413 Second Great Awakening

Hello, and welcome everybody. This is Dr. Telly for History 413 and today we're going to be talking about my favorite topics, at least in the early part of this course, the Prince of War Part of this course, the Second Great Awakening. I really believe the Second Great Awakening is probably the most important event in terms of fostering American identity, religious identity, American popular piety, pretty much the Americanization of Christianity and really what we are dealing with in modern days, really gets submitted by the Second Great Awakening. Now, not all historians believe that way. There are plenty of historians who believe that the First Great Awakening is the one that causes all the major changes on American identity and leads to the revolution. Everything else that happens in American popular piety comes directly from the First Great Awakening. However, I'm more of a Second Great Awakening guy. So, go ahead and click on that PowerPoint. As you can see, I even have a funny subtitle for this one. The Second Great Awakening, sometimes the Second is the biggest or the best. It's kind of like with World War II except with religion and no nuclear bombs. There's no nuclear bombs. But I would argue that the Second Great Awakening is to the Great Awakening, what World War II is to World War I. Yes, there's the first one, but the second one is bigger, better, more expansive, and probably the one that has more direct impact on the modern day. Now, this is a very, very large Great Awakening. This is a very large Great Awakening. It's a very expansive event. It lasts for quite a long time. From the 1790s, really like 1795 to the 1840s. We're talking about a 50 year Awakening series of revivals, whatever rich you want to call them. I mean, honestly, you can describe this as several different Awakenings in different parts of the country, but they have a lot of overlap and a lot of underlying principles in terms of who they're empowering, who is getting involved with this, or really an approach to the common people. Arminianism, really giving cemented as the dominant form of belief within the United States, arguably still to this day. And these revivals are long lasting. These revivals are long lasting. This is the dawn of the big tip revival. This is the dawn of the big camp style meeting. You know, the really big traveling attendant preachers. We were really preaching big time and doing this all over the country. There have been some before, but they're getting much more large and really their techniques of a use become the technique used even to modern day preaching. Now, let's talk about the state of the Christianity prior to the Great Awakening. Go over to that first slide. The introduction. You're going to see what these camp meetings is just kind of the underlying principle. But in general, Christianity, the state of the institution of Christianity in the United States, it wasn't great. I mean, yes, it had gone through a lot of adaptations. And yes, there, you know, church attendance had gone down, but there are a lot of more churches going out there. But honestly, adherence was going down. In particular, church membership was really going down. Church membership was going extremely down across the country. Typically, in places where the fighting was most fierce during the American Revolution, if there's a place that had a lot of fighting during the American Revolution, or they had a very strong contingent and conflict of loyalists and, you know, patriots fighting against each other. Generally, church membership goes way down probably because these people are like, hey, we're in contentious with our neighbors. We don't want to join institutions with them. In general, though, only about 10% of the whole country at this time is an active church member, which is actually kind of low. It demonstrates a lot of shifts within the United States. Remember, when we're talking about colonial times, church membership was way higher, particularly as it was seen as something required for the elite to, you know, demonstrate their civic responsibility. Because with freedom of the American Revolution, there comes a lot less interest in religion, particularly the manner had which it had been taught as a hierarchical or elite vessel. This kind of elite hierarchy, really pushing this, you know, the frozen shows of in charge, Protestant work ethic, God's elect on top of the social strata, that really gets challenged by the revolution. And honestly, this kind of idea that we don't want any sort of overlap, we don't want any sort of overlap oversight, we don't want any sort of leadership, you know, any authority could be viewed as potentially tyrannical. Yeah, that gets pretty darn common after the American Revolution. In addition, you have a deism becoming much more common with the elite, becoming much more common with the elite, with the founding fathers. I do, I did mention that most of the founding fathers were indeed deist, but now some of these deists, guys like Ethan Allen and particularly Thomas Payne. Thomas Payne, you might know him from Common Sense and other pamphlets, he also writes a lot, and I do mean a lot, that how religion is pretty much all superstition. Actually, both Ethan Allen and Thomas Payne write a lot about how all religion is superstition and really not needed in this new republic, you know. America did not really need religion, they argue, you know, as we can divorce ourselves more and more from the superstitious, the supernatural, this kind of adherence, going more to this kind of secular humanism, they didn't call it secular humanism at the time, but this is kind of, you know, all human nature and lightmen theology, not theology philosophy, it would be better for the country as a whole. The elites are still keen on using Christianity as a framing mechanism, we talked about this more on last class, we talked about some of the feast days and opening things of prayer, more as a framing mechanism, very perfunctory, very performative, not necessarily engaging with the popular piety. Like most people are not too keen on really even the semblance of religion, they think other things are more important, like Western expansion, there's much more importance to this place from Western expansion, economic issues and building a new country. Now of course, you know, ordinary folk, they still care about their souls, they still care about the afterlife, that is something that is pretty much always going to be part of the human condition is, you know, what happens to us after we died as our existence, you know, just fade out. If there is something, should we be on the good side of that, but it wasn't seen as something like very pressing, it wasn't seen as something one should go out of their way to address, nothing that was worth undue stress, nothing that was worth undue stress or influence, you know, as you're doing all this stuff like figuring out the economics of this new country or Western expansion, you could, you know, figure out the status of your soul as well, not something that should be very strong. Very strong, we push, not something that should be, you know, certainly not something that should be part of greater societal engagement. Now there are scattered outbursts of spirituality in this time period, remember we talked about how the shakers of the universalists, the unitarians are starting to grow in times, but they do tend to be very isolated and not that large. I think the shakers are a very good example of this. Shakers, you know, they are a very unique people, they're very spiritual people, they very strongly believe in their beliefs, but they are definitely minorities. They are not really engaging with the general public, they don't really care to engage with the general public, they'd rather be isolated than on their own. In addition, they're not that large, they're not that large, even with their height, they're only maybe a few thousand. Or because they believe in like permanent celibacy, they're not going to grow a number exactly. Well, they're not going to grow a number through like the generations of like, you know, children being brought up in it. I should mention that's generally the main way that somebody gets involved in religion is being brought up in that religion, and generally the religion you're brought up in is the one you stay with, even if you have, you know, maybe some issues or questions about it. That's pretty darn common, but let me tell you a change is coming, a change is about to come, and that is the second grade awakening. Now, if you get over one more slide, you'll see all over the map, you're going to see a map, I did not make this map, this is just a map from a textbook, it's a pretty good one, you don't really have to really know the captions or anything on it. But I do want you to get a sense of just like how expansive and how wide this second grade awakening is, and also how non-centralized it is. It's not really coming from any individual place or any one religious group. Honestly, it's the outpouring of this kind of like revolutionary revival, and the fulfillment of the undercurrents that were already evident in elite circles, like we talked about last time where they're starting to really challenge Calvinism, leaning more into her minionism, you know, they weren't falling on her minionism yet, but it's coming. Just think about Edwards' descendants, Jonathan Edwards, Jr., and Timothy Dwight, we talked about them last class, the Edwards' descendants, how they're really challenging some of the old preconceptions of Calvinism much strongly. The other thing I want you to notice about the second grade awakening that was not part of the first grade awakening is how much the West is involved, how much the West is involved, particularly the Western Frontier. Western Frontier this time period, we're not talking about California or Arizona or the Dakota Territories, we're talking Tennessee, Kentucky, those sort of places. That's a very early hop out of these revival. Tennessee, Kentucky, which were considered territories or new states, they were very much the frontier, very much very isolated places. This is where a lot of this early revival really starts blowing up, a lot of this early revival really starts blowing up in places like Tennessee and Kentucky, in these more isolated areas. And as we talked about last class, the people that are working on it. Do a lot of the outreach and really building a lot of the churches in those areas are indeed the Methodist. Yes, the Methodist, the Baptist, and also the Presbyterians, to a lesser extent. Those missionaries, pretty much the Methodist missionaries, lay a lot of the foundation of this revival in those regions, basically in plays like Tennessee and Kentucky. Now the first big like outpouring of this revival, like this first big revival, whatever which you want to call it, the first big meeting, the first time it really explodes into something larger. If you ever one slide, you'll see the Cain Ridge Camp Meeting, which had it's an 1801 in Cain Ridge, Kentucky. Cain Ridge, Kentucky is the first really big camp meeting. Remember, we talked about a couple of classes ago how the camp meeting is very much a mainstay, not a mainstay, but a very unique element of American Christianity, particularly in the forms of popular piety. Now the idea that you're going to come for this one big, great church service, it's an event, it's not a regular Sunday service, it's not something that's regular, it's for a period of time. And basically, if you see any of it, you're going to go out into the woods, go out to, you know, not to a church building, go out to the open air, and hear a preacher's preach. We talked about some with Whitfield and Ashbury, but the Cain Ridge Camp meeting is a little bit different because it's not one single preacher. It's not just one preacher at this meeting, it's a lot of different preachers from a lot of different denominations. Mainly Baptist, but also some Methodist and some Presbyterians, they're also black and white ministers, it's something else kind of interesting about the Cain Ridge Camp Meeting, and they're taking turns preaching to the large, racially mixed crowd. It's very interesting, what you have here is almost a buffet, almost a religion, where basically everybody has come together for this large camp meeting, and every religion, every, well religion, every form of Protestant Christianity around in America in this time period, gets the chance to preach to a crowd that is wanting to hear something. They want to hear something, there's clearly an interest in this, you know, these are frontiers people, life in the frontier is pretty hard, mortality rates are higher on the frontier, then they are on the coast, it's not quite as bad as the frontiers it was in the early colonial times, but still a higher mortality rate is a higher mortality rate. And so people are interested in, you know, this religion, they're really taking into it, and also the makeup of the people who come to this, it's mainly lower class people who are attending this camp meeting. This is not seen as something for the elite, this is not seen as something for the, the, the holy ploy of society, because remember, it's in Kentucky, it's in backwards Kentucky, which is not exactly an elite is place in this time period. There's also a lot of immigrants, there are a lot of immigrants at this camp meeting, people who are new to America, who might be looking for a religious tradition, or had the chance for both their own religious tradition. Remember, the camp meeting allows pretty much anybody to preach, as long as they're preaching some form of Protestant Christianity, they're allowed to preach, and they can preach how they want. So like I said, you have black, you have white, you have various immigrant groups that are doing this preaching. Now, what wasn't expected from this was the physical reaction, something happens on the Cambridge Camp Meeting, which is kind of unique for Christianity, and particularly American Christianity, which in time would become pretty common in a lot of different sex of American Christianity, and that is the physical reaction, that is the physical reaction that comes out of it, which really stuns a lot of people. Because whenever reports come from the Cambridge Camp Meeting, whenever people are like sending reports about what's happening, they're talking about the crowd doing things like jerking around, dancing, laughing, running, barking, and responsive preaching. This kind of outpouring of action, it's not just the stodgy frozen chosen, they're not just sitting politely as the preacher preaches about the Bible and talks in Greek and Latin or something, they're giving very physical reactions, very loud, extemporaneous. What's the word I'm looking for? Not extravagant, but just extroverted maybe, but just like, I don't want to say a performative religion, but just like they're being very loud and responsive to it. They're not just shouting a minute or something, they are barking, they are running, they are dancing, they're jerking around, kind of like a shaker, it's a physical manifestation of it. Now some might say this is a psychological release from a very stressful existence in responsive, very charismatic leaders. They're saying these preachers are being super charismatic, they're living a very stressful life. Maybe this is a way that your stress can physically, your de-stressing could physically manifest, perhaps, other people say it's the Holy Spirit. Like, oh my gosh, if you look at the book of Acts, the Holy Spirit comes and they do all sorts of weird things, so maybe it's happening too. The Holy Spirit has done come down to America and by God it's manifesting in the people. Now this is totally different than the established Christianity within the United States. This is less restrained, this is more wild. Remember, doing something like, you know, screaming or dancing or barking or, you know, running around in church prior to this would probably be signs of like, oh, you're demonically possessed. Or like, oh, there is something that is, you know, blah. There might be something wrong with you. You should be shunned, you should have spiritual discipline. The idea is, you know, the more you go to church, the more and more restrained you get, the more and more able you are to keep your body and check. Remember perfectionism, this idea that over time, a Christian will become indeed perfect and, you know, have more control over their base or elements. This seems a flip it on its head saying, no, no, if you're a good Christian, you will have no control because God is so strong in you and you'll do things like running bark like a dog. And nothing that embodies celebrates them. It's like, hey, that's the ideal. The ideal Christian is not one who just sits quietly to a sermon knowing that they have been pre-ordained by God, but they're one who hears a sermon and they laugh about it. They run around, they dance, they jerk in motions. This idea that that demonstrates, you know, the less refined you are, shows the greater your spiritual belief. In addition, this really ties into a trend of anti-intellectualism, which is pretty gosh darn strong in America in general, and also you can argue pretty really strong in American Christianity. This idea that, you know, in religious circles, you know, the less formal education you have might be seen as you're a better preacher or you believe more in God. They begin saying that, you know what, one could gain so much education, one could learn so much that God can't work through them. You know, you become so learned and learned so much that, you know what, you just can't believe in God anymore. You just don't have faith anymore. Even if they see this with a lot of the deist who they have learned a lot of stuff and they become less and less inclined with God, even if the school's year going to, they start out as pretty gosh darn religious institutions. They also say that things like the best preachers might have the least amount of education. You know, they start saying things like, hey, you know, you might be a better preacher, the less you know your Bible, because my goodness that can show God working you. God can show you the words to say, if you're somebody who doesn't necessarily know the Bible well, or you know, maybe you don't know the Greek or Latin, maybe you can't even read. It just shows that God is that strong within you and that should be the ideal. Now, the initial recipients, most of the growth of the camp of the red, sorry, the Cambridge camp meeting, would be in Presbyterian churches. Presbyterian churches are the main ones who get a lot of people to join, particularly in the region. Also, there's a lot more camp meetings that explode across the south and west, and that should not surprise you. More camp meetings happen, and at least initially the Presbyterians are the recipients of a lot of the people who come to these camp meetings. But very quickly, they are outpaced by the Baptist and the Methodist. Remember, we've talked about this before, but Baptist in this time period, they are really pushing the bivocational minister model. If you do that, you plow your fields Monday through Friday, and then on Sunday you preach. Likewise, the Methodists have the circuit rider system where a church doesn't need to necessarily sponsor a minister on their own. They share them with a few other churches, and that minister rides around on horseback, maybe go into the church once a month, once every six weeks or so. The fact that they have those structures in place really fit the region quite well. And it really causes an explosion of Baptist and Methodist churches throughout the south and the west. In fact, by the time we get to the 1830s, so even before the Civil War, out of Baptist and Methodists were the large denominations in the entirety of the US, not just the south. Remember, the Methodists are the largest denominations, till like fairly recently, where they're outpaced by the Southern Baptist Convention. Now, we have been talking a lot about what's going on in the south and the west, and by God, that is where most of the early revival stuff is happening, 100%. However, it's not the only place. The results in the east, though, are a little bit more subdued. They're not quite as dramatic as the ones in the west, but they are certainly impactful. In these more established areas, you know, in the areas where they've had church before, recipients where they've had, you know, a steady population for decades and not centuries. The revival was a great deal. pushed. This type of belief was pushed. This type of theology was pushed, but in more established venues. You know, they're not really having camp meetings. They're preaching from churches. However, the new style of preaching becomes more overt in these old venues. These old venues really start pushing this new style of preaching. Example this is Timothy Dwight. We talked about last class. If you ever one slide, you'll see Timothy Dwight. Timothy Dwight, grandson of Jonathan Edwards. We mentioned that before, and he is president of Yale. He is president of Yale University. And interestingly enough, as president of Yale University, he gets to know some of the students, and he's kind of dismayed by what he hears. He sees that so many of the students are interested in daism. They're interested in daism, saying, you know, God is the watchmaker. God doesn't necessarily, let me say God exists, but an active God, a God who really interferes with the affairs of humans, that's not really something that truly happens. More of the humanist elements of the enlightenment, or something that also comes about, the idea that, you know, human progress comes from humans. God may not necessarily be a whole huge part of it. Dwight is dismayed by this. Dwight is like, oh my gosh, you know, Yale was started as a way to make sure that ministers are trained. We saw him at a Divinity School. Actually, at this day, Yale still has a Divinity School, a very good Divinity School. And Dwight's like, you know what? I've got to do something about this. So, what he decides to do is to make sure that the Bible was pushed very heavily upon the campus. He's like, if nothing else, we want to make sure that they have the Bible. He's like, we need to make sure that there is the Bible. We need to really push it. We need to really push the Bible. And he's like, look, if we have the students for four years, I want to make sure that the students of the course of their four years hear all the Bible at least once. Hear every part of the Bible at least once. So, what he begins is a four-year sermon cycle, a four-year sermon cycle in 1795. This is why 1795 is typically hailed as the beginning of a second grade awakening. I would probably have the Cambridge Revival Camp meetings of 1801, but most of the scholarship says 1795 because of what happens at Yale. Because of what happens at Yale, Dwight begins a four-year series. It's cyclical. It's, you know, it's a circular one. So, no matter when you come into to Yale by the end of your four years, you'll have heard the entirety of the Bible. You know, he might start with Genesis one year, but he probably wanted Genesis again for another five years. So, by the time you get it, you hear it on, does that make sense? So, it's not like all freshmen start with the same stuff. It's basically whatever you enter, it's whatever part of the Bible he's on, and he'll repeat it every four years. And Yale does have like a chapel, and he's like, basically, look, he is a small enough school. I will mandate all students come for their four-year stint to hear me preach about the Bible, hear and preach about the Bible. By the time you get to 1802, so 1802, I should go back a little bit. I should go back a little bit. This revival, sorry, Dwight really pushing the Bible on his students for those couple of years, you know, they are the people who later become, you know, it's Yale. So, a lot of them do become elite leaders and shakers in the world, and particularly in America. So, it's giving them kind of a quarter-quick, biblical basis, and that sort of stuff for it. It really manifests, though, it really kind of explodes in 1801. So, a year after the Cambridge camp meeting, where there's a master revival on Yale's campus. There's a master revival on Yale's campus pretty much after they've gone through this whole Bible thing. One and a half times, seven years. So, they've gone through it a few times, but the fact that Dwight is pushing the Bible in this four-year cycle thing really is the foundation of what ultimately happens in 1802 with this master revival. About a third of all the students at Yale convert, third of the students at Yale convert to a much more active form of Christianity, and ultimately become agents of the revival throughout the country. A lot of them do decide to go to Divinity School. A lot of them do decide to become ministers or get super involved in spreading Christianity really because of Dwight and the Yale Revival. Now, here's a thing. They do not recreate the more rural revivals at Yale, which have been going on throughout the country for a year by this time, but rather intensify their influence, if that makes sense. A really intensify their influence. These are the elite of American society. They're the ones who are going to become ministers, not ministers, business leaders, particularly politicians. And so it really pushes this idea of, wow, we're not just, you know, deist. We're not just, you know, theoretically, sorry, theoretically crystalline. You know, we believe in God of the abstract, but not as a pretty personal and active God, but a much more active, involved God really gets pushed through the Yale Revival. And in such kind of, I don't want to say trickles down, but trickles down through the rest of the country. Now, probably the most important location in the East for the Revival. And I would argue the most important place in all the second green awakening, and I'm not the only one who says that. There's a lot of good research that, you know, agrees with me on this, is what was known in Western and upstate New York is the burned over district. The burned over district, which is the region between the finger lakes and lake eerie. If you see that map right there, if you see the map right there, you get Lake eerie on the west side by buffalo. So I'm like from buffalo to the finger lakes, which you can kind of see right there, water lose a city right there, city of Auburn. You see all the finger lakes right there, kind of in the middle of the map. It's a burned over district of New York. That area between Lake eerie and the finger lakes becomes known as the burned over district. It becomes known as the burned over district. You might know that one. It's a pretty important phrase. Melee because of the sheer amount of revivals and other religious movements that happen there. Like, there's a lot of different American religious things that happen in this one region, like this one part of Western New York, that have impact to this day. A lot of stuff happens in this region. There are evangelists, revivalists, criss cross in this area left and right. Not full on camp meetings, although they do have some, but just constant preachers, constantly coming there. People are often coming to this place. Why is it in Western New York? A lot of different reasons. They are building the eerie canal. You do have a new population coming there. The eerie canal has helped linking, you know, kind of this more isolated part of New York with New York City and, you know, more of established New York. But just know there's a lot of people who are there, a very transient population, and there's just, it's just a great place for revivals. Just a ton of them are happening there. Tons of them are happening there. This region is key in Mormonism. Joseph Smith, and we're gonna talk about next class, is originally from this region. Well, he's not originally born there, but this is where he gets his start. Mormonism begins in Western New York. But it's not just Mormonism. A lot of American religious movements have centrality in Western New York. A lot of faith organizations really trace their roots to Western New York and the Burned Over District, because of the Second Great Awakening. Now, there are a few key differences between the first and Second Great Awakening. There are a few key differences, theological, but let's talk about some of things that are similar and some of things that are, you know, different. So a couple things that are similar. Number one, both of these have preachers that are very concerned with personal salvation, very concerned with personal salvation, you know, not so much the group, society, the mailing emphasizing, you know, an individual person's salvation, you know, what is God doing for you, not necessarily the group as a whole. In addition, both have pretty good communication networks. Both of them have pretty good communication networks, preachers and others who are regularly in contact with other preachers in the US, but also in Europe, also in Europe. The Second Great Awakening is not strong in Europe. We'll talk about that more later. But let's get to the differences. The big difference, a big difference, not the big difference. We're going to get to that later. A big difference are the denominations involved. The denominations involve very different denominations are involved in the first and second great awakening. For the first great awakening, it's mainly congregationalists, so like Puritan churches and Anglicans. They're the main ones behind this great awakening. The first one. The Second Great Awakening is primarily Baptist of Methodist, along with the Prince of Terrians and also disciples of Christ, which is a new, a new denomination, if you will. In addition, the Second Great Awakening has way more societies and other organizations that come out of it, that like outside of the church, if that makes any sense. Like groups that are religiously minded that, you know, they are not tied to any one particular church. Some of them are paratroopers, sorry, paratroopers organizations, which means multiple different churches. Some of them really focus upon a certain part of the population. And a lot of these groups last for a very, very long time. What are some of these groups? Well, let me talk about some of them. In general, things like women's groups, women's organizations, abolition societies, many abolition societies get their start in the Second Great Awakening. Educational groups, people that are wanting to education, not just higher education, but, you know, elementary, secondary education. Temperance unions, not as big as it would be later, but some of your earliest temperance unions, temperance is a fancy word. That means, you know, no more drinking, no alcohol, missionary boards, people who send missionaries across the world. We're going to talk about a little of them more leader, they come from the second grade of wake name and the is this level of organization. This is one of the reasons why I would argue. The second great awakening is more impactful and more important than the first. This gives this great awakening more permanence. Does that make sense? The fifth idea of organizations outside of the church that last for such a really long time demonstrate how important this awakening is. In addition, it gives this great awakening a lot more of appeal. It gives a great awakening a lot more of appeal because it's not just, hey, we're talking about religion, we're also talking about societal issues. So maybe if you're not as keen on the religion or maybe if you're really interested in this societal issue, you know, women's rights or abolition or temperance or whatever your poison is, you will find groups in the second great awakening and you'll get kind of brought into it this way. The fact of a link into more different ideas rather than just personal salvation or the church in them itself. However, by far the biggest difference between the first and second great awakening, the one that I find is the most important and the one that I think has the biggest impact on America to this time period, is the fact of theology. It's a matter of theology and for the first time, the big switch has occurred. America switches from a primarily Calvinist country to primarily Arminianism. Okay? Arminianism is now the watchword in America. You can argue still to this day. Most Christians in America, most churches in America, I wouldn't say those Christians, but most Christian groups, shall we say, espouse some form of Arminianism. That is very common in America, and the popular party really pushes Arminianism, religious free agency, you know, God is no longer predestining people. Remember, Edwards and Whitfield really emphasize man's inability to save themselves. Man cannot save his or herself according to Whitfield and Edwards. That changes. The new great awakening says God has freely given humanity the ability to choose salvation by following Christ. The keyword bear is choose. They're now saying mankind has ability to choose, to have religious free agency. You can decide to follow God whether you like it or not, well, whether you like it, whether you like it, whether you know, there is no predestination, there is no, you know, God's power is, his power is used to empower you. You're not being compelled by God. You're not being forced by God. This is a God who is freely offering salvation to everybody. That is a major, major change. The fact that they're empowering the individual. Yes, we see these elements earlier on in the revolution and some of the elites are talking about this, but the fact this trickles down to the common man. This is going down to everybody. This is going down to your enslaved people, to your immigrant, to your poorest person. They're now saying, hey, you have the ultimate power to decide the ultimate question, eternal life, heaven or hell, you get that yourself. And that is a major difference. That is a huge change. The ramifications are still being felt to this day in the United States. This truly shows the democratization of Christianity in the US, probably better than anything else. The fact of the individual person does not just have the power to vote for their president, but to vote for their salvation. You can click it. Yes, I like God or no, I don't. That is your right as a human being for everybody. For everybody, this is major. This is major, major, major. It should not surprise that the second great awakening also corresponds to a expansion of the electorate within the United States, where it's still just white guys are allowed to vote, but now it's all white men are allowed to vote. It's universal male suffrage. Universal male suffrage, white male suffrage, I should say, means basically there's property requirements where basically you have to be rich to vote or gone so now you've empowered the common man to vote and to choose their religious destiny. It's one of the reasons we're not going to get too caught up in this, but it's one of the reasons why Jacksonian politics happens. The fact that Andrew Jackson is a common, well he's not really common, but appeals to the common people to this newly enfranchised electorate of poor white dudes, who before received the Dregs of Society, but now they have been given the same political rights and religious ability as anybody else. I know it's not, I'm not saying it's not sexist or racist, it absolutely is racist in sexist, but you need to understand the magnitude of just this simple shift. The fact that universal, anybody can, any white guy can vote is a huge dramatic change. The electorate changed dramatically. Before the expansion, it was only like, I want to say like 10 or 15% of the white male population could vote and now you get to 100% of the population, the white male could vote. That is a major, major difference. But let's not get bogged down in politics. Let's talk a figure and let's talk about one religious figure who is probably the most impactful and important of all the second-grade awakening preachers and revivalist one who has a very strong impact today on American Christianity. Go over one side, you'll see him right there, Charles Spiny. I haven't heard Charles Spiny on the left and Charles Spiny on the right. Charles Spiny on the right looks kind of woolly. He looks kind of scary there. His bald head and man, he is really overcompensating that bald head of his, isn't he? He's got like all the beard, like really long hair and bald head, but go for you man. Man, this is some awesome button jobs too. Man, where'd go Charles Spiny? Charles Spiny is the best known revivalist in the US and he is a major second-weighting figure, probably the second-grade awakening figure. He is able to do it all. He does frontier revivals in upstate New York, also Ohio, as well as those in city, like for instance, he does a lot of New York City but also Boston. He also really links Christianity with elements of social reform. He's an abolitionist. A very strong abolitionist. Links his Christianity with abolitionism. For instance, he is also a big one education. He promotes co-education at Oberlin College. Well, he doesn't really quite found Oberlin College, but he pretty much changes Oberlin College into the institution that allows women and African-Americans to go to college there. One of the first schools that does have, you know, not just co-education, but mixed raised education. The social reforms that he likes, he's really big on things like temperance, pacifism, you know, not fighting, sanitarianism, which means honoring the Sabbath, you know, not working on Sunday, and also aiding the mentally challenged. Aiding the mentally challenged. So there's some of the nice things he does, but also some of the social reforms are kind of weird and some that we may not be too keen on. For instance, for analogy, which is the fake signs of skull shapes saying that basically somebody's skull can determine their intelligence in different races and different skull size, which show their capacity for learning. It's a bunch of Huey, frankly. He's big on anti-masonry. That's something we haven't really talked about yet in this class, but that's a really big thing in America is, at least for this time period, and for quite a while, it's being anti-free Mason, basically saying that the Mason's are a secret society, which is doing all sorts of horrible things, and they should be stopped. I don't really have time to get into this class, but maybe ask me in person or just send me an email if you want me to talk a lot more about anti-masonry, but it's pretty darn important. The one that you might find is the most funny though, and he is also a promoter of the Graham diet. The Graham diet. Maybe you've heard of the Graham diet, maybe not. I'm sure you've heard of Graham crackers. Graham crackers were made by Graham. Basically, Graham said human beings should have a certain diet that would kill their libido. Basically, it says human beings, if they eat the wrong type of food, they get two lectures, they're too interested in sex, and they get two. Well, whatever word you want to put in here, whatever word you want to put in here, they just get too interested in sex. If you eat the special diet, you have a lot of grains, a lot of bland food, it's going to kill your libido, kill your sex drive. You're going to become a better person, better crystal because of that. The Graham cracker, in fact, is one of these things. Basically, Graham makes a cracker, he says, "Hey, if you eat this cracker, it's going to kill your sex drive." And that's good because you become a better human being if you do that. So, Finne is forwarding stuff like that. The other thing that Finne does, he really helps form the ties between conservative theology and industrial wealth, which is kind of weird bedfellows that really happens a lot in American history. This idea that very conservative people, very, you know, religiously conservative people, are also very tied to very big business. It does seem kind of weird, but it is something that is pretty darn strong in America, throughout its history, really, but really cemented by Finne, and you still see ramifications to this day. On top of all this, and probably the most important thing he does, he pushes our minionism more than any other second grader with getting figure and really cements the switch away from Calvinism. Like, if Finne did nothing else, and by the way, he did so much, as we already said, he is the main guy that really cements, America is now really pushing our minionism, and not just our minionism, but like a certain style of it. So yeah, he's very important. Now, Finne gets his start as a legal apprentice in Adams, New York. He is starting in Adams, New York. Adams, New York isn't even upstate New York. You don't even see it on the map. It's further north. It's not part of the burned over district. It's pretty close to Canada, frankly. He's starting out in Adams, New York. He begins as a legal apprentice. His original plan is to study the law. He originally wants to study the law, become a lawyer. However, in 1821, he has a dramatic conversion. He has a dramatic conversion when he's still in his mid-20s. When he's still in his mid-20s, so still a fairly young man. He gets converted very dramatically. And almost immediately, he kind of turns his political zeal, his zeal for the law, this kind of like lawyer style into preaching. He almost preaches immediately, like pretty much after getting converted, he begins preaching almost immediately, really known for his very vigorous and confrontational style, very vigorous, very confrontational, almost like being a lawyer preacher, like really just going into arguments, debating people, going whole hog on this very energetic, very energetic, very brash. Now this does indeed give him some opponents. This doesn't give him some opponents or littest rounds. So whenever some of this ecclesiastical opponents, they're like, "Okay, let's have a debate with him." They decide to have a debate with him in New Lebanon, New York, sorry, 1827. He basically defends himself against, he defends his quote, New Measures, quote, against accusations of innovation and anarchy. They're like, "Hey, man, you're being too new and you're being an anarchist in your preaching." That's where he starts to get some notice, what really gets some notice, though, what really puts him on the map, is a revival he does in Rochester, New York in the winter of 1830 to 1831. Over that winter, so over that December in January, he gives a revival in New Lebanon, sorry, in Rochester, New York in 1838, 1831, in the Burned Over District. I mean, Rochester, New York is pretty much the heart of the Burned Over District. In fact, he's the one who actually gives the Burned Over District the name the Burned Over District. He gives it that name and his autobiography. He's the one who really gives it the name the Burned Over District. Just for the sheer amount of revivals that go on there, the fact that he's constantly criss-crossing there. He's burning the ground itself either by his tracks or by the fact that the spirit is so strong there. Oh my gosh, there's so much stuff going on in Western New York. Likewise, after this happens, he goes on extended campaigns in big cities. Rochester is not a big city of his time period, but it does expand when he gets invited to places like Philadelphia, Boston and New York. Really Boston, New York are the two big cities he's preaching in the most. The rest of the time, he's like in the Burned Over District or he's in Ohio. By the time he gets to 1830, though, by the mid-1830s, he breaks away from Presbyterianism. He starts out as a Presbyterian, he breaks away from Presbyterianism, primarily over the free will issue. Remember, Presbyterians are staunch Calvinists and he's like, nope, nope, no predestination. He's like, there is no predestination, there is just basically God and the individual. At the individual size, religious free agency, you can go for it. When he breaks away from Presbyterians, a lot of his followers, they want to see like religion or new society as well as individuals. They're like, hey, we don't have religion, we're doing stuff, really pushing it, including some abolitionists. Now, it's also missed time period that he has convinced to join the staff of Oberlin College in Ohio. He does not found the college of Oberlin. He does not found it. However, he's invited Oberlin's pretty small school. They asked him to join on as a theology professor. Later on, he would become the second university president of the institution. Well, it's a college president this time period. He decides he wants Oberlin College to be a center of evangelism and social reform. So Oberlin is actually the base for most of his later career and from there, he would do crusades everywhere. He makes religious big revivals through places like England. He'd also be rallying against the Masons constantly. He actually saw the Masons as an anti-Christian. The ironic thing, he was a Mason before his conversion. Before he got converted, he actually joined the Masonic Brotherhood in Adams, New York. However, afterwards, he's speaking all the way against the Masons. Finney really pushes Oberlin as a base for evangelism, social reform. But the thing he's most known for is his evangelism methods. The way that he tried to evangelize, the way he preached really gets ingrained into the American religion. Go over one slide. You will see probably Finney's most endearing legacy, the anxious bitch. The anxious bitch. He brings about the anxious bitch, which is an area at the front of the auditorium. Remember, he doesn't have a regular church. He has auditoriums or tents or the heckys preaching. Where basically people could be caught upon for prayers. Like, hey, you know, if you need special prayer or if we think you need special prayer, you need to sit on the front row. You need to sit on the front row. In reality, it's not right for prayer, but mainly he admonishes them for the condition of their soul. This is a place where he just totally rails into people about their sins or the fact that they may not be converted. Prior to Finney, most evangelists were not too concerned with the timing of the conversion. It's like, hey, you hear a good sermon. You go home after church or the revival and you really think about it. And like, you know, in his own time, God is going to do the work in the soul in his own time. That was the case most evangelists work through. Not Finney. Finney does not do that at all. Finney feels that God called upon sinners to repent at once at once. He says, basically, you do not wait. If you feel, you know, if you're not converting right then and there, right of the service, right as I'm preaching you, at the anxious bench, after I'm tearing into you, got your sins or whatever, only anxious bench. If you convert now, you never will. This would lead to the alter call. Finney is the inventor of the alter call, which by the way, a lot of churches have alter calls. Pretty much all. I don't want to say all, but the vast majority of any church that calls itself evangelical will probably have some form of an alter call after service. In fact, a lot of preachers will end their sermon with an alter call saying, basically, hey, if you want Jesus, if you want to get converted, come on down the alter. You need to walk on down. Basically, Finney would call upon people to come to the front in order to indicate a desire for salvation. He'd make them do a public event. It was not something you could just wait in your soul, it required public action. He said, quote, if a sinner is not willing to walk and admit that he wants to be on the Lord's side, then he is not willing to do anything. And if this was all on Finney, Finney actually put that as autobiography and put anything in italics. As I said before, this becomes super common in America. And it's something that I've never really been seen in Christianity and general, let alone in America. But by God, he starts pushing it really hard. Now critics of which yet many claim that his new measures put too much emphasis upon an individual action and conversion and too little on gods. Basically, he's like, hey, you know, the fact that you're making this alter all, it's all about the person doing it. And yeah, they're not like that. It's not really accurate. They're Calvinists. They're just like, hey, you're just putting too much on a single moment. Finney said, hey, you know what? You know what? My defense for your accusation is it works. He says, basically, hey, say what you want. The souls are coming down the aisle. I'm getting people to walk down the aisle, claim conversion. Isn't long lasting? Who cares? Could it just be an emotional response? Perhaps. But he's like, but am I getting people walking down the aisle? Absolutely. Do I have crowds every night? Absolutely. Do people beg for me to come? Absolutely. Now all this has become very common in American Christianity. I cannot iterate if you, if you've not been to a church service, particularly of evangelical church service. I can't mandate you get a church during this class. But you know, I'm assuming if you're taking this class, you have some interest in religion and maybe you've gone a church time or two. Or maybe a church different from your own time or two. Yeah, that is super common, particularly in American Christianity. It demonstrates just how impactful Finney was. Like, others might have had his theology before. You know, this kind of like Arminianism. But by God, the practice of it, and all these techniques, that is all Finney. In fact, his theology is more Arminian than anybody prior. Like, he's going way harder on this. He says God's grace was available for all that suited to all who saw it. Okay. Everybody who wants grace can get it from God. You can't be stopped from it. Go for it. If you want it, you can get it. In addition, he said that emotion. This is interesting. This is something that his followers are kind of leave behind because he's saying it's not just an emotive experience. He's just basically a motion or the culprit that keeps reason and will from following God's purpose. He's like, hey, if you get too caught up in emotion, you cannot follow God. Ironically, most of the people who succeed him and use those techniques really push the emotion, really push the emotion, saying reason and logic are going to stop you from getting involved with God. As a speaker, as a speaker, he is very zealous, very energetic. And that's probably the main thing he can say about Finney. He is super energetic. More energetic than any real evangelist beforehand, like in his speaking. Yeah, somebody like Woodfield might travel on it and would feel okay, Woodfield's a bad example because he was pretty energetic and dramatic, but like think of Ashbury. Ashbury was very active in the fact that like he's constantly riding around, but you know, his sermons aren't all that energetic. Not so with Finney. Finney is putting on like a convertational show. He's putting on a convertational show. He actually issued his personal finances. His own personal finances, he's like [BLANK_AUDIO] I don't really care about that, which is something. A lot of later evangelists would not do, particularly some modern day ones. However, he does not see a big problem with people making a lot of money. That might change with others later on, depending on how you make the money. Remember that is kind of an early period to belief, but he says, "I'm okay with other people making money." Peer to believe is more about you making the money and showing that you're one of God's light. Finney's more like, "Eh, somebody wants to make money." That's okay, that's fine by it. He says the thing is, if you make a lot of money, you're gonna be kind of expected to promote religion and other social changes. It's like, you know, that's kind of a thing that God's expectation for you. So it's not just like, "Hey, you made a bunch of money. "Hurray for you." That shows that God loves you. It's more like, "Hey, you made a bunch of money. "You can still be a good Christian. "You just need to give a lot of that money away "for like, you know, abolition or temperance, "or what have you." Go over one side, you're gonna see over in college, with a Tim revival in front of it, 'cause God bless Oberlin, God bless Finney, that's what he does. One of the conditions of him taking over the presidency of Oberlin, remember he is the second president of Oberlin College, was that women and black students be allowed. He is the one who actually makes it co-educational for black and women students. This makes Oberlin the first co-ed school that allows women. There have been other women colleges before, but it's the first co-ed school. And it's one of the first ones that allows African-Americans and white students to learn the same place. He also makes sure that the school promotes free speech, allows free speech, he's very big on free speech, and heavily, and I mean heavily promotes abolition. Very strongly promotes abolition. For instance, whenever John Brown, who we're talking about a couple of classes from now, does his raid on harbors fairy. Three of the people on the raid, harbors fairy, were Oberlin's people, or people who went to Oberlin in some form of fashion, they're part of John Brown's raiders. It's interesting because now Oberlin has a pretty strong reputation of being a very liberal institution when it's not too keen on religion, but if you look at its founding, it's really Finney's influence, the egalitarian, and the co-ed, co-racial stuff. That all comes straight from Finney. He was also espousing some very, very, very strong religious opinions. In general, though, I cannot iterate just how strong Finney's impact is of the American Christianity. It's almost impossible to overstate. Finney is super important. You really cannot overstate just how sensual he is on American Christianity, particularly in things like the anxious bench, the alter-call, the language of God's salvation, things like that. Give her one slide. You're gonna see the mobilization of the Baptist. Mobilization of the Baptist. Yeah, I mentioned before, "Badness are growing quite a bit." The number of baptists explode near the second grade awakening, primarily in the South and the West. In 1812, in 1812, there are only about 200, not only, but there are about 200,000 baptists in the United States. Most of them are in Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Kentucky by 1850. So only like 30 years later, they're more than a million. They're more than a million. So they've about quintupled in less than 30 years. And not only that, about three-fourths of these baptists are cooperating in national ventures. Our feet, about three-fourths of these baptists, remember, baptists are like famously, completely autonomous, they're church-wise. But by the time we get to 1850, about three-fourths of all Baptist churches are in some sort of national colab, some sort of national organization, some sort of national board. Now prior to the Civil War, prior to the Civil War, most Baptist theology was Calvinist and film live with conservative congregational suppressoritarians. A lot of their radicalness was in the way their institution was, not so much the theology. We talked about some of their big theological differences earlier on. However, they were very intensely interested in personal conversion, which does soften some of the edges of unconditional election and limited atonement. This is gonna go in one time. Just know that the baptists become pretty darn Armenian, and they become pretty strong Armenian to this very day. You can argue while most of the Baptist institutions part of the Civil War still say that Calvinism, predestination is a way to do it. By the time we get to the Civil War, and honestly with the population, not necessarily the leaders, the popular party, pretty much the impact of the Second Great Awakening is pretty much all Armenian religious free agency you get to choose. They're also strong localists, they're also strong localists, with congregational freedom, remaining a hallmark of the domination. So basically, you are free to do your own thing, if you wish, if you're a Baptist church, you're completely autonomous, but a lot of them are willing to work together for various things, for various things, evangelizing the frontier. They see what the Methodists do, they're like, wow, maybe we should have some cooperation between churches. Maybe the churches in the city, which are more established, can help send money to the churches out in the middle of the frontier to financially support them. Because even if you have a bivocational minister, that minister is not circuit riding around, so that one church is expected to help that minister. And so even if you do have a bivocational one, it might be more than one church's finances can handle. But if you have a league or an association of other Baptist churches, it can go pretty well. What's interesting though, is early on, it's pretty evident that there's a divide against North and South. Early on, there's a divide in North and South, because the South has the numbers, but the North has the influence, if that makes sense. The South is where most of the membership of the Baptist churches, most of the leaders, most of the important old Baptist churches, what institutions they have, the bigger institutions, your schools, your training, they're located in the North. And there is some controversy about where these recesses are going to go. You know, where should missionaries and church plants be focused upon? Most of the leadership of the North said, "Hey, we should focus on the Midwest. We should focus on Iowa and Illinois and Minnesota in places like this." However, most of the membership, most of the people who are Baptist are in the South, and they say, "No, no, no, no, we need more Southern churches. We need more Southern churches, more churches in the South." Because that's where our numbers are, that's where we're growing. We should focus our resources on what we already have at this and already have a good thing going, rather than trying to force it in the Midwest, where we're not doing quite as well. Now, this tension eventually causes a split. This tension ultimately causes a split on the national level, or remember, not really a split, because each church theoretically could act completely independently. But by the 1840s, by the time we get to the 1840s, the National Mission Board, the Mission Board of the Southern, sorry, not the Southern Baptist, of the Baptist, the National Baptist, who like, you know, takes on missionaries, gives them training, gives them support, tells them where they're going to come missionaries, that sort of thing. By the time we get to 1840, they are not accepting any missionary applicants who have slaves. Basically, if you're a candidate for becoming missionary and you have slaves, the Baptist boards are like, nope, we're not going to allow you, we're getting to more abolition. In response to this, a lot of the churches in the South withdrew their support from this, from this. The National Mission Board's like, hey, we're not going to support you anymore, National Mission Board, you know, we're Southern churches. We think it's just the discriminatory that you are discriminating against people who have slaves, because they argue they might be some of the best missionaries because they are more financially independent, because they do own slaves. I just know it becomes very contentious. But then how do you get to 1845? Most of these churches in the South form a new convention, the Southern Baptist convention, which is still around to the state and still the largest Protestant denomination within the United States. Although it was theoretically a willing confederation of independent churches with no binding power, it does provide some form of central authority that was unknown to Baptist before that time. Before this time, the Baptist were just independent churches that did cooperate together. They do have some mission boards and stuff and educational institutions on the north, but they do have a regular association of churches, convention that come together. They make edicts and proclamations. They have bylaws. They still meet. In fact, they met less than a month ago. They might have seen all the news. They, I don't know if they got some news because supposedly it spoke out against, they said basically the Baptist churches kind of like saying, in vitro fertilizations, not ideal. And that got a lot of stuff. Likewise, here things about Southern Baptist, maybe not allowing women to be ministers, that also is a thing that gets into people talking about. Just know what still exists. It still exists to this day. Even though theoretically, Baptist churches are all independent and can choose to associate with the Southern Baptist convention or not, just know a lot of them do. And it's a level of control that the Baptist and authority have never had before in the United States. For instance, the Northern Baptist convention does not found until 1905. It does not found until 1905. So like 50-somebody years, almost actually 60 years after the Southern Baptist commission is formed. And the Southern Baptist commission is warmed. I mean, slavery is the real issue that really makes it get formed, which is, it is pre-civil war. It is the self-slavery is the focus of Southern identity. Like I said, this does remain the largest denomination of the United States. Well, it is now. It was the death of this for a long time, announced at SBC. But it has waned in recent years. It is dropping in numbers. Of course, churches across the board of the United States are indeed dropping in numbers. Of course, many churches who participate in the Southern Baptist convention in this time period resist its centralizing tendencies. They're like, "Hey, we'll participate with you in some stuff, but not all of it." Most notably, early on, the Southern Baptist conventions [BLANK_AUDIO] still support Calvinism. Yeah, that does not fly with a lot of the Baptist churches, probably those that come about because of the second grade weightening in the South. Freewill and free grace Baptist come early. Other Baptist do not want to compromise whatsoever with any local authority or centralized body, though I can't mean to be completely completely independent. We don't have the Southern Baptist convention. We are whole hog against any sort of affiliation with anybody else. They become known as different names. They have primitive Baptist, the old school Baptist, the hard show Baptist, the regular Baptist, the anti-mission Baptist, they all exist. You may be more familiar with primitive Baptist. Primitive Baptist, it doesn't mean like they bang rocks together and like make fire. That'd be hilarious if they did. But setting up it like it is completely independent like we are not doing anything with the Southern Baptist convention or any convention does. Our church is truly truly autonomous. These churches tended in this time period to be much more Calvinist and also refused to give any funds to a body outside of the local church, like any whatsoever. They're also landmark Baptist. They're actually kind of interesting because they believe that the church is only local. Like only local, there's nothing universal about the church. Now you're like, okay, Kelly, that sounds interesting, I guess. I mean, how is that different from an independent Baptist? I'll tell you why. Well, here's the thing, baptism and church membership were non-transferable, which is kind of interesting. So for instance, if you were like, get baptized, all right, if you got baptized, you know, remember, Baptist, you get baptized and don't listen, get baptized, you get baptized. And like, cool, I got baptized. I joined this church. Most Baptist churches outside of landmark Baptist have some sort of reciprocal relationship with other Baptist churches where it's like, hey, you can sh-- it's called transfer of letter. We're basically saying, hey, we acknowledge that you got baptized somewhere else. So we're acknowledging that church is baptism as a judgment. You are a church member somewhere else. You're still a Baptist. You're just transferring where you're, you know, where you are going to church. That's fine. Transfer of letter. You can move about the country, whatever it's fine. Landmark Baptist, don't believe it. Landmark Baptist say, basically, if you move, or if you get, you know, baptized by other denominations and other church, it doesn't count. So like, unless you get baptized by that individual church, I mean, that individual church, in that particular place, it doesn't count. You cannot be a member. It's called an alien ordinance. I mean, you could get rebaptized and rejoin the church, but yeah, they don't really have any respect whatsoever for like anybody. When you have a more transient population, it's not the greatest, but landmark Baptist existed and some still exist in this time. And you have to remember, as big as the Southern Baptist Convention becomes, it has always been outnumbered by the non-affiliated Baptist churches. There's always been like more non-affiliated Baptist churches than there have been Southern Baptist churches. Even the Southern Baptist churches are the largest denominations. Not every Southern Baptist, sorry, not every Baptist church is Southern Baptist. In fact, most Baptist churches are not Southern Baptist. Most of them are somewhat independent or nonaffiliated. Now, although a Baptist lack a single like leader, like Ashbury or Finney on the National scene, they are incredibly active. They, along with Methodists, were the most active Protestant denomination of the US and became an immense force of the South in front here. In addition, there's a new role in visibility for women because of the Second Great Awakening. Go over one side. You're going to see new visibility for women. Yes, the ladies are getting more involved in the Second Great Awakening. Although women have always made up an equal number of the congregants and churches, it was only really during the Second Great Awakening that they're taking up more positions of leadership and prominence. In fact, after the first Great Awakening, most of the people who joined churches in New England were women. About three-fourths of everybody who joined a church after the First Great Awakening, they are women. But what happens though is women were not seen as able. They're able to get religion. They're able to get Christian, but they're not able to take any form of leadership. This gets the link to the idea of Republican womanhood, which is a big Republican womanhood, not like Republican Party womanhood, but Republican womanhood. The book is an institutional womanhood slash virtue. Very common concept in the early days of the country, early days of the US. We're basically, it was this idea that women have a special capacity for religion morality, which needs to be imparted to the young people in order to preserve the union. And because they have this special insight or capacity for religion, it could be tainted by politics. And therefore, women should say out of politics and women should stay out of like leadership positions because it could take their influence and their purity for their children and the men in their life. That sort of stuff. Just justification to keep women out of stuff. Now one big reason why women become more public figures after the Second Great Awakening though was the emphasis upon the holiness of life. Now remember Wesley and others, they really preach the idea of Christian perfectionism. Christian perfectionism is said, basically, after you get converted, you will ultimately become free of sin whatsoever. As you grow in life, as you grow as a Christian, you'll sin less and less. And ultimately, you're going to stop sinning. And they say this is known to everybody. Everybody who gets who becomes a Christian is capable of getting free from sin becoming a Christian perfection. So those who become Christians and seek to sin in war, they also do the work of the Holy Spirit. That means everybody can do the work of the Holy Spirit. In addition, this sense of Christian perfection has no gap in gender, no bearinger of gender for Christian perfection. So both men and women could become perfect in quotation marks. They say, orderly men and women, they become a good Christian, if they work in, work at it, not, you know, if they let God move their lives, orderly they can become perfect. Now, this might seem like a slight change. But because you're now saying that women have the capacity to become perfect and blameless in the Holy Spirit, this also allows for women to not only take part in revivals, but become revivalists themselves. Because remember, so much of the second grade awakening and so much of the theology has been, there's been going on beforehand is stating this idea of Christian perfectionism. And if both genders can do it. And if a preacher is somebody who's been more practiced in this time of Christian perfectionism, they've been, you know, Christian longer and becoming more and more perfect in God's sight, this also applies to women. So women could not only participate in revival, they could be a revivalist. In addition, this bleeds over into those social movements, those social movements with a social reform becoming something a sphere that women are seen as having a special ability to lead in. With temperance and abolition movements coming out of the revivals, a lot of times over women leaders, there's also weirdly enough ties to the idea of republic womanhood. Because basically, hey, women have special resistance. You might see this in some times for people who are not like, you know, who believe that men and women are different spiritually. Like, you know, women are not as swayed by alcohol, I'd say, or women are not swayed by sexual stuff for, you know, or that sort of thing. And they said, women have like special insight in the sense that like men are just so susceptible to. So of course, it should be a woman leading in temperance union because, hey, you know, a man is very susceptible to drink, but women have the ability to resist alcohol. That's sort of stuff. A primo example of this, probably the best example of this, of a type of this woman in the second created awakening is government side Phoebe Whirl Palmer. Palmer is a very interesting lady. She is the wife of like physician from New York City. I should also mention, she's active 1830s. Most of these people are, well, she gets started in 1830. She lives from 1807 to 1874. So she starts out as the wife of physician. She is a wife of a physician. She is living her life kind of as, I don't say a kept woman that sounds very harsh, but you know, she, she has a pretty, pretty good life, you know, a physician has a pretty high prestige job in this time period. You know, or she, materially, she's doing fine, not upper class, but, you know, very strongly up a middle class. However, she goes through some stuff. And basically, over the course of her motherhood, you know, she has her husband, she has some children. However, after three of her small children die, she has three small children die. She begins to seek her deeper experience of the faith. That's pretty common. If you go through loss, of course, you're going to more like, you know, seek God, seek, you know, why does this happen? You know, why did my three children die? That sort of phase. So in July 26, 1837, when she's 30 to your old, she claims to receive a special indwelling of the Holy Spirit. She says, basically, wow, I felt the Holy Spirit come upon me. I felt really good. I felt awesome. I felt like, you know, some relief for my grief of my three children. And not only that, I need to share it with others. She's like, I need to share it for others. I need to share it for others. In time, she joins a weekly gathering for women. Remember, we talked about before, women gathering together, you know, for religious purposes. That was something that was seen as very common, even the colonial time, something that was well-appreciated, not controversial at all. Palmer doesn't even start this. She doesn't even start this particular meeting. It had actually been started by her sister a couple years before. Before she gets, you know, this really deep into religion, her sister, who was also interested in religious stuff, it started this weekly meeting. It was called quote, the Tuesday meeting for the promotion of holiness. Tuesday meeting for the promotion of holiness, also kind of getting into this Christian perfectionist idea. She is Wesleyan, which is, you know, part of the Methodist Church. Well, a Methodist affiliate. And so, basically, it becomes a mainstay for teachers and other speakers holiness all right so she starts out as it's like hey I'm attending this for like a better term a Bible study where you know other ladies we talk about like how we become more perfect how we can become more holy as we work throughout our lives and be a good wife and good mother and stuff like that in addition by the time we get to the 1840s so she's now like 40 years old late 30s early 40s she begins speaking to men all right that's what's interesting she begins speaking to men in the 1840s and then only that publishing books on religion so you sure it's publishing books from religion which does raise a few eyebrows now she does try to be like you know classy for like a better term of it you know trying to respect it all about it she's trying to keep up the she's trying to keep up the image of being like a beautiful doctor's wife you know a good wife and mother cure kids while also not being too much of a self-promoter like she is clearly promoting herself she is clearly trying to say like hey my book is great if I'd help with your spiritual life but at the same time she's very insistent that women were equal to men in all aspects of faith you know maybe not at all aspects of life or politics which she says when it comes to faith when it comes to religion men and women are totally equal and because we're totally equal women should be allowed to preach she's like you know why should a woman who's been you know you know a Christian longer further long her path to holiness why should she listen to a man who's not as far along you know why should she be preaching preached by somebody who may not be as far as long as she she says basically women should be able to preach and they should be able to preach and to men not only that she says that women should have a public role the promotion of original religion in the US she says religion should be promoted by women she says yeah if we're more holy if we if we're for long we're great you see her quote right there this by strong faith not feeling that we glorify God you know she says it's not just an emotive experience it's effective this comes over years of like beautiful perseverance and you know allegiance to God and showing holiness and it's that strong faith that truly glorifies God not an emotion not a you know one night of being you know preached too really hard from the anxious bitch and Palmer is pretty good representative because like because of the platform she's saying women should have other women involved with it and like really a lot of women use religion and morality to speak out about issues outside the revivalist you know it's really for the longest time women's organizations for like various social ills were tied to religion but we're also the main political main the main political organ for most politically active women or those who are interested in some sort of politics you know early abolitionists get involved with early women's rights women's liberation treatment for the mentally ill educational women temperate social work all these are causes that were championed by the past women the two biggest ones though are temperance and abolition particularly temperance temperance was always the biggest thing promoted by women was temperance because they said women yeah they have a special insight into it was a saying alcohol if you ever one side you're going to see cynica falls 1848 cynica falls is very important because it's only natural that this increased visibility for women would spill over into the cost of women's liberation and particularly women's suffrage giving women the right to vote cynica falls is held as the first great meeting for women's rights people you know women's suffrage hats trying to get women the right to vote cynica falls in 1848 which is one of the finger lakes and the burned over district this is the first formal call for full women's rights in the united states there's a thing in attendance are several women's ministers and several evangelical types the church itself sorry the meeting itself took place and cynica falls as Wesley Methodist Church which actually was an independent Methodist Church that it break away only recently promote religious equality and abolition so already you know you're seeing long before women get the right to vote in 18 sorry in 1918 with the 19th amendment you're seeing you know what are that 70 years before you're seeing the oncent of this the oncent of the women's liberation women's rights movement being highly promoted by women who are get their social standing through religious matters absolutely another thing that comes about because of the second great awakening is a new vision for long-range missions go ahead no more missionaries there have not been too too many missionaries like going all about well there've been missionaries it's like you know Jesus in the book of axe but america was not too keen on missionaries beforehand because you know they thought of their own places of mission field you know that was the wilderness that was frontier however that begins changing the first Protestant missionaries come to india in 1793 with William Kerry coming from England but surely thereafter americans get involved surely thereafter americans get involved and in time preaching overseas becomes a huge point of emphasis but it's often missed that most of this earlier mission work was on the North American continent you know it's like oh we need missionaries where it's like you know let's go to the Native Americans which well admit they have very mixed results brings up a lot of questions of assimilation but a lot more leave to preach on the frontier you know the farmers and the pioneers the modern day bid west we've talked a lot about them we've talked a lot a lot about them but just realize that there's now more pushing of foreign missionaries across the globe not as bitches it will be later not as much as it will be later be much much much more later but there are several missions to india india now becomes like the big missionary side de jour if you're going to do four missions you're going to do it to missions a lot of attention comes from the american press and believers pretty much example this we go over one more side you'll see adorian Judson Judson spends about 40 years about 40 years in Burma which is you know part of india well right here india what's kind of interesting is Judson doesn't write anything himself but he does have four wives not at once not at once he does not have four wives all at once he is not a polygamist that's next class we talk about early Mormonism no he basically has very bad luck with his wives dying remember he is in a tropical climate in malaria and horrible things like that and so basically he gets married four times and three of his wives die however all of his wives they do write about their time and basically these journals and these writings become very popular in american press and like really really are the onset of like mission idealization within american christianity Judson would later form well his name would be used for the Baptist Mission Board it's called the Judson Mission Board you see that soft around right there Judson's a person like big Baptist Missionary two four missions still a very very big deal in Baptist four mission sports all right i've been talking for a while so let's wrap us up let's go to conclusion um no he turns of the second great awakening those who want to dismiss its importance uh they claim that the individuals leading the second great awakening it was mainly just efforts by christian clergy to regain control over an american society that was leaving their um their control i just use the same word twice but based on it's like hey the americans are leaving churches going down churches not having as much of a centrality within american life this is a lachditch effort to get people back in the churches they're you know really pushing the idea of the individual to get them back in church now it might be partially true but it wasn't just a process of manipulation that's just seeing like a very callous way to view the lot of these church leaders um these performers by all indications were true believers in like what they were saying and really wanted to organize the society plus i mean the population of old frontier is exploding it's exploding so i mean how do you regain control over society in the frontier that never had one in the first place does that make sense like frontier society like by its definition outside of the name of americans doesn't really have control you're you're trying to you know bring it in so i don't know i think it's a kind of jaded way to look at it however i think bigger than all this though and it's something that i've said before and it bears mentioning i mean if you want you to think about when you think about the second great awakening is this new emphasis upon the individual all right all this emphasis upon the religion the individual is huge jacksonian politics which i talked about earlier it works in in conjunction with the second great awakening these things are overlapping to make a much more democratic form of religion if nothing else individuals were now religious free agents and capable of piety through choice they're capable of becoming christians through their choice anybody from top to bottom man woman black white whatever was viewing having the capacity of joining a religion having god getting god going to heaven wherever the heck you want to call it it was believed that was now the case that is a major impact because this empowers everybody even though that it's only you know all white men who get universal suffrage the second great awakening is empowering a lot of people including the slaves including women poor the uneducated whichever i mean people who are against it are afraid that this has to pass you to overturn a lot of society and possibly go towards mob rule that's the same thing they said about jacksonian politics you know jackson was viewed as such a uncoothed character he's appealing to the lowest common denominator the electorate that it's going to result in mob rule and and seriously the burned over district this type of democratization the empowering of the individual is really felt an american christianity to this day i mean we'll discuss it but just it's very very strong now to give you a teaser for next class i might mention we're talking about this earlier uh there is another religion that comes up about, which is you could call it an offshoot of Christianity. It calls itself an offshoot of Christianity. Some Christians are called it on. Some other Christians are called offshoot of Christianity, but it is very steeped in the Berndover District and empowering the individual. And I would also argue it's probably the most American in terms of geography, not just belief of all forms of Christianity, or Christianity offshoot, or just American belief in general. Of course, next class, we're talking about one mystery, Joseph Smith, and Mormonism. But that's for the next class. So this is Dr. Tully talking about the second read awakening.