Second Great Awakening

Quick Facts: Who was Second Great Awakening?

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Second Great Awakening

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A major 19th-century US religious revival sparking social reform and new denominations.

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2Day Chrono-Wiki & Primary Historical Archives

Origins & Early Life

The Second Great Awakening was a religious revival during the late 18th and early 19th century in the United States. It spread religion through revivals and emotional preaching and sparked a number of schismatic movements. Revivals were key to the movement and attracted hundreds of converts to new denominations. The Methodist Church used circuit riders to reach people in frontier locations. The Second Great Awakening led to a period of antebellum social reform and an emphasis on salvation by institutions.

Career & Major Achievements

The outpouring of religious fervor and revival began in Kentucky and Tennessee in the 1790s and early 1800s among the Presbyterians, Methodists, and Baptists. New religious movements emerged during the Second Great Awakening, such as Adventism, and Dispensationalism. The Second Great Awakening also led to the founding of several well-known colleges, seminaries, and mission societies. Historians named the Second Great Awakening in the context of the First Great Awakening of the 1730s to 1750s and of the Third Great Awakening of the late 1850s to early 1900s. The First Awakening was part of a much larger evangelical religious movement that was sweeping across England, Scotland, and Germany.

Enduring Legacy & Impact

The Second Great Awakening in North America rejected the skepticism, deism, Unitarianism, and rationalism left over from the American Enlightenment, about the same time that similar movements flourished in Europe. Pietism was sweeping Germanic countries and evangelicalism was waxing strong in England. The Second Great Awakening occurred in several episodes and over different denominations; however, the revivals were very similar. As the most effective form of evangelizing during this period, revival meetings cut across geographical boundaries. The movement quickly spread throughout Kentucky, Indiana, Tennessee, and southern Ohio, as well as other regions of the United States and Canada.

Historical Fact-Check Quiz: Second Great Awakening

True or False: “The Second Great Awakening was solely confined to the established, wealthy centers of American society.”

Answer (FALSE ❌): Revivals were highly effective on the frontier, utilizing circuit riders and camp meetings to reach common people, including slaves.

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