The End of History or the Creation of Heaven on Earth?: Religion and the Age of Reform
To be a sinner is easy – drinking alcohol, gambling, and adultery are only a few of the many pathways to sin. Being virtuous is a far more difficult endeavor, but it is the only way to salvation. These struggles between virtuosity and sin plagued the minds of Americans at the beginning of the 1800s and led to a religious revival known as The Second Great Awakening. Revivalists believed that the second coming of Jesus was fast approaching and it was their duty to make the nation morally ready for his arrival.[1] Some believed that this second coming would also bring a day of judgement and an end to history, but others thought that it would bring about an ideal society ruled by Christian morality and peace.[2] Regardless of which end the second coming would bring, the revival of religion during the first half of the nineteenth century contributed to the reformers’ crusades to create a more perfect society. Religious fervor was palpable as evidenced by persistent rhetoric of sin, damnation, and salvation, and this rhetoric was used to shape the start of the Age of Reform.[3]
[1] “Second Great Awakening,” The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather Guide, edited by Helicon, 2016, http://0-search.credoreference.com.dewey2.library.denison.edu/content/entry/heliconhe/second_great_awakening/0.
[2] Ronald G. Walters, American Reformers: 1815-1860 (New York: Hill and Wang, 1978), 25.
[3] Ibid., 37.