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Admin moved page How did the Second Great Awakening change the United States? to How did the Second Great Awakening change the United States
[[File:Tent_revival_during_the_Second_Great_Awakening.jpg|350px|thumbnail||left|Tent Revival during the Second Great Awakening]]
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These leaders encouraged religious revivals across the country. These revivals dramatically altered Christian theology in the United States by emphasizing self-improvement, self-reliance, and self-determination. The Second Great Awakening fundamentally changed the Christian faith in America.
====The New Divinity==Why was Charles Finney so important to Second Great Awakening? ==
Samuel Hopkins (1721-1803) was a prominent New England preacher and theologist who developed a new understanding of God's nature called the New Divinity. Hopkins was not alone in the endeavor; both Jonathan Edwards and Joseph Bellamy contributed to the New Divinity development, but Hopkins has become most associated with these religious beliefs. The New Divinity upended long-held Calvinist beliefs and argued that people had the right and ability to choose right from wrong. Additionally, a person's holiness and sinfulness belonged to them personally. Hopkins emphasized the importance of a free will. People's choices mattered and determined whether or not they would be saved. Hopkins died just as the Second Great Awakening began to get underway, but several preachers, including Charles Finney, spread a modified version of Hopkins' beliefs to the masses.
People were drawn to Finney's beliefs that sin was a voluntary and avoidable act. Finney's also argued that holiness was possible for humans. Unlike Calvinism, which claimed that people had no control over their own salvation, Finney claimed that people could avoid hell if they lived good, decent lives. Finney's message was especially appealing to people in the commercial and professional classes despite his railing against money and wealth. Still, it should not be surprising that his message resonated because he preached that people had control over their own lives and their salvation.
====Inspiring How did the Second Great Awakening Inspire Reformers==? ==
While the Second Great Awakening inspired not all reformers in the early 19th century, many women were attracted to the revival. They were encouraged to improve the moral condition of their society. Finney and other ministers argued that Christians needed to improve the world around them in concert with their Christian beliefs. Finney's speeches included a call to action, and many people took it to bear.
Despite the call to action, ministers and preachers absolutely wanted to avoid engaging in radicalism. Advocating for temperance was viewed as reform, but abolitionism was seen as radical. More importantly, they did not want women to become involved in "radical" reforms. Needless to say, women did not listen to them. Lyman Beecher's daughter, Harriet Beecher Stowe, became one of the most influential abolitionists and authors (''[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0486440281/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0486440281&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=4e64cf9864f9d71e4ff836febfd51657 Uncle Tom's Cabin]'') in America. The Second Great Awakening helped fuel abolitionism. William Lloyd Garrison, Theodore Weld, and others were inspired by the Second Great Awakening's revivalism to attack slavery.
====The Birth How did Joseph Smith create the Church of New Religious Movements==Latter Day Saints during the Second Great Awakening? ==
[[File: Joseph_Smith,_Jr._portrait_owned_by_Joseph_Smith_III.jpg|thumbnail|left|200px|Joseph Smith Jr.- 1842]]
The revivals were not just limited to adherents of the New Haven theological movement. New religions began to sprout up in the United States. Many of the religions were created in the "burnt over district" of upstate New York. Finney created the term because preachers had repeatedly crisscrossed this part of New York state during the Awakening. Joseph Smith created the most lasting and influential of these religions - Mormonism.
While the story of creating the Mormon church is unique, it is just one example of a religious fervor that gripped the United States during the Second Great Awakening.
====Related Articles====* [[Why Did the Bretton Woods Economic System End?]]* [[What is the History of US Presidential Scandals?]]* [[How did the United States Escalate the Vietnam War?]]* [[How did higher education development in the United States?]]* [[What Were the Results of the Second Seminole War?]]* [[What is the history of socialism in the United States?]]* [[What is the history of impeachment in the United States?]]* [[What is the history of government shutdowns in Great Awakening Change the United States?]]</div>====Conclusion====
The Second Great Awakening changed Americans' understanding of their relationship with God. The movement rejected Calvinism and promoted the idea that humans not only had free will but could determine, through their actions, whether or not they deserved salvation. This version of Christian philosophy became widely accepted because it gave people more control over their spiritual lives. It gave them people agency in their own religious lives that Calvinism had denied them.
The Second Great Awakening had several significant consequences. First, it provided the spark for the 19th reform movements that swept across the country. Americans, especially women, became active in reform movements in anti-slavery, temperance, moral and prison reform, aid to the poor, and the care for the insane. Second, the Calvinism of the Puritans was completely rejected. People became convinced that their salvation rested in their own hands. Third, the movement extolled such virtues as industry, sobriety, and self-defense. These beliefs dove-tailed nicely with the Industrial Revolution that fundamentally changed the American economy. Fourth, numerous new Christian churches were birthed during the Second Great Awakening. Finally, the Second Great Awakening was remarkably successful. New churches were started, and Americans, particularly women and African-Americans, returned to the Christian faith in large numbers. The Second Great Awakening ultimately not only had an impact on American Christianity but on the culture of the United States.
====Bibliography and Suggested Readings====
[[Category:Religious History]][[Category:Wikis]][[Category:United States History]] [[Category:19th Century History]] [[Category:History of the Early Republic]]
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====Related Articles====
* [[Why Did the Bretton Woods Economic System End?]]
* [[What is the History of US Presidential Scandals?]]
* [[How did the United States Escalate the Vietnam War?]]
* [[What Were the Results of the Second Seminole War?]]
* [[What is the history of socialism in the United States?]]
* [[What is the history of impeachment in the United States?]]
* [[What is the history of government shutdowns in the United States?]]
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Update November 22, 2020
