As you read the chapter and view the videos, take notes on the following questions. Be sure to provide specific examples from this text in your responses. Your responses should be in your own words to demonstrate your understanding of the content. Quoting the text or assigned videos is encouraged, but an explanation should precede or follow the quote to demonstrate how it is germane to the short answer question. Responses should be at least 1-2 paragraphs:
What factors led to the Second Great Awakening? In what ways did the revivals of the Second Great Awakening appeal to ordinary Americans? In what ways did the Second Great Awakening represent a democratization of religion?
How did the Second Great Awakening lead to the establishment of new religious groups? What ideas in particular influenced these new religious groups?
Compare and contrast the ideas of the Mormons, the Shakers and the Oneida Perfectionists to marriage and sexuality. What might have the existence of these religious groups with different ideas about marriage and sexuality say about this period in American History?
Who were some important figures in the Second Great Awakening? Explain which each of them preached to their followers.
The United States saw the establishment of a number of utopian communities in the first half of the nineteenth century in which property was shared. What economic and social problems in this period might have made utopian communal life appealing for some Americans?
Describe the growing problem of alcoholism in early nineteenth century America. How did the Temperance movement seek to fight alcoholism? In the end, how successful was the Temperance movement?
What was the “Benevolent Empire”? What sorts of social reforms and associations were part of this “Benevolent Empire”?
Why did Evangelical missionaries oppose the removal of the Cherokee and other Natives from the East? How did this mark the beginning of Evangelical participation in politics?
What were the religious roots of the Abolitionist movement? Why did radical abolitionists demand immediate emancipation? What actions did abolitionists take in the 1830s to convince the American public to end slavery?
Why did the public and the Congress react either with indifference or negatively to abolitionists in the 1830s? How was this reaction bipartisan and both in the North and the South?
Discuss the views of William Lloyd Garrison on abolitionism and women’s rights. How did Garrison’s views on women’s rights come to divide the abolitionist movement?
Discuss the abolitionist activities of Frederick Douglass. Why was Douglass such an important abolitionist figure?
Who invited Frederick Douglas to give a speech on July 4th, 1851? What type of speech do you think they expected? What type of speech did he deliver? What specific critiques did Mr. Douglas have of the USA? Were those critiques warranted? If so, why? If not, why? Are his critiques still relevant? If so, how so? If not, how not?
What was the place of women in American society, especially considering the legal concept of coverture and the social idea of the “Cult of Domesticity”?
What connections did the women’s rights movement have to the Second Great Awakening and social reform movements of the period? How did the women’s rights movement offer an alternative view of the place of women in American society?
What sorts of specific demands did the women’s rights movement make at the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848? Why were they initially unsuccessful with their demands? How did Seneca Falls lay the groundwork for future women’s rights activism?
Key Terms:
As you read and view the videos, use the following terms to help you take notes.
Second Great Awakening
Mormonism
spiritual egalitarianism
Unitarianism
Transcendentalism
benevolent empire
perfectionism
disinterested benevolence
Temperance
missionaries
anti-removal activism
William Lloyd Garrison
Nat Turner’s Rebellion
Liberty Party
women’s suffrage
Sarah and Angelina Grimké
World Anti-Slavery Convention
Seneca Falls Convention