An Examination of the Second Great Awakening, According to A Shopkeeper's Millennium

The "Second Great Awakening" that occurred in Rochester, New York was spurred by explosive Protestant beliefs and initiated a movement that became most momentous around the early 19th century. This great awakening sparked a number of religious changes in Rochester, and caused the number of churches to grow from about 10,000 (before the great awakening), to about 35,000 in the 1860's, when the third great awakening began (Johnson 1978). While the reasons behind this second great awakening are foggy at best, Johnson's book, A Shopkeeper's Millennium: Society and Revivals in Rochester, New York, 1815-1837, offers some pieces of the puzzle. After looking at the evidence, the most logical reason for the second great awakening, and the thesis around which this paper will argue, is that the awakening was reaction to social changes, especially the economic boom, which had been growing steadily for a long while in Rochester, and that these awakenings were brought about as a result of the dichotomy between the workers and the middle-class.

One of the most impactful reasons for the second awakening was a general belief that the second coming of Christ, as preached in the Book of Revelations, was soon to be upon them. This belief became what is known as "postmillennialism" (Johnson 1978). This, essentially, was the belief among Protestants that the second coming of Christ would only come after a "golden age" for Christians. Thus, one of the core tenants of postmillennialism is that this gospel must be preached as much as possible so that Christians may enter this golden age and bring about the second coming of Christ. This was especially true in Rochester, which had a large number of Christians, many of them evangelical. However, after the late 1840's rolled around and they had seen neither hide nor hair of Christ (who, according to the second coming, would return visibly, boldly, and gloriously), many simply assumed the second coming was more vague in nature, or would never come for a long time. Thus, the second great awakening began to truly wane sometime in the 1840's, possibly when enthusiasm about the second coming of Christ had waned and the people of Rochester took a more literal interpretation of the second coming as truth.

The effect of Finney's revivals in Rochester was instrumental in creating this second great awakening. Johnson posits that one of the main catalysts of the second great awakening was a mere reaction to the construction of society at the time. He refers to the Rochester revivals as "...a means of building order and a sense of common purpose among sovereign, footloose, and money-hungry individualists" (Johnson 1978). The chief among these catalysts, he says, is the growth of industrial capitalism, which he theorizes was instrumental in bringing people together in order to create some sort of change. Another large catalyst is the collapse of the role of more traditional jobs, such as artisans, in favor of more mass-produced alternatives, as population in Rochester was also booming at that time (Johnson 1978). The cause for these changes come as a result of the booming economy in Rochester, which caused significant societal shifts. For example, what once were workshops were, during this economic boom, turned into primitive factories through which a greater number of lower-quality products could be produced in order to satisfy the quickly-growing population (Johnson 1978). This also caused labor to become less skilled, which left many workers without jobs, and prompted a greater amount of social interaction, especially between laid off workers, as a result of this fact. This effectively segregated the city of Rochester into the haves and have-nots, the middle class and the wage-earners, and the workers were not happy with it. According to Johnson "Nowhere was the making of distinct classes and the collapse of old social controls dramatized more neatly, more angrily, and in so many aspects of life" (Jonson 1978). These changes in class affected the working class more than any other, which explains why the great awakening was focused so much on middle-class, religious workers. This caused a great deal of stress, and led to large amounts of drinking on the part of the middle-class, which led to the usual effects of drinking, such as a greater amount of violence (Johnson 1978). Combined, these economic changes had a profound effect on the people of Rochester, and it is very likely these events single-handedly sparked the second great awakening as a result of increased dissatisfaction with "the system," but there are other factors that contributed to it as well.

Johnson delves further into the use of alcohol as a catalyst for the second great awakening. The large number of people who had taken up a heavy amount of drinking due to these social and economic changes prompted measures to remedy this issue (Johnson 1978). Thus, the Rochester Society for the Promotion of Temperance was created in 1828, right around the time the second great awakening was in the process of picking up steam. By and large, this promotion of temperance was successful, and thus, abstinence from alcohol (or at least a reduction in it) became a virtue, and one the middle class could call entirely their own (Johnson 1978). These changes brought about what Johnson calls the "Rochester Transformation," which was largely brought about by a man named Charley Finney, who told these frustrated middle-classmen that men were not innately evil, but evil as a result of choices that they make (Johnson 1978). Finney was also the one who originally planted the idea of millennialism in the minds of native Rochester residents (Johnson, 1978). This eventually led into what was later referred to as "post-millennialism," although the founding philosophies are similar: that Christ will, at some point, return to the earth. Finney's speeches had a resonating effect on the work force of Rochester, which consisted largely of unskilled laborers. The speeches made by Finney also affected skilled labor, and this is where the transition from socio-economic issue to religious issue begins to take form. These skilled laborers had a church attendance rate of about 70 percent, and it is largely because of these speeches, along with the growing frustration of workers, along with the predominant religious changes occurring at that time, that the second great awakening was allowed to come about.

Thus, the principles preached by Finney, along with the deteriorating socio-economic conditions in Rochester, led to a great divide in the city (Johnson 1978). Under the close guidance of Finney, Christians who wanted to bring about an entirely new Rochester came by eliminating vices joined together in an effort to bring about the millennium. Through this, the second great awakening was born. The intentions of Finney were likely not religious in nature, but merely a means to get Rochester to unite against these socio-economic changes in a way that promoted togetherness and bonding with one's fellow man. These revivals helped to alleviate much of the pain that Rochester was forced to endure as the city began to grow at an increased rate. The speeches made by Finney, and the subsequent coming-together of the community, especially the middle class, helped to create a new kind of consciousness: one that was dependent on the overall health of the group to thrive, and togetherness on that scale was virtually unprecedented at that time in history.

While the second great awakening did have a number of causes, one of which being the growing notion of the millennium and second coming of Christ, the main catalysts for it had to do with shifting socio-economic conditions and the efforts of the middle class to deal with these changes in a way that would promote community while also strengthening their relationship with God. Looking at it from that perspective, Johnson seems to have given a fairly accurate representation of what probably happened during that time, although it is difficult for anyone to say for sure. No doubt this was not a movement strictly about religion as many people are keen to dismiss it as, but one about bringing together the community for a higher purpose, and in that cause, there is something resembling nobility.

Bibliography

Johnson, Paul E. A Shopkeeper's Millennium: Society and Revivals in Rochester, New York;1815-1837. Macmillan, 1978. 1-12