THE PURSUIT OF PERFECTION AND DEMOCRATIZATION OF RELIGION 1800-1850

1. THE PURSUIT OF PERFECTIONAND DEMOCRATIZATION OF RELIGION1800-1850 Obj: What assumptions were behind the religious movements of the era & did they & the subsequent reform movements actually make people more equal?

2. THE SECOND GREAT AWAKENING 1800-1831 in addition to eighteen Presbyterian ministers, Baptist and Methodist preachers also took part in the services which lasted for a week. A temporary village of tents, ‘laid off in regular streets’, was estimated to shelter between 10,000 and 21,000 people”” • TOCQUEVILLE – RELIGION A POLITICAL INSTITUTION MEANING THE WAY RELIGIOUS IMPULSES REINFORCED DEMOCRACY & LIBERTY • POLITICS MADE AVAILABLE TO ALL SO MUST RELIGION – QUIT PREACHING TO THE RICH • BEGUN IN CT BUT MOVED WEST • CAMP MEETINGS – 2ND COMING NEAR & TIME TO REPENT; WERE EMOTIONAL OUTLETS • CANE RIDGE, KY 1801

3. EASTERN REVIVALS & THE BURNED OVER DISTRICT 1820’s FATHER OF MODERN REVIVALISM CHARLES G. FINNEY DIFFERS FROM 1ST G.A. BECAUSE REVIVALS NO LONGER WORK OF GOD BUT HUMANS EMOTIONAL RELEASE THROUGH PERSONAL TESTIMONY, FREE AGENCY = FREE WILL ACTIVE MIDDLE CLASS ALREADY HAS BOUGHT INTO IMPROVING SOCIETY MOST EFFECTIVE IN SMALL TO MIDSIZED TOWNS STRONG & ACTIVE CHURCHES DEVELOP

4. NEW EVANGELICAL CALVINISM LYMAN BEECHER • ACKNOWLEDGE SIN & SURRENDER TO GOD • SALVATION AVAILABLE TO ALL • INDIVIDUALS COULD OVER-COME DESIRE TO SIN • SERMONS NOT DOCTRINAL OR THEOLOGICAL BUT ABOUT DAILY LIVING • MAKE RELIGION PERTINENT TO INDIVIDUAL’S LIFE • INDIVIDUALISM IN RELIGION JUST AS IN POLITICS

5. OTHER RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS UNITARIANS – JC LESS THAN FULLY DIVINE MORMONS • GROWS W/ OWN CHURCHES 19TH C. & IN N.E. MANY PROMINENT FAMILIES LEFT CONGREGATION-ALIST CHURCHES • FEW CONVERTS OUTSIDE OF NE BUT ATTRACTED WEALTHY & THEREFORE INFLUENTIAL • MORAL GOODNESS TOOK TIME & BEHAVIOR SHOULD BE MODELED ON CHRIST’S LIFE NOT SOME EMOTIONAL OUTBURST; CRITICAL OF REVIVALS • AGREE THAT HUMAN BEHAVIOR COULD BE CHANGED • J. SMITH PALMYRA, NY – HOW CAN THEY ALL BE RIGHT? • APPEAL LAY PARTLY IN PUTTING U.S. AT CENTER OF CHRISTIAN HISTORY • ORIGINAL AMERICAN RELIGION • MET W/ HOSTILITY WHEREVER THEY WENT & EVENTUALLY SETTLE UTAH TERRITORY • B. YOUNG TAKES OVER AFTER DEATH OF JOSEPH SMITH

6. UTOPIAN SOCIETIES: THE SHAKERS • PART OF THE UTOPIAN SOCIETY MOVEMENT • ANN LEE FOUNDER IN ENGLAND & THRIVED IN BURNED OVER DISTRICT – WESTERN AREAS TOO • GENDER EQUALITY • MARRIAGE SUBORDINATE TO CELIBACY • UTOPIANS SOUGHT NEW PATH TO SPIRITUAL FULFILL MENT. ATTACKED ESTABLISHED INSTITUTIONS • ROBERT OWEN – NEW HARMONY, INDIANA - FAILURE

7. TRANSCENDENTALISMUNIQUELY AMERICAN STARTING IN 1830, CHALLENGE S RATIONALISM & MATERIALISM • EMERSON, THOREAU & WHITMAN THE MOST WELL KNOWN • MARGARET FULLER – 1ST FEMALE INTELLECTUAL • “I AM LARGER, BETTER THAN I THOUGHT. I DID NOT KNOW I HELD SO MUCH GOODNESS” W. WHITMAN – SEES HIMSELF AS PERSONIFICATION OF AMERICAN PEOPLE • U.S. COULD PRODUCE AS GREAT LITERATURE & ART AS EUROPE • COMMENTARY ON SOCIETY, POLITICS, ‘ACTIVISTS’

8. A CHANGING SOCIETY • RELIGION BECOMES UNIFYING FORCE FOR MANY DUE TO INSTABILITY OF WORK & CONTINUAL MIGRATION OF FAMILIES • 1820 75% AGRIGULTURAL JOBS 1850 LESS THAN 65% - INEQUALITY OF WEALTH, MOST LIVE DAY TO DAY BUT W/ FEW RAGS TO RICHES STORIES, J.J. ASTOR, SUSTAIN POPULAR BELIEF THAT COMMON MAN CAN MAKE IT RICH TOO. REALITY WAS QUITE DIFFERENT • POVERTY SEEN AS THE POOR’S FAULT BECAUSE IN THE AGE OF JACKSON SUCCESS WITHIN EVERYONE’S GRASP SO IF YOU’RE NOT MAKING IT, IT’S YOUR OWN FAULT • IMMIGRATION OVERTAXES SYSTEM, UNPREPARED FOR INFLUX • FREE BLACKS IN NORTH FACED DISCRIMINATION – WORST BEING FORCED INTO LOWEST PAYING JOBS • 1 RESPONSE WAS FORM OWN CHURCHES – AME & RICHARD ALLEN 1816