American Religious History, Topic 5: The Second Great Awakening and Joseph Smith

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Maud Carter
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1 Background: By the 1790s, only four decades removed from the First Great Awakening, Americans again found their collective faith in God faltering. By some counts, as few as 10 percent of white Americans were committed members of formal churches. The increasing separation of church and state, new ideas about individual freedom and breaking with tradition that came as byproducts of the social upheavals caused by the American Revolution and French Revolution, the continued rise of Enlightenment philosophies about the superiority of science and reason, the popularity of deism (a religious philosophy that accepted God s existence but considered Him to be uninvolved in everyday life), the uproar caused by Thomas Paine s unsettling The Age of Reason (which attacked Christianity as the strangest religion ever set up for committing a murder upon Jesus in order to redeem mankind from the sin of eating an apple ), and the newfound popularity of unitarianism and universalism (which denied the Trinity, Christ s vicarious Atonement, and Christ s divinity in favor of a more rational and humanitarian Christianity) all eroded traditional American faith. By 1850, however, American religiosity was not on death s door; it had made one of the most spectacular resurgences of all time. One in three Americans was a regular churchgoer, two young sects the Methodists and Baptists had become the largest American religious denominations of the day, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was on its way to becoming the largest homegrown American faith of all time. How did this change occur between 1800 and 1850? The answer lies in a religious revival of dramatic proportions: the Second Great Awakening. What was it about the Second Great Awakening that created such a huge resurgence in American religiosity? The camp meeting was the most pervasively successful strategy of the movement. Beginning at Cane Ridge, Kentucky, in 1801, the camp meeting phenomenon attracted thousands of curious spectators to days or weeks of emotional revivalist preaching. The meetings were so dramatic and so long that emotionally, spiritually, and physically exhausted enthusiasts often experienced fits of ecstasy or torment, weeping from joy or fear, shouts of exhilaration or guilt, and dramatic spiritual manifestations. By the 1820s, there were 1,000 such meetings each year, most of them in the southern and western United States. The itinerant preachers at the meetings competed with the skeptical rationalism of the day by admonishing listeners to reinsert God and Christ into their everyday lives, by attacking the traditional Calvinist idea of predestination, by stressing the importance of showing faith by works to take an active role in qualifying by choice for God s grace, and by preaching a more egalitarian message that targeted female, African American, and Native American prospects as never before. These emphases of the evangelical revivalists were perfectly tailored to the popular impulses behind the democratic reforms that swept the nation during the first half of the nineteenth century. The religious messages of the Second Great Awakening reinforced the growing American culture that celebrated the equality, opportunity, and potential of the common man. Ordinary churchgoers could now actively choose spiritual rebirth and salvation through good works and confession, just as ordinary workers could now actively choose to improve their lots in life through hard work and education.

2 No denomination celebrated the worth and potential of the ordinary individual as much as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (organized in 1830), which believed that even godhood was within the reach of every man or woman who qualified. Though seemingly an American original and a product of its place and time, the faith was a restoration of the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ, complete with priesthood authority and specific keys, revelation to prophets, the organization of the primitive church, ordinances and covenants for the living and the dead necessary for salvation and exaltation, temples to seal family units together for eternity, new scripture for the world (in the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and Pearl of Great Price, as well as other scriptural pronouncements from modern prophets), and knowledge of many plain and precious truths that had been taken or left out of the Bible (including truths about the nature of God, the workings of Christ s Atonement, the purpose of the Fall, the premortal existence, the degrees of glory, and the age of accountability for children), among others. From his birth in 1805 until 1820, Joseph Smith, the prophet of this restoration and founder of the Church in the latter days, experienced firsthand the fervor and turmoil of the Second Great Awakening in a region so heated in revivalism that it became known as the Burned-Over District. In 1820, his own questioning about which of all the contending sects was right came to an abrupt conclusion following the First Vision: an event in which Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ appeared to him and told him not to join any of the revivalist or traditional sects because none of them had the fullness of Christ s gospel. Questions to Consider as You Read: From Smith s account, how would you describe the Second Great Awakening? How did the Second Great Awakening affect Smith s family? How did Smith participate in the Second Great Awakening, and what did he resolve to do about the confusion caused by it? Research: Joseph Smith s Account of the Second Great Awakening (1838) As you read, don t forget to mark and annotate main ideas, key terms, confusing concepts, unknown vocabulary, cause/effect relationships, examples, etc. There was in the place where we lived an unusual excitement on the subject of religion. It commenced with the Methodists, but soon became general among all the sects in that region of country. Indeed, the whole district of country seemed affected by it, and great multitudes united themselves to the different religious parties, which created no small stir and division amongst the people, some crying, Lo, here! and others, Lo, there! Some were contending for the Methodist faith, some for the Presbyterian, and some for the Baptist. For, notwithstanding the great love which the converts to these different faiths expressed at the time of their conversion, and the great zeal manifested by the respective clergy, who were active in getting up and promoting this extraordinary scene of religious feeling, in order to have

3 everybody converted, as they were pleased to call it, let them join what sect they pleased; yet when the converts began to file off, some to one party and some to another, it was seen that the seemingly good feelings of both the priests and the converts were more pretended than real; for a scene of great confusion and bad feeling ensued priest contending against priest, and convert against convert; so that all their good feelings one for another, if they ever had any, were entirely lost in a strife of words and a contest about opinions. I was at this time in my fifteenth year. My father s family was proselyted to the Presbyterian faith, and four of them joined that church, namely, my mother, Lucy; my brothers Hyrum and Samuel Harrison; and my sister Sophronia. During this time of great excitement my mind was called up to serious reflection and great uneasiness; but though my feelings were deep and often poignant, still I kept myself aloof from all these parties, though I attended their several meetings as often as occasion would permit. In process of time my mind became somewhat partial to the Methodist sect, and I felt some desire to be united with them; but so great were the confusion and strife among the different denominations, that it was impossible for a person young as I was, and so unacquainted with men and things, to come to any certain conclusion who was right and who was wrong. My mind at times was greatly excited, the cry and tumult were so great and incessant. The Presbyterians were most decided against the Baptists and Methodists, and used all the powers of both reason and sophistry to prove their errors, or, at least, to make the people think they were in error. On the other hand, the Baptists and Methodists in their turn were equally zealous in endeavoring to establish their own tenets and disprove all others. In the midst of this war of words and tumult of opinions, I often said to myself: What is to be done? Who of all these parties are right; or, are they all wrong together? If any one of them be right, which is it, and how shall I know it? While I was laboring under the extreme difficulties caused by the contests of these parties of religionists, I was one day reading the Epistle of James, first chapter and fifth verse, which reads: If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. Never did any passage of scripture come with more power to the heart of man than this did at this time to mine. It seemed to enter with great force into every feeling of my heart. I reflected on it again and again, knowing that if any person needed wisdom from God, I did; for how to act I did not know, and unless I could get more wisdom than I then had, I would never know; for the teachers of religion of the different sects understood the same passages of scripture so differently as to destroy all confidence in settling the question by an appeal to the Bible. 1 1 SOURCE: Smith, Joseph. Joseph Smith History. The Pearl of Great Price. Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1981.

4 Notebook Questions: Reason and Record From Smith s account, how would you describe the Second Great Awakening? How did the Second Great Awakening affect Smith s family? How did Smith participate in the Second Great Awakening, and what did he resolve to do about the confusion caused by it? Notebook Questions: Relate and Record How does the document relate to FACE Principle #3: America's Heritage of Christian Character: The image of Christ engraved upon the individual within, bringing dominion and change to his external environment. The model of American Christian character is the Pilgrim character with these qualities: faith and steadfastness, brotherly love, Christian care, diligence and industry, and liberty of conscience? How does the document relate to Moroni 10:3-5?

5 Record Activity: Multiple Choice Comprehension Check 1. Background: By the 1790s, what were some of the challenges to American faith? a. increasing separation between church and state b. new ideas about freedom and breaking with tradition, which came as byproducts of the American Revolution and French Revolution c. the influence of the Enlightenment d. deism e. Thomas Paine s The Age of Reason f. unitarianism and universalism g. skeptical rationalism h. five of the above i. six of the above j. all of the above 2. Background: Which of the following were characteristics of the Second Great Awakening? a. the popularity of the Methodist and Baptist sects b. the organization of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints c. camp meetings d. emotional preaching and dramatic personal experiences e. attacks against the doctrine of predestination f. emphasis on choosing to qualify for salvation g. a more egalitarian message that targeted women, blacks, and Indians h. celebration of the worth and potential of the common man i. emphasis on the absolute sovereignty of God j. seven of the above k. eight of the above l. all of the above 3. Source: Smith s account describes all of the following about the Second Great Awakening except which one? a. unusual excitement about religion in upstate New York b. contention for converts between the Methodists, Baptists, and Presbyterians c. a whirlwind of religious choices, camp meetings, zealous preachers, and conversions d. the splintering of neighborhoods and families, with some joining one sect and others another e. the Bible being understood and explained differently by different preachers f. the strength of Congregationalism in Palmyra

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