The Second Great Awakening led to the rise of evangelicalism in America and spread revivalism and emotional religion through large camp meetings on the frontier. This sparked reform movements in the North led by figures like Charles Finney who sought to end sins like alcohol abuse. Revivalism encouraged new ideas about domesticity, childhood, and institutions. Some reforms like abolitionism and women's rights became more radical over time, splitting moderates from perfectionists. Transcendentalism emerged as a protest movement focusing on intuition over doctrine. Utopian communities like Brook Farm and Oneida experimented with new social and economic structures based on cooperation and equality. However, reform was not without critics and prompted counterarguments.

1. Chapter 12Chapter 12
THE PURSUIT OF PERFECTIONTHE PURSUIT OF PERFECTION
America Past and Present
Eighth Edition
Divine  Breen  Fredrickson  Williams  Gross  Brand
Copyright 2007, Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as LongmanCopyright 2007, Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman

2. The Rise of EvangelicalismThe Rise of Evangelicalism
Separation of church and state gave all
churches the chance to compete for
converts
Pious Protestants formed voluntary
associations to combat sin, “infidelity”

3. The Second Great Awakening:The Second Great Awakening:
The Frontier PhaseThe Frontier Phase
Camp meetings contributed to frontier life
– Provided emotional religion
– Offer opportunity for social life
Camp meeting revivals conveyed intensely
personal religious message
Camp meetings rarely led to social reform

4. The Second Great AwakeningThe Second Great Awakening
in the Northin the North
New England reformers led by Timothy Dwight
defended Calvinism against the Enlightenment
Nathaniel Taylor: Individuals are free agents and can
overcome natural inclination to sin
Lyman Beecher and evangelical Calvinism
Charles G. Finney
– Departed radically from Calvinist doctrine
– Appeal is based in emotion not reason
– Finney preached in upstate New York and stressed revival
techniques
Beecher and others disturbed by emotionalism of
Finney’s methods
Revivals led to organization of more churches

5. From Revivalism to ReformFrom Revivalism to Reform
Northern revivals stimulated reform
Middle-class participants adapted
evangelical religion to preserve
traditional values
"The benevolent empire" of evangelical
reform movements altered American life
– For example, temperance movement cut
alcohol consumption by more than 50%

6. Domesticity and Changes inDomesticity and Changes in
the American Familythe American Family
New conception of family’s role in
society
Child rearing seen as essential
preparation for self-disciplined Christian
life
Women confined to domestic sphere
Women assumed crucial role within
home

7. Marriage for LoveMarriage for Love
Mutual love must characterize marriage
Wives became more of a companion to
their husbands and less of a servant
Legally, the husband was the
unchallenged head of the household

8. The Cult of DomesticityThe Cult of Domesticity
"The Cult of True Womanhood"
– Placed women in the home
– Glorified home as center of all efforts to
civilize and “Christianize” society
Middle- and upper-class women
increasingly dedicated to the home as
mothers
Women of leisure entered reform
movements

9. The Discovery of ChildhoodThe Discovery of Childhood
Nineteenth-century child the center of
family
Each child seen as unique, irreplaceable
Ideal to form child’s character with
affection
Parental discipline to instill guilt, not fear
Train child to learn self-discipline
Family size declines from average of 7.04
children to 5.42 by 1850

10. Institutional ReformInstitutional Reform
Domesticity informed public institutions
Schools continued what family began
Asylums, prisons mended family’s
failures

11. The Extension of EducationThe Extension of Education
Public schools expanded rapidly from 1820
to 1850
Means of advancement for working class
Means of inculcating values of hard work,
responsibility to middle-class reformers
Horace Mann argued schools saved
immigrants, poor children from parents’
bad influence
Many parents believed public schools
alienated children from their parents

12. Discovering the AsylumDiscovering the Asylum
Poor, criminal, insane seen as lacking
self-discipline
Harsh measures to promote
rehabilitation
– Solitary confinement of prisoners
– Strict daily schedule
Public support for rehabilitation skimpy
Prisons, asylums, poorhouses became
warehouses for the unwanted

13. Reform Turns RadicalReform Turns Radical
Most reform aimed to improve society
Some radical reformers sought
destruction of old society, creation of
perfect social order

14. Divisions in theDivisions in the
Benevolent EmpireBenevolent Empire
Radical perfectionists impatient by 1830s,
split from moderate reform
– Temperance movement
– Peace movement
– Antislavery movement
Moderates sought gradual end to slavery and
colonization of freed slaves to its colony of
Liberia
Radicals like William Lloyd Garrison
demanded immediate emancipation
– 1831: Garrison founded The Liberator
– 1833: American Anti-Slavery Society

15. The Abolitionist Enterprise:The Abolitionist Enterprise:
Theodore Dwight WeldTheodore Dwight Weld
Weld an itinerant minister converted by
Finney
Adapted his revivalist techniques to
abolition
Successful mass meetings in Ohio,
New York

16. The Abolitionist Enterprise:The Abolitionist Enterprise:
Public ReceptionPublic Reception
Appealed to hard-working small town
folk
Opposition in cities & near Mason-Dixon
line
Opposition from the working class
– Disliked blacks
– Feared black economic and social
competition
Solid citizens saw abolitionists as
anarchists

17. The Abolitionist Enterprise:The Abolitionist Enterprise:
ObstaclesObstacles
Abolitionists hampered by in-fighting
William Lloyd Garrison disrupted
movement by associating with radical
reform efforts
– Urged abolitionists to abstain from
participating in the political process
– Also involved in women’s rights movement
Some abolitionists helped form the
Liberty Party in 1840

18. Black AbolitionistsBlack Abolitionists
Former slaves related the horrible
realities of bondage
– Prominent figures included Frederick
Douglass and Sojourner Truth
Black newspapers, books, and
pamphlets publicized abolitionism to a
wider audience
Blacks were also active in the
Underground Railroad

19. From Abolitionism toFrom Abolitionism to
Women's RightsWomen's Rights
Abolitionism opened to women’s
participation
Involvement raised awareness of women’s
inequality
Seneca Falls Convention in 1848
– Organized by Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady
Stanton
– Prompted by experience of inequality in
abolition movement
– Began movement for women’s rights

20. TranscendentalismTranscendentalism
Protest of the general state/culture of
society
Focus on individual thought and
intuition rather than religious doctrine
Their view of Religion was that God
gave the gifts of Intuition, Insight and
Inspiration…..So…
Why Waste It????

21. Radical Ideas & Experiments:Radical Ideas & Experiments:
TranscendentalismTranscendentalism
Ralph Waldo Emerson – Nature/Self
Reliance
George Ripley
– Founded cooperative community at Brook
Farm
Henry David Thoreau and Walden /
Civil Disobedience

22. Radical Ideas & Experiments:Radical Ideas & Experiments:
Utopian CommunitiesUtopian Communities
Opened the door for anyone who could
gather followers… today we read about
them in the history books, we call their
comtemporaries…. Cults…
Something happened in the 1980’s and
90’s where a lot of these same ideas
resurfaced, but whacko leaders created
these utopian communities for very
different reasons…

23. Radical Ideas & Experiments:Radical Ideas & Experiments:
Utopian CommunitiesUtopian Communities
Utopian socialism
– - Religious Communalism
– Inspired by Robert Owen, Charles Fourier
– New Harmony, Indiana—Owenite
Religious utopianism
– Shakers
– Oneida Community – dudes were a little
out there…

24. A bit on Brook Farm….A bit on Brook Farm….
Life on Brook Farm was based on balancing labor
and leisure while working together for the benefit of
the greater community. Each member could choose
to do whatever work they found most appealing and
all were paid equally, including women. Revenue for
the community came from farming and from selling
hand-made products like clothing as well as through
fees paid by the many visitors to Brook Farm. The
main source of income was the school, which was
overseen by Mrs. Ripley. A pre-school, primary
school, and a college preparatory school attracted
children internationally and each child was charged
for their education. Adult education was also offered.

25. Utopian Communities Before theUtopian Communities Before the
Civil WarCivil War

26. Counterpoint on ReformCounterpoint on Reform
Reform encountered perceptive critics
– Nathaniel Hawthorne allegorically refuted
perfectionist movements suggesting the
world was inherently an imperfect place
– - The Scarlet Letter
Reform prompted necessary changes in
American life