In the thirty year span between 1830 and 1860, the Second Great Awakening did much to change the modern American mind by sparking the abolitionist movement, empowering women (in their domestic sphere) and forming the cult of domesticity, partially fixing the corrupt government through the temperance movement, and in the creation of many utopian societies by radical religious populations. Puritanism was kicked to the side when Evangelicalism took root.
This religious renaissance was absolutely more optimistic than worship from the past; sin was no longer an inevitable part of your being.Rather, you could find salvation through yourself, so long as you avoided or repented your sin. 3 About twenty years after the Evangelical religions swept across America, delegates met in December of 1833 in Philadelphia. 2 They called themselves the Anti-Slavery Society.
The delegates, both black and white, discussed and condemned slavery. Calling it a sin, the delegates stated that slavery needed to be abolished right away. They pressed for non-prejudice, but that is what they got in return from numerous people in the North and South.Their social impact was astounding. They created dozens of “free-churches” to avoid the corrupt ones, created the first experimental school for coeducation, and even had a big 4enough impact on religion to have split the Methodists from the Baptists.
With all of the hateful reactions, the Anti-Slavery Society even began to disagree with themselves. A man named William Lloyd Garrison found the solution in adding another equal rights movement, a movement for women. 5 The working middle class had created boundary lines for both men and women.As men were pushed into the workforce, women were pushed into the home.
A woman’s “sphere” as the Cult of Domesticity would have called it was her home, the place that the woman had control over, her private little area. 3 The Cult of Domesticity had four values: piety, purity, submissiveness, and domesticity. 3 Gender roles were now an important part of society. The second great awakening gave new power to women in terms of rejecting old religious practices. Women could now help better the world through their “cult of domesticity” values, more power than they previously had, which was 0.Along with this, some women would hold prayer groups exclusive women, which was a subtle way of having meetings comprised of solely women.
Women played a huge role in most of the societal changes that came along with the second great awakening. Most religious converts were women, so there were far more being empowered. 6 Many women took part in both the abolitionist movement and the temperance movement, since men drank the most in early America. 7 During the time period that the second great awakening took place, it is estimated that America consumed 72 million gallons of alcohol a year.
7 It was the drink that sat by your plate at mealtime, and it was even given to people during public elections to buy votes. Thankfully, the rebirth of religion in America took off. Evangelical preachers opposed the huge amount of alcohol being consumed, and soon enough the amount of liquor drunk annually per person was 1. 8 gallons, far lower than the previous seven gallons.
7 The American Temperance Society was born in 1826. This group, along with others, kickstarted by Lyman Beecher began to condemn liquor.Lyman Beecher was a Puritan minister who said liquor would “bring the community intemperance, and poverty, and shame” (qtd in. Williamson). 8 Along with many people lowering the amount of liquor consumed and some people even giving it up entirely, people would vote against the public representatives that handed out whiskey. Obviously this affected politics, with no more persuasion by alcohol.
Just as groups had formed against the consumption of alcohol, isolated religious groups began to form against everyone but themselves.Called “Utopian Communities”, religious groups were created that challenged society and it’s religions, which is very similar to the Evangelical movement. There were hundreds of these communities, with one of the most popular being the “Shakers”. 9 The Shakers believed in the complete equality of male and females, but at the price of being completely celibate. The only way there could be new members was if there were converts or children who would come into a Shaker village. Most of these utopian communities shared an idea of millennialism, which talks about Jesus returning and a new era of the world beginning.
The social impact of this is blatantly clear; many more religious groups were being created, rather than a few sects of religion. The Second Great Awakening contained many social and political changes. People began to improve themselves and the Northern part of the country began to come together, like they were being glued. Equality seemed to be a recurring idea with the abolitionist movement, women wanting to be able to vote, and even the equality of opposite genders in the Shaker community.
This religious celebration brought forth a new attitude in America, one that is more focusing on improving America itself.
