The Second Great Awakening: The Religions Of The Second Great Awakening

Brinkley’s section titled “Religion and Revivalism” discussed the effects the American Revolution had on religion, and how, within the beginning years of America, new religions began to emerge. “Deism” is the religion that Brinkley focused on first, and he described how Deism originally began “among Enlightened philosophers in France” and then spread to the “educated American [such] as Jefferson and Franklin” (pg 154). He also described how Deists did believe in a God; however, people considered Him “a remote ‘watchmaker’” who left humans to their own devises after the creation of the universe (pg 154). Because of the emergence of Deism, American society, however new, shifted due to the fact that the younger generations left the more traditional

However, by this point in history, there were only a select few religions that believed in the traditional ideologies that existed prior to the Second Great Awakening. Very few people still believed in the concept of predestination, and, surprisingly, women played a far greater role in the Second Great Awakening. Brinkley pointed out that the Second Great Awakening was far more progressive than the first Awakening: not only did women outnumber men in terms on conversions, but “in some areas of the country, revival meetings were open to people of all races,” which led to the emergence of black preachers within the “slave community” (pg 155). Even Native Americans played a role within the Second Great Awakening, especially within Presbyterianism and Baptism. Brinkley’s entire section proved how religion had a positive effect on American society, regardless of the break in religion during the American