American History

The Second Great Awakening was a period between 1790 and 1840 that was marked by great religious restoration in the United States. Conversion to Christianity and the massive Christian evangelism saw the period generate excitement in churches of New England, the North, South and mid Atlantic. As a result, preachers like Lyman Beecher, Barton Stone and Charles Finney became very popular. The participation of evangelization in social causes resulted in changes in Americans lives in fields of prison reform, temperance and abolitionism.

The second great awakening was a result of American Revolution which detached churches from the central government and at the same time weakened traditional religious practices hence raising better ideas about reason and individual liberty. The traditions of churches became weakened as a result of these changes. At the same time, theological and individual ideologies on Christianity resulted in conflict between individuals and groups on the state of God and religious issues. This was mainly due to the elimination of the traditional approach to Christianity hence generating religious rationalism. Many protestant churches emerged and as a result, the spread of Christianity took many directions. Later on, individuals chose to follow a particular Christian group based on how well they were convinced by their ideologies and how much the Churchs ideals contributed to their religious nourishing. Some individuals chose to keep an open mind and become freethinkers on the issue of religion.

The American Civil War began around 1861 as a result of conflict between the Republicans led by Abraham Lincoln who was the 1860 presidential candidate. The war was triggered by among other factors, the republicans opposition to slavery beyond the states in which it already existed. Seven states of the south declared victory before Lincoln assumed office in March 1861, which was seen as rebellion. The war ended in 1865 with the surrender of Lee to grant in April at the Appomattox Court House. Other factors such as the election of Abraham Lincoln, increased abolition movement against slavery by Northerners, conflict between state and federal rights and the economic differences between the North and South largely contributed to the Civil unrest. Abraham Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson saw the evangelism as a national church of the 19th century and as a result, could claim that due to this, the Civil War in America can be claimed to have its roots in the Second Great Awakening that caused great change to the American society.