Second Great Awakening

The Second Great Awakening

The Second Great Awakening was happened approximately from 1790 to 1840, which influenced American society from religions, culture and music.

In the Second Great Awakening, Calvinist preachers has been challenged by a much more optimistic faith, Unitarianism which was likely put forward by Thomas Paine’s book The Age of Reason. For Unitarianism, God is based on a human being but not a Holy Trinity. Moreover, Unitarianism believes in goodness of human which challenged the belief of Calvinism, predestination and either eternal life or eternal suffering. It achieved to relate a person to Jesus Christ, like everyone is a sin and can be saved through the experience of revivals.

The most popular activity durning the Second Great Awakening is camp meeting. In the camp meeting, there would be 100 to 1,000 people participate from South and West. One of the most important creator is Charles Grandison Finney, who turned to preacher from lawyer, publicized optimism and allowed women to pray.

Like the First Great Awakening, the Second Great Awakening split churches. Newer religions such as Prebyterianism, Congregationalism, and Episcopalianism got supported by higher-educated and wealthier classes. Not only ealthier classes but lower classes, like Methodist and Bapitist churches showed up. Especially Joseph Smith established the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, the first uniquely American religion.

The Second Great Awakening did push the movement of women’s equality. As leaders like Finney, churches started to allow women to pray, which made women made positive influences.

This evaluation lays the foundation for the follow-up feminism.

    Although, as women were getting more equal rights in churches, African American started to become Christanity.

    Based on the Second Great Awakening, people came to comp meeting, and started to sing together. They used their loudest voice and shaking arms for beats. People started to sing songs to show their wishes to reach the God.