The Second Great Awakening - part 3

Summary

The video explains how the Second Great Awakening—a period of religious revival especially prominent from about 1820 to 1840—shaped new religious movements and reform efforts in the United States. It connects the revival to broader changes of the era, including expanding democracy, westward migration, and economic and social transformation.

Religious Ideas and New Movements

The revival encouraged people to try to create “heaven on Earth” and promoted a more democratic view of religion: people from different backgrounds could seek a personal relationship with God and salvation. These ideas contributed to religious experimentation:

• The Shakers sought a simple, disciplined life, separated men and women, and practiced celibacy. Their ecstatic group dances gave them their name. Because members were celibate, the community declined over time.
• The Oneida Community, led by John Humphrey Noyes, rejected exclusive earthly attachments, including individual marriage. Its practice of “complex marriage” allowed members to have multiple sexual partners. The community also produced silverware; the video describes the Oneida silverware business as a legacy of the experiment.
• The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) was founded by Joseph Smith, who said an angel showed him gold plates containing a new scripture, the Book of Mormon. After Smith was killed by a crowd in Illinois, Brigham Young led the group west to Utah. The video notes that the early church faced persecution, including over its practice of polygamy, and that it remains a major religious group.

Reform Movements

The temperance movement sought to reduce or eliminate alcohol consumption. Supporters connected sobriety to stable families and a more godly society.

The abolitionist movement was especially important. Religious belief in the equal value of human lives led many people to argue that enslaved people had souls equally deserving of salvation. Abolitionists also viewed slavery as a perversion of God’s word and of the family, which they considered central to American democracy and republicanism. The video presents faith and the goal of improving society as important motivations for antislavery activism.

Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of the influential antislavery novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin, was the daughter of prominent revival preacher Lyman Beecher.

Broader Interpretation

The video emphasizes that religion, politics, culture, and economics cannot be neatly separated when studying the past. Historians offer different explanations for why revival became so influential: it may have helped encourage discipline in an industrializing society, or it may have reflected demographic and political shifts in who held power, money, and voting rights. The revival’s ideals nevertheless contributed to lasting religious movements and reform efforts, including abolition.

Speakers and Sources Featured

• Presenter/narrator: Kim Kutz Elliott, identified in the video’s accompanying description. The video is from Khan Academy.
• Historical figures discussed: John Humphrey Noyes, Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Lyman Beecher. These figures are discussed rather than presented as speakers in the subtitles.