTHER
ARE MURDERED IN CARTHAGE, ILLINOIS…THE CHURCH CHOSE BRIGHAM YOUNG TO LEAD THEM TO
“DESERET,” the promised land…later known as UTAH…but at this time owned by MEXICO.
In stages the Mormons organize their pilgrimage West to ‘DESERET’, in 1846-7, THE MORMONS ARE
BLESSED BY INGENUITY AND HARD WORK…..AND THEY MAKE THE DESERT “BLOOM” …SALT LAKE
CITY BECOMES THEIR HOME… and 5000 settlers arrive soon after in stages protected by others who
went before them.
This success story is amazing…form very very humble origins the Mormons became key players in the
settlement of the West due to its key position between and THE ONLY LINK between California and the
EAST…it is in Utah later that the Transcontinental RR is finally linked together… Brigham Young and the
Mormons legacy is amazing…today one of the fastest growing and successful Religions in the World…and
all begun in difficulty…Eventually in 1896, after the Mormons disavow Polygamy, Utah officially becomes
a State. [see the map on Mormons in your text, it is really interesting]
Free Schools for Free People
Tax-supported public education triumphs in most of America, the South lagged behind, finally beginning
around 1828…Jacksonian Democracy, Universal White Male Suffrage, saw to it that their children would
have the opportunity to be educated…and be able to compete in this new world.
Thomas Jefferson, maybe, has the best quote on education in America, “A civilized
nation that was both ignorant and free, never was and never will be.”
Reform was needed to the “little Red schoolhouse,” that focused on “readin, ritin, and rithmitic.”
Horace Mann**** Head of the Massachusetts Board of Education steps up….he campaigned for more and
better schoolhouses, longer school terms, higher pay for teachers, and an expanded curriculum.
Noah Webster**** was also critical in this change. Webster was known as, “The Schoolmaster of the
Republic.” His readers sold more copies in the next hundred years than any other book, except the
Bible, in America. His dictionary, STANDARDIZED THE AMERICAN LANGUAGE, published in for the 1st
time in 1828, it is still published today. The lessons, like, McGuffey’s Readers, taught MORALITY,
PATRIOTISM, AND IDEALISM….some still believe these should be a focus in schools today 
Higher Goals for Higher Learning
The 2nd Great Awakening also influenced the founding of several small colleges that were controlled by
churches and focused on the liberal arts, in our own community- DAVIDSON COLLEGE, is an example of
this trend founded in the 1830’s.
The UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA, CHAPEL HILL, IS THE 1ST STATE SUPPORTED UNIVERSITY
FOUNDED IN AMERICA, 1795.
****Women’s higher education was frowned upon…the “cult of domesticity” was strong…her place
believed to be in the home… “too much learning injured the feminine brain,” rendering a lady unfit
for marriage.
Conservative critics called, “MOSSBACKS,” criticized education for women, “They’ll be educating cows
next.”
Despite these criticisms, Women’s education began to grow and flourish…at places like Troy Female
Seminary founded by Emma Willard in 1821 and Oberlin College, in Ohio, who in 1837 allowed women to
enter and was one of the, if not the, 1st coeducational college in America. Mary Lyon, in 1837, founded
Mount Holyoke Seminary-College in Massachusetts…
Adult education was stimulated by LYCEUM LECTURE ASSOCIATIONS-CIRCUIT…they provided
platforms for speakers in such areas as science literature, and moral philosophy…remember there was no
TV or internet…so this often was a cheap source of entertainment….folks like Mark Twain, Lincoln,
Emerson, and many others traveled from city to city giving speeches and lectures.
Magazines also began to appear at this time. Especially Godey’s Lady’s Book…founded in 1830 and
surviving until 1898, with a subscription of 150,000….it was the favorite of Women…
An Age of Reform
Reforms and Reformers sprang up everywhere….most intelligent, inspired idealists, touched by
evangelical religion (2nd gt awk) inspiring countless souls to do battle to perfect America…at least in their
eyes…
Women were particularly prominent in reform crusades…many middle-class women the reform
campaigns provided a unique opportunity to escape the confines of home (cult of domesticity) and enter
the arena of public affairs… (remember that lower class working women felt this way as well…not just
religion motivated them…Jacksonian Democracy plays a part as well.
Reformers were struggling with the new industrial realities of life…inspired by their faith and a desire to
maintain TRADITIONAL ways…or inspired to TRY NEW WAYS… to encounter this new life and new
problems… MOST BLAMED THEMSELVES FOR TROUBLE….OUR INDIVIDUALISTIC NATURES LED US
TO LOOK WITHIN FOR SOLUTIONS…TO BECOME MORE PIOUS OR FIND PIETY OR TRY SOMETHING
….TO FIX WHAT AILS YOU…
Debtor’s Prisons were abolished by State Legislators as Jacksonian Democracy spread.
The Criminal Codes were softened…
Prisons were beginning to be seen as a place of reform rather than punishment…Correctional
Institutions for example…
*******Dorothea Dix, is an extraordinary example of the lengths some would go to for change…her
travels, 60,000 miles, over 8 years, visiting prisons, then becoming the 1st woman to address the
Mass. Legis to tell her story led to remarkable change for the Mentally Ill.
The Peace Movement also gained momentum, founded in 1828, and many of their ideas became part of
the foundations of the United Nations over 100 years later.
The American Colonization Society, founded by men like Henry Clay and James Monroe in the 1820’s,
was created to return newly freed slaves back to Africa…with the cooperation of Great Britain…they
founded a Free Colony on the Coast of Africa, with it capital city…Monroevia. This idea of creating a
separate place for Free Blacks was a popular one with many liberal whites and some Slaveowners due to
their perception that Free Blacks could never be successful in America due to its inherent
prejudice…similar to the view of Native Americans and the same idea behind creating Indian
Territory…for the Eastern Indians that were removed by Congress beginning in 1830 with the Indian
Removal Act… both in some White’s opinions charitable actions.
Demon Rum – the “Old Deluder” [The Temperance Movement or Teetotalism]
Alcohol negatively affected many lives…in a time when water was not very safe to drink….and many new
immigrants came from societies where alcohol use was allowed at a very young age…The use of Alcohol
was high and dangerous…The Goal of these reformers was to improve the lives of families,
especially women an children of the poor, and improve working habits among the wage earners….
This group had two primary strategies… to preach “temperance” or moderation and to “legislate” a
ban. Neil Dow, of Maine, mayor of Portland, is called the “Father of Prohibition,” due to his
successful drive to pass the Maine Law of 1851 which prohibited the sale and manufacture of intoxicating
liquor…By 1857 about a dozen states had passed various laws…But within a decade these laws were
repealed or declared unconstitutional…But they had success in lowering the amount consumed up to the
War… After the fight will continue…
Women in Revolt
“it was still a man’s world.” “A woman was supposed to subordinate herself to her lord and master
“(her husband) ….she could not vote, she could be legally beaten by her husband “with a reasonable
instrument,” [the rule of thumb] , when she married she could not retain title to her property; it passed to
her husband.
As the decades of the 19th century unfolded…Women increasingly began to consider freedom and selfdetermination….Many women avoided marriage altogether.
The Market Economy was separating Men and Women into sharply distinct economic roles…gender
differences were strongly emphasized in the 19th century. Women were thought to be physically and
emotionally weak….but artistic and refined… [does class matter in these perceptions?] Women were the
keepers of society’s conscience…with a special responsibility to teach the young to be good productive
citizens of the Republic [Republican Motherhood]
Home was a women’s distinct and separate sphere…[cult of domesticity] BUT some women increasingly
felt that this was in fact a GILDED CAGE…they yearned to tear down the bars that separated the private
world of women from the public world of men.
Female reformers…most white and wealthy…began to gather strength….Most fought for reform on many
issues….temperance and abolition…especially…they were touched by the EVANGELICAL SPIRIT…
The Women’s Rights Movement was led by…Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B.
Anthony….other feminists challenged the Man’s world… Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell, the 1st female graduate
of a medical college, Margaret Fuller, Edited a Magazine, Sarah and Angelina Grimke, championed
abolition of Slavery, Lucy Stone, influenced women to keep their names at marriage, Amelia Bloomer,
designed pants for women…called “bloomers.”
The Seneca Falls Convention, in NY, in 1848, was the 1st formal organized Women’s Rights Convention
held in the USA. Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s – Declaration of Sentiments – (like the declaration of
independence) stated that “all men AND WOMEN are created equal.” They demanded the vote for
women…and this meeting LAUNCHED THE MODERN AMERICAN WOMEN’S RIGHTS MOVEMENT.
Change was coming, however, slowly, Women were gradually being admitted to colleges, in Mississippi in
1839, they became the 1st state to permit women to own property after marriage., and the economic
independence that was burgeoning due to the increasingly industrial economy…was giving women
power….and that power was demonstrated by the rapidly dropping birthrate and increasingly motivated
women leading so many reform movements…they would learn and after the Civil War begin to apply
these lessons.
End Part 1 