Second Great Awakening Research Paper

The Second Great Awakening, in regards to American history, was a series of Christian religious revivals primarily taking place in the New England colonies in the early 19th century. Before the movement, there was lots of emphasis on secular rationalism and a lack of emotion and enthusiasm towards religion. Then, with the frontier ralliers and fiery sermons that came with the Second Great Awakening, much of the enthusiasm was restored. Known for its emotional and passionate preaching sermons, it organized and formed the different denominations composing the Christian religion, provided social networks, inspired the creation of religious colleges, and mass-communicated religious ideas and aimed to transform all backgrounds of people to Christianity. …show more content…
The Second Great Awakening was more of an emotional and social movement led by church institutions (Matthews 29). This aspect was one of the main reasons that so many backgrounds of people gathered together for religious ceremonies. Especially for people living in rural areas without much else going on in their lives, the social events made for an exciting change in their lives that they looked forward to attending. “The Revival in this general social strain promised a ‘positive outcome in an uncertain situation’ for it proposed to make men better by putting them into direct contact with God. It also provided values or goals for which to work and codes which regulated behavior giving ideological as well as social order to life” (Mathews 34). This allowed, once again, for such a widespread increase in Protestantism that contributes to Protestantism being so popular today. The thought that religion can coincide with socialization is still very much around today as seen in churches’ social customs such as mission trips, confirmation parties, baptism ceremonies and parties, and youth groups and adult groups that gather to celebrate. The Second Great Awakening allowed for a reinvigoration of the excitement and social aspects that religion could

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