What characterizes the Second Great Awakening?

What characterizes the Second Great Awakening?

• A. A movement focused on political reform
• B. A revival led by Puritans in colonial New England
• C. A secular humanitarian movement
• D. Religious revivals starting in 1801 emphasizing Methodism and Baptism, attracting women, Blacks, and Native Americans

Answer: (D)

Religious revivalism spreading across the United States in the early 1800s is the hallmark of the Second Great Awakening. It was driven by revival meetings that stressed personal conversion, emotional preaching, and the spread of evangelical fervor. Beginning around 1801, it saw Methodists and Baptists grow rapidly, often in frontier communities, with large camp meetings fueling rapid church growth. Importantly, it opened religious life to groups who had been less organized in traditional churches—women, African Americans, and Native Americans—leading to new denominations and active lay participation. The movement also helped spur social reform movements and a democratization of religion, but its essence is religious revival and expansion rather than political reform or secular humanitarianism. Puritan leadership in colonial New England belongs to an earlier era, and the Second Great Awakening is distinct from secular humanitarian reform movements.

Religious revivalism spreading across the United States in the early 1800s is the hallmark of the Second Great Awakening. It was driven by revival meetings that stressed personal conversion, emotional preaching, and the spread of evangelical fervor. Beginning around 1801, it saw Methodists and Baptists grow rapidly, often in frontier communities, with large camp meetings fueling rapid church growth. Importantly, it opened religious life to groups who had been less organized in traditional churches—women, African Americans, and Native Americans—leading to new denominations and active lay participation. The movement also helped spur social reform movements and a democratization of religion, but its essence is religious revival and expansion rather than political reform or secular humanitarianism. Puritan leadership in colonial New England belongs to an earlier era, and the Second Great Awakening is distinct from secular humanitarian reform movements.