Second Great Awakening Essay

Bondage, an underlining topic all through a significant portion of Founding Brothers, becomes the dominant focal point chapter three. Ellis uses the focal points of both foreknowledge and knowledge of the past to look at the disappointment of Congress and reasonably address this issue. Ellis likened slavery to “a cancerous growth which needed immediate surgery.” (Joseph J. Ellis

In the 19th century, slavery and the Reconstruction was a sore subject for the South. Reconstruction forged civil rights for African-Americans, but once the North’s influenced waned in the South, the South terrorized African-Americans and blocked them from accessing their newfound rights. While Reconstruction may have brought civil rights, those rights were quickly squashed by the South’s racism. Even after certain freedoms were securely gained, every new attempt to make African-Americans equal to the white populace was contested. A large group of people were happy to see slavery ended and civil rights rise.

The civil war began in the year of 1861, many historians have established theories for the main cause. Four of the possible theories include, morality and views on slavery, two societies, failure to compromise, states rights and Lincoln's election. Although all of these play a big role in the causes of the civil war, I believe the principle cause of the civil war was, the existence of two societies in the United States beacuse the South wanted to become more independent, had multiple uprisings due to slavery, and had differnt oppions on slavery. America was split into the North and the South, both very diverse. Some might say that the North was very independent and the south was very dependent on the north.

The 19th century was a time when the country was very much separate by the matter of oppression. David Walker’s Appeal to the Colored Citizen of the World (1829) and Jupiter Hammon’s An Address to the Negroes in the State of New York (1787) were two powerful works that gave advice to Americans to deal with oppression. Even though, these two men were in two different eras, but their messages gave the slaves so much hope for freedom. David Walker expresses his concern in a very forceful and solid tone. Walker attempted to justify his issue on why slaves had been treated so badly.

This paper will look at two very important issues framing the antebellum period, “Was the abolition of slavery constitutional” and “Was secession constitutional.” I believe that the abolition of slavery was not constitutional. When the Constitution was written in 1787, specific issues pertaining to slavery were mentioned in the document. This is an important point because although the word slavery is not stated, it is clear by the language and the specificity used, the architectures of the Constitution were referring to slaves.

It also greatly influenced American society by inspiring other reform movements. In the South, the Second Great Awakening brought the message of spiritual equality. People believed in the deliverance of slavery and there became

Sources Analysis Freedom During the Reconstruction era, the idea of freedom could have many different meanings. Everyday factors that we don't often think about today such as the color of our skin, where we were born, and whether or not we own land determined what limitations were placed on the ability to live our life to the fullest. To dig deeper into what freedom meant for different individuals during this time period, I analyzed three primary sources written by those who experienced this first hand. These included “Excerpts from The Black Codes of Mississippi” (1865), “Jourdan Anderson to his old master” (1865), and “Testimony on the Ku Klux Klan in Congressional Hearing” (1872).

‘Slavery was the root cause of secession’. ‘November 6 1860, Lincoln was elected president of America which resulted in panic emerging in the South’ . The election of Lincoln as president who was a Republican leader meant that ideologies, movements and values from the North would be implemented in the South which meant the abolition of slavery. Slavery was a huge characteristic of the South as the economy; politics; social status and psychological mind-sets were influenced by the process of slavery. The southern white population then derived the idea of secession which meant the South would gain independence from Northern aggression .

“Independence, free will, and personal effort are considered primary virtues that contribute not only to personal achievement but also to the success and well-being of the nation.” This quote, stated by Charles Finney, means that people must be able to choose for themselves and make their own decisions in order for the country to become better than it is. The Second Great Awakening began for several different reasons, consisted of many different church revivals and leaders, and ultimately had a lasting impact for several more years after the end of the Second Great Awakening. There were several different factors that led up to the Second Great Awakening. Some such factors are listed by Richard Kaplan in his article titled, The Second Great

In the wake of the second Great Awakening in the early 1800’s, societal morals regarding slavery, lack of rights for women, the prison system, education, and other institutions were questioned. Unitarianism stressed salvation through good works, and both religious converts and transcendentalists initiated social reform movements in an attempt to improve the moral state of America. Two of these movements that included perhaps the most controversy and struggle included abolitionism and women’s rights. Although both the abolitionist and women’s rights movements were able to eventually create lasting societal and political change, the fact that only a small portion of the population had any democratic rights showed the initial weaknesses of American democracy.

At the beginning of the nineteenth century, American society began to focus on the welfare of minority groups. Women’s suffrage and abolition were rooted as deeply as the history of America, but asylum and prison reform sprouted with the Second Great Awakening, a movement that occurred in the early 1800s. The Second Great Awakening was led by religious leaders who advocated for changes in American society through the unity of the American people (Doc. Due to the Second Great Awakening, reform movements were established between 1825 and 1850 in order to represent the changes the people sought for in the issues of slavery, suffrage, and asylum and prison reform. The social aspect of the abolition movement led to the visible democratic changes in society and politics.

After the War of 1812 up to and past the death of Zachary Taylor in 1850, the United States was undergoing a period of cultural, governmental and social reform in which citizens were pushing for more democracy, freedoms, and rights for various groups of people. This time was called The Second Great Awakening that changed citizens’ views on religion, morals, rights and even life values, all of which were main drives for reform in areas such as women’s rights and voting, the issue of slavery, and government facilities such as

Abolitionist had varied perspectives on emancipation and what was considered the right solution to the “peculiar institution”. Different groups like the American Anti-Slavery Society and the American Colonization Society were both fighting to abolish slavery; however, they acted in contradicting ways. One group wanted to include and invite free slaves into American society and the other wanted to free and send slaves back to Africa. The diverse opinions made it difficult for progress to occur. In fact, the one and only thing most people could agree on was the notion that slavery was immoral and inhumane.

On September 2nd, 1862, Abraham Lincoln famously signed the Emancipation Proclamation. After that, there’s been much debate on whether Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation truly played a role in freeing the slaves with many arguments opposing or favoring this issue. In Vincent Harding’s essay, The Blood-red Ironies of God, Harding argues in his thesis that Lincoln did not help to emancipate the slaves but that rather the slaves “self-emancipated” themselves through the war. On the opposition, Allen C Guelzo ’s essay, Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation: The End of Slavery in America, argues in favor of the Emancipation Proclamation and Guelzo acknowledges Lincoln for the abolishment of slavery through the Emancipation Proclamation.

Tensions rose across the country from those in support support of slavery and those opposed. Many states wanted to outlaw slavery while others adamantly defended it because it was the main institution with a high and consistent revenue. Ultimately, the disagreements over slavery are what lead to the Civil War. The country divided into an “Us versus Them” situation which lead to both sides having growing support for their views and making the groups less susceptible to an agreement. In 1862, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation which freed slaves from confederate states.