What was the “second great awakening”?

The Second Great Awakening was a Protestant religious revival during the

early 19th century in the United States. The movement began around 1790,

gained momentum by 1800 and, after 1820, membership rose rapidly

among Baptist and Methodist congregations whose preachers led the

movement. It was past its peak by the late 1840s. The Second Great

Awakening reflected Romanticism characterized by enthusiasm, emotion,

and an appeal to the supernatural. It rejected the skeptical rationalism and

deism of the Enlightenment.

The revivals enrolled millions of new members in existing evangelical

denominations and led to the formation of new denominations. Many

converts believed that the Awakening heralded a new millennial age. The

Second Great Awakening stimulated the establishment of many reform

movements designed to remedy the evils of society before the anticipated

Second Coming of Jesus Christ.[1]

Historians named the Second Great Awakening in the context of the First

Great Awakening of the 1730s and 1750s and of the Third Great Awakening

of the late 1850s to early 1900s. These revivals were part of a much larger

Romantic religious movement that was sweeping across Europe at the time,

mainly throughout England, Scotland, and Germany.[2]

New religious movements emerged during the Second Great Awakening,

such as Adventism, Dispensation, and Mormonism.

Hope It Helped

A spiritual revival primarily among Congregationalists, Anglicans, and Quakers