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What Are The Causes Of The Second Great Awakening

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What Are The Causes Of The Second Great Awakening
Jack Molino
As America was changing in the early 19th century with politics, westward expansion, economic advancements etc., citizens needed order in their life. The Second Great Awakening was a religious revival in the early 19th century, which did exactly what the citizens needed: put order in their life spiritually. This second great awakening helped people personally connect with god and come to realizations about society with new movements being created. However, questions that is debated is what caused this awakening in the first place. The Second Great Awakening was caused by the separation of church and state, industrialism, and western expansion, which are all outside factors, ultimately showing that the Second Great Awakening’s purpose
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Now, citizens could choose what they personally wanted to worship, which caused changes in religion. People were influenced by the democratic ideals of the early republic, and now that church and state were separated, religion could adapt to what the people wanted. This is seen when Methodists and Baptists rapidly grew when people tried to step away from the predestination idea and Calvinism. Methodists and Baptists prospered in this era because it was aimed at the “personal god” and anyone could be saved. Number of church members in these denominations rapidly grew—Methodist grew from 64,000 to 1.2 million from 1800 to 1844. Moreover, the separation of church and state also affected all religions also. This is because people of all denominations had to organize Bible societies, Sunday schools, and other church entities by themselves. As said before, the separation of church and state allowed people to worship personally, and Methodist and Baptists fit that idea the best as they reformed and revived worship in this era. Also, people had to worship god without a national church, causing revival in people’s own church and religious

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