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
