Chapter 10: Religion and Reform
Revival and Religious
Change
● In the early nineteenth century, a succession of religious revivals collectively
known as the Second Great Awakening remade the nation’s religious landscape
○ The Second Great Awakening emerged in response to powerful
intellectual and social currents
○ The market revolution, western expansion, and European immigration all
challenged traditional bonds of authority, and evangelicalism promised
equal measures of excitement and order
● Many revivalists abandoned the comparatively formal style of worship observed
in the well-established Congregationalist and Episcopalian churches and instead
embraced more impassioned forms of worship that included the spontaneous
jumping, shouting, and gesturing found in new and alternative denominations
Atlantic Origins of Reform
● The reform movements that emerged in the United States during the first half of
the nineteenth century were not American inventions but were instead rooted in a
transatlantic world where both sides of the ocean faced similar problems and
together collaborated to find similar solutions (many of factors that affected
America also affected Europe and vice versa)
, ○ Improvements in transportation, including the introduction of the
steamboat, canals, and railroads, connected people not just across the
United States, but also with other like-minded reformers in Europe
○ The reduction of publication costs created by new printing technologies in
the 1830s allowed reformers to reach new audiences across the world
The Benevolent Empire
● After religious disestablishment, citizens of the United States faced a dilemma:
how to cultivate a moral and virtuous public without aid from state-sponsored
religion
○ Most Americans agreed that a good and moral citizenry was essential for
the national project to succeed, but many shared the perception that
society’s moral foundation was weakening
● The benevolent empire departed from revivalism’s early populism, as
middle-class ministers dominated the leadership of antebellum reform societies
● Among all the social reform movements associated with the benevolent empire,
the temperance crusade was the most successful
○ The temperance crusade’s effort to curb the consumption of alcohol got
widespread support among the middle class
■ Alcohol consumption became a significant social issue after the
American Revolution, and many Temperance reformers saw a direct
correlation between alcohol and other forms of vice
● Difficulties arose, however, when the benevolent empire attempted to take up
more explicitly political issues
○ The movement against Indian removal was the first major example of this
■ The Indian Removal Act of 1830 was met with fierce opposition
from within the affected Native American communities as well as
from the benevolent empire
Revival and Religious
Change
● In the early nineteenth century, a succession of religious revivals collectively
known as the Second Great Awakening remade the nation’s religious landscape
○ The Second Great Awakening emerged in response to powerful
intellectual and social currents
○ The market revolution, western expansion, and European immigration all
challenged traditional bonds of authority, and evangelicalism promised
equal measures of excitement and order
● Many revivalists abandoned the comparatively formal style of worship observed
in the well-established Congregationalist and Episcopalian churches and instead
embraced more impassioned forms of worship that included the spontaneous
jumping, shouting, and gesturing found in new and alternative denominations
Atlantic Origins of Reform
● The reform movements that emerged in the United States during the first half of
the nineteenth century were not American inventions but were instead rooted in a
transatlantic world where both sides of the ocean faced similar problems and
together collaborated to find similar solutions (many of factors that affected
America also affected Europe and vice versa)
, ○ Improvements in transportation, including the introduction of the
steamboat, canals, and railroads, connected people not just across the
United States, but also with other like-minded reformers in Europe
○ The reduction of publication costs created by new printing technologies in
the 1830s allowed reformers to reach new audiences across the world
The Benevolent Empire
● After religious disestablishment, citizens of the United States faced a dilemma:
how to cultivate a moral and virtuous public without aid from state-sponsored
religion
○ Most Americans agreed that a good and moral citizenry was essential for
the national project to succeed, but many shared the perception that
society’s moral foundation was weakening
● The benevolent empire departed from revivalism’s early populism, as
middle-class ministers dominated the leadership of antebellum reform societies
● Among all the social reform movements associated with the benevolent empire,
the temperance crusade was the most successful
○ The temperance crusade’s effort to curb the consumption of alcohol got
widespread support among the middle class
■ Alcohol consumption became a significant social issue after the
American Revolution, and many Temperance reformers saw a direct
correlation between alcohol and other forms of vice
● Difficulties arose, however, when the benevolent empire attempted to take up
more explicitly political issues
○ The movement against Indian removal was the first major example of this
■ The Indian Removal Act of 1830 was met with fierce opposition
from within the affected Native American communities as well as
from the benevolent empire
