Question

What was different about the Second Great Awakening from the first?

Answer 1

• Early 1800s; usually 1810s to as late as the 1840s
• Most known leader: Charles Grandison Finney (has appeared in related DBQ essays)
• Directly influenced by increasing political participation of common citizens
• Plays a direct role in the antebellum reform movements, especially abolitionism (but also
including temperance, prison reform, and women’s rights – remember the Mock Exam FRQ?)
• Popular in the backcountry; especially the southern Appalachian regions
• Again, slaveholders tried to prevent slaves from attending; eventually had to come up with
Christian reasons for slavery
• Role of the Second Great Awakening on the frontier? As people move away from traditional
homelands, they must search for a sense of community
• This is really where newer sects gain increased membership: Methodists, Baptists
• Also, very different sects emerge: Mormons, Seventh-Day Adventists

Answer 2

Does this help?

Answer 3

yes