Summary Of The Second Great Awakening And Transcendentalism

According to Grodzins’ work in the Dictionary of American History, the first American Transcendentalists

As we have talked about at length during lecture, the nineteenth century, prior to the start of the Civil War was a time of constant change, in a variety of aspects of American life. One of the earliest and longest lasting reform efforts in nineteenth century America was The Second Great Awakening. Both textbooks agree that it resulted in such things as a renewal of religious sentiment and the arrival and new popularity of multiple branches of Christianity. However, the difference comes in the coverage of the topic, and the authors opinions of why it started. The authors of A Patriot’s History argue that “the emergent Industrial Revolution caused huge changes in the lives of Americans, an upheaval that, in part, explains the urgency with which they sought spiritual sustenance” (Schweikart and Allen, 233).

The decline of Calvinism during the First Great Awakening yielded a more individualistic view of salvation and religion as a whole, inevitably resulting in new interpretations of Puritanism. Before the First Great Awakening began, the Massachusetts Bay Colony experienced a decline in religion between 1700 and 1725. The colonists viewed the ministers as too formal and lacking religion of the heart. However, beginning around the 1730s, the revival brought a new style of emotional, oratory preaching, which argued that everyone was damned unless he/she repented. This introduced the question “what can I do to be saved?”

In the 1500s, the Protestant Reformation swept through England and caused people like John Calvin to make up their own religions. Henry VIII made the Anglicanism the official religion of England, and any dissenters, even dissenters who belonged to the Church of England, were persecuted. Puritans were some of these dissenters, and they migrated to the New World seeking religious freedom, a place to live the way they believed was pleasing to God. As the Puritans' lives were shaped by their religion, so too did their religious values and ideas influence the political, social, and economic development of the New England colonies. That their belief that people should obey religious authority and their value of unity shaped the northern colonies'

According to definition, reinvention is to invent again, remodel, or revive something that already exists. Between the 16th and 19th centuries Americans has embraced the idea of reinvention through their determination to change the religion and government of their time. Since the development of the American Colonies, Americans, or in this case colonist, embraced the character of reinvention and applied it to religion. They took the ideas from Martin Luther’s 1517

This religious study will define the evolutionary growth of cultural and racial diversity of the Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC) in the late 129th and 20th centuries. The original pietisten philosophy of the Swedish protestant movement defines the foundations of the ECC in the late 19th century. However, the formation of Mission Friends societies throughout the United States, and especially in the Chicago area, prompted a break towards a more radical evangelical ideology. These “conventicles” would define a distinct American style of evangelical practice through the leadership of Carl Olof Rosenius (1816-1868) and eventually, under the leadership of Paul Peter Waldenström (1838-1917). These cultural shifts would occur during the Great Migration

In the early 19th century, the overall atmosphere of the nation was charged with overwhelming positivity. The end of the War of 1812 left American feeling as if they won. It filled the citizens with a sense of optimism and inspiring nationalism. The market revolution, which lasted from around the time of the War til the 1860s, brought about many changes. It brought about changes in American business interaction, social changes like establishment of the cult of domesticity, and westward expansion of territory.

The Influence of Puritanism In the eighteenth century, a passionate interest in religion and salvation developed in the American colonies. This period became known as the Great Awakening. The Great Awakening was an evangelical and revitalization movement that swept Protestant Europe and British America, especially the American colonies leaving a permanent impact on American Protestantism. Many emotions were let out during this awakening and many ethos, logos, and pathos were used to persuade the audience of the American Colonists.

Transcendentalism is a highly competitive world of the market revolution which strongly encouraged the identification of American freedom without any restraints on people who were seeking financial improvement and personal development. It was a world in which regional developments along with the market revolution crushed traditional and social borders. For example moving from one place to another was a common characteristic of the American life. Transcendentalism believed in individual judgment over existing social traditions and institutions.

“Independence, free will, and personal effort are considered primary virtues that contribute not only to personal achievement but also to the success and well-being of the nation.” This quote, stated by Charles Finney, means that people must be able to choose for themselves and make their own decisions in order for the country to become better than it is. The Second Great Awakening began for several different reasons, consisted of many different church revivals and leaders, and ultimately had a lasting impact for several more years after the end of the Second Great Awakening. There were several different factors that led up to the Second Great Awakening. Some such factors are listed by Richard Kaplan in his article titled, The Second Great

There were also steps to achieve religious conversion. This included a need to reach prostitutes, alcoholics, and atheists because of the growing need for religious conversion (Document B). This document, as well as most of the documents, reflects the impact of the Second Great Awakening. The Second Great Awakening refers to a period of religious revivals at occurred in the United States in the 1830s.

The Second Great Awakening, beginning in about 1790, influenced a reform movement that encouraged mandatory, free, public education. In 1805, the New York Public School Society was created by wealthy businessmen and was intended to provide education for poor children. In 1817, a town meeting in Boston, Massachusetts called for establishment of free public primary schools. Many wage earners opposed this proposal. Josiah Quincy, mayor of Boston, supported the idea that education should be a priority by saying, “(By) 1820, an English classical school is established, having for its object to enable the mercantile and mechanical classes to obtain an education adapted for those children whom their parents wished to qualify for active life, and thus

In 1536 an Institute had given Calvin a reputation for the Protestant leaders, while Calvin spent the night in Genevalate, the preacher and reformer of Guillaume was creating Protestantism in the town. He persuaded him to continue to help in this line of work, his influence has not only persevered in the Church of England, where Calvin was greatly respected among those Puritans who were unfortunately separated from the Anglican Establishment, but also persisted in the Reformed churches of France, Scotland, Hungary, Germany, and the Netherlands. The latter was formulated into their own personal churches, Congregational or Presbyterian, which is what eventually brought Calvinism to North America. Even in today’s modern society these wonderful churches, along with the authentic Reformed Church and German Evangelical, recognize John Calvin as one of their founding fathers.

Transcendentalism is the belief that man is inherently good, is an independent thinker, and goes out into nature to get in touch with himself. Generally, man has good intentions and intends no harm unto others. In addition, man does not need society to give him and develop his thoughts, as he already has them within. To help bring out these already installed beliefs, man has the desire to go out into nature to get in touch with himself and find deeper notions within. In Ralph Waldo Emerson’s writings “Self Reliance” and “American Scholar”, he writes about how being a true individual means that one must have his own beliefs, and not copy someone else’s ideas.

American currencies, specifically coins, have two sides: a head and a tail. The head and tail are different, yet they are still part of the same coin. Two American authors, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Nathaniel Hawthorne, represent two sides of the same coin: Transcendentalism. Transcendentalism swept through America as a new worldview in the 1900’s. Transcendentalism is a philosophy that asserts the primacy of the spiritual and transcendental over the material, that deals with aspects of nature.