Reform Movements in Second Great Awakening

1404 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The second great awakening in america

‘Reform movements in the United States sought to expand democratic ideals. Assess the validity of this statement with specific reference to the years 1825-1850.’

Reform movements in the United States sought to expand democratic ideals from the quarter century time period of 1825-1850 also known as the Second Great Awakening. These democratic ideals included voting for everyone eighteen and older (with the exception of minors, women, insane, and criminals), freedom of expression, press, speech and religion, election of officials, property rights, free and public education, more than one political party, equal rights, equality before the law entitling a person to due process, separation of church and state, tolerance of diversity, institutional uncertainty, protection of minority rights, and no special privileges. Teaching them the habits of thrift, orderliness, temperance and industry was a way to not only better their lives but a way to instill certain so-called democratic values and advance the perfection of the whole of society.

Many people liked the ideal change from an ancient Romanesque republic to an ancient Greek democracy. After visiting the United States during the early 1830’s, Alexis de Tocqueville put all of his observations into a book entitled Democracy in America. In this significant book, he depicted democracy as “not only deficient in that soundness of judgment which is necessary to select men really deserving of its confidence, but it has neither desire nor the inclination of find them…” (Document 3)

The theology of the Second Great Awakening can be split up into six subdivisions: personal commitment, revivals, conversion of the world, millennialism, perfectionism, and a utopia. Personal commitment consis...

... middle of paper ...

...uency. According to Document A, people did not know what to do with minors that committed a crime. “To confine these youthful criminals…where no, or scarcely any, distinction can be made between the young and old, or between the more and less vicious, where little can be learned but the ways of the wicked, and from whence they must be sent to encounter new wants, new temptations, and to commit new crimes, is to pursue a course, as little reconcilable with justice as humanity; yet, till the House of Refuge was established there was no alternative.” (Document A)

As time passed tolerance of diversity came along with these democratic ideals. They not only changed society, they changed a country on the verge of a civil war. Ultimately, however, because of these ideals and the theology of the Second Great Awakening, the chance of war precipitated and tore a country in two.

Show More
Related

  • How Democratic Was Andrew Jackson Dbq

    1405 Words  | 3 Pages

    Throughout his presidency, Andrew Jackson was regarded as both a tyrant (Document E) as well a democratic rembrandt. However, by the conclusion of his rule, Andrew Jackson’s America had emerged as a pseudo democracy, strongly supported and advocated for, but falling short and ultimately failing. The drastic reforms during the Age of Jackson brought about radical changes to the young nation that would be felt throughout the country and would set the foundation for politics today. President Andrew Jackson reformed the American voting system, made significant moves against the National Bank, sparked the beginning of democratic reform movements, and most importantly gave the Common Man a voice in the government. These democratic initiatives, however, were not seen everywhere as America was slowly divided by differing views on contentious topics and individualistic ideals. Jacksonian America, did not promote the democratic

    Read More

  • A New England Town Sparknotes

    912 Words  | 2 Pages

    In today’s society, American citizens tend to believe that America has been, “American” since the day that Christopher Columbus set foot in the Bahamas. This is a myth that has been in our society for a multitude of years now. In A New England Town by Kenneth A. Lockridge, he proves that America was not always democratic. Additionally, he proves that America has not always been “American”, by presenting the town of Dedham in 1635. Lockridge presents this town through the course of over one hundred years, in that time many changes happened as it made its way to a type of democracy.

    Read More

  • Second Great Awakening And Abolitionist Movement Essay

    1606 Words  | 4 Pages

    “The connection between the revivals of the Second Great Awakening and abolition was so strong that it would hardly be an overstatement to say that the revivals were responsible for antislavery becoming a radical national movement.” During the time period, evangelical religion underlay the culture of America to such an extent that the revivals of the 1830s resulted in “tangible” structures for social reform — the revivals touched many aspects of political and social life. The revivals implicitly created political obligations and led to a demand for an activist

    Read More

  • Alexis de Tocqueville: Democracy in America

    1212 Words  | 3 Pages

    America’s form of representative democracy came as a result of the transgressions Britain committed against their colonies. Several hundred years of salutary neglect served well for those living an ocean away from their motherland. Realizing the prosperity that colonies had obtained through a semi-free market society, the King of England and the parliament began enacting many taxes and acts. Taking away the colonies freedom was unsettling amongst the colonists and eventually led to a revolution. This revolution secured freedom from Britain as well as founded a new nation with the first ever constitution. Although the process to achieve democracy in America was a long, laborious road the freedom, prosperity and equality of opportunity shared by those amongst the states could not be denied.

    Read More

  • The Effects of American Reform Movements in the 1900s

    2279 Words  | 5 Pages

    In the late 1800’s a group of Americans decided that something needed to be done about the decline of moral and ethical values in most Americans. These people called themselves the progressives and started one of the most comprehensive reform movements in the United States to this day. Progressivism became so widespread that by the end of World War I, anyone who didn’t agree with Progressive ideals was labeled a communist. The Progressives had four major goals that they wished to accomplish. These four goals were to democratize America, to Americanize America, the humanization of capitalism and rationalization of the economy. Each goal dealt with a different aspect of America’s society that the Progressives thought needed help. The way these goals were accomplished was to get laws passed that would reform the practices of many Americans. Progressives held that in order to bring American back to its old time, rural values people would need to attend church more.

    Read More

  • Reform Between 1825 And 1850

    1363 Words  | 3 Pages

    While some citizens of the United States, between 1825 and 1850, believed that reform was foolish and that the nation should stick to its old conduct, reformists in this time period still sought to make the United States a more ideally democratic nation. This was an age of nationalism and pride, and where there was pride in one’s country, there was the aspiration to improve one’s country even further. Many new reformist and abolitionist groups began to form, all attempting to change aspects of the United States that the respective groups thought to be unfair or unjust. Some groups, such as lower and middle class women and immigrants, sought to improve rights within the county, while other reformers aspired to change the American education system into a more efficient way of teaching the county’s youth. Still other reform groups, particularly involved in the church and the second great awakening, wanted to change society as a whole. This was a time and age of change, and all these reforms were intended to contribute to the democratic way our country operated.

    Read More

  • How Democratic Was Colonial America?

    820 Words  | 2 Pages

    In conclusion, religions not being accepted by other people and unequal distribution of land led to a small decline in a democracy being formed. Although, there were many small and minor improvements, they did not make that period more democratic. In fact, in the Connecticut Gazette, it showed that the people were yearning and in many ways begging for a democracy and wanted independence (Doc L). Even though that happened, the democracy they wanted did not get as far as they hoped for. Yet, it created doors for more to be done later.

    Read More

  • Overview of the Second Great Awakening

    1160 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Second Great Awakening was extremely influential in sparking the idea of reform in the minds of people across America. Most people in America just accepted things the way they were until this time. Reforms took place due to the increase of industrial growth, increasing immigration, and new ways of communication throughout the United States. Charles Grandison Finney was one of the main reasons the Second Great Awakening was such a great success. “Much of the impulse towards reform was rooted in the revivals of the broad religious movement that swept the Untied State after 1790” (Danzer, Klor de Alva, Krieger, Wilson, and Woloch 240). Revivals during the Second Great Awakening awakened the faith of people during the 1790s with emotional preaching from Charles Finney and many other influential preachers, which later helped influence the reforms of the mid-1800s throughout America.

    Read More

  • The Populists and Progressives

    1147 Words  | 3 Pages

    During the late 19th and early 20th century both the Populist Party and Progressive movement wanted to preserve some things, while also addressing the need for reform. Although many of the ideas and goals of these “Third parties” were initially not legislated and considered far-fetched, many of these ideas later became fundamental laws throughout American history.

    Read More

  • The Great Awakening and the American Revolution

    924 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the early 1700's spiritual revivalism spread rapidly through the colonies. This led to colonists changing their beliefs on religion. The great awakening was the level to which the revivalism spread through the colonists. Even with this, there was still religious revivalism in the colonies. One major reason for the Great Awakening was that it was not too long before the revolution. The great awakening is reason to believe that William G Mcloughlin's opinion and this shows that there was a cause to the American Revolution.

    Read More

  • The Revolution of 1800

    1680 Words  | 4 Pages

    During the election of 1800, Thomas Jefferson succeeded in defeating the incumbent, John Adams, and assumed the presidency. In terms of elections though, the election of 1800 itself was a fascinating election in that it a heavily-contested election and was effectively the first time political parties ran smear campaigns against each other during an election. The Republican Party attacked the Federalists for being anti-liberty and monarchist and tried to persuade the public that the Federalists were abusing their power through acts such as the Alien & Sedition Acts and the suppression of the Whiskey Rebellion (Tindall and Shi 315). The Federalists, on the other hand, attacked Jefferson for his atheism and support of the French Revolution and warned that his election would result in chaos (316). By the end of the presidential election, neither Adams nor Jefferson emerged with his reputation completely intact. Still, rather than an election between Adams and Jefferson, the election of 1800 ultimately boiled down to a deadlock between Jefferson and his vice presidential candidate, Aaron Burr, who each held seventy-three electoral votes, resulting in the election was sent to the House of Representatives. In the end, the deadlock was resolved only by Alexander Hamilton, whose immense hate for Burr allowed Jefferson to claim the presidency. However, the election of 1800 was more than just a simple presidential election. The election of 1800 was the first peaceful transfer of power from the incumbent party to the opposition and represented a new step in politics, as well as a new direction in foreign policy that would emerge from Jefferson’s policies, and to this extent, the election of 1800 was a revolution.

    Read More

  • The Significance Of The Great Awakening

    1394 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Great Awakening was a superior event in American history. The Great Awakening was a time of revivalism that expanded throughout the colonies of New England in the 1730’s through the 1740’s. It reduced the importance of church doctrine and put a larger significance on the individuals and their spiritual encounters. The core outcome of the Great Awakening was a revolt against controlling religious rule which transferred over into other areas of American life. The Great Awakening changed American life on how they thought about and praised the divine, it changed the way people viewed authority, the society, decision making, and it also the way they expressed themselves. Before the Great Awakening life was very strict and people’s minds were

    Read More

  • The Second Great Awakening

    542 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the 1830's, 1840's, and beyond, There is a Second Great Awakening. The Second Great Awakening had a decided impact on American society. In the following I will describe what the Great Awakening was and how it changed life in America.

    Read More

  • Reform Movements

    1045 Words  | 3 Pages

    Reform movements including religion, temperance, abolition, and women's rights sought to expand democratic ideals in the years 1825 to 1850. However, certain movements, such as nativism and utopias, failed to show the American emphasis on a democratic society. The reform movements were spurred by the Second Great Awakening, which began in New England in the late 1790's, and would eventually spread throughout the country. The Second Great Awakening differed from the First in that people were now believed to be able to choose whether or not to believe in God, as opposed to previous ideals based on Calvinism and predestination.

    Read More

  • The Jacksonian Democratic Party

    1410 Words  | 3 Pages

    When George Henry Evans cited the unalienable rights of the Declaration of Independence and that, “’to secure these rights’ against the undue influence of other classes of society, prudence… dictates the necessity of the organization of a party, who shall…prevent dangerous combinations to subvert these indefeasible and fundamental privileges”, he called for a party to become the sentinel of the original American democracy. And for many, the Jacksonian Democratic Party filled that role. The Democrats, who pursued a democracy that entailed economic and social independence for the common citizen, faced harsh opposition from the Whig Party in the Second American Party System. But apart from the political tensions of the era, the mid-1800’s were host to numerous movements and events that embodied, and didn’t embody, the Democratic ideals. Thus, it would be foolish to claim that the Democratic period merely represented a raising of the American democratic banner and even more foolish to ascribe any other black-and-white evaluation to this period. Rather, during a time of national and individual transformation, of economic missions, and of social revision, the Jacksonian Democrats succeeded in expanding their reality of individual liberty, in creating the circumstances for further change, and in falling short of some of their grandiose ideals for the “common citizen”.

    Read More

More about Reform Movements in Second Great Awakening

Open Document