Obj: What assumptions were behind the religious movements of the era & did they & the subsequent

reform movements actually make people more equal?

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

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

EASTERN REVIVALS & THE BURNED OVER DISTRICT 1820’s

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

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

MORMONS

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

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’

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