10th and last blog post

Please write a 500-600 word response on how the 2nd Great Awakening affected U.S. history.

As the 1820’s dawned in America, new social reforms began to spring forth all across the new nation. This time period has also been termed the second Great Awakening because of the new religious fervor that spread across the states. As orators for Baptists and Methodist preached, religious movements such as the shakers and the Oneida community began to search for a way to create a better society. Although their Utopian societies did not last long other social reforms have had lasting influence on our present day society. The creation of asylums for the insane, more equal right for women and the ever constant issue of slavery were some of the major topics in the 1800’s that have influenced our society in the 2001 century.
Before America became industrialized, such social issues like the poor, orphans and the mentally ill were taken care of either by family members or the community. When the family became less influential in the rising economic culture it was unable to take care of those social problems that it had supported before. To deal with these issues society created poor houses and orphanages which before that time were unheard of. Insane asylums also became a new invention. Before that time the mentally unstable were put in jails along with criminals. In these new institutes, the insane were able to receive help and care.
Women also began to come into their own at this time. With the issue of slavery constantly before them, women such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Mary Wollstonecraft, and Susan B. Anthony began to question women’s status in society. “Woman is a slave, from the cradle to the grave,” asserted Ernestine Rose. “Father, guardian, husband—master still. One conveys her, like a piece of property, over to the other.” This idea of being slave to the male population gave rise to the women’s movement. Women began to press for equal pay, voting and property rights. They began to write literature and hold assemblies which was cause for ridicule at a time where the females most important place was in the home. Though their efforts had little affect during their time, because of their hard work, women have equal right today.
Slavery was an issue plagued 19th century. During the period between 1820-1840 the controversy began to climb leading to the civil war. Literature depicting slavery as a horrendous institution or, as a regular way of life, was mass produced for the public and the abolitionist movement began to try to sway the public into voting that slavery should be abolished. This movement during its time did not gain as much popularity as hoped but, created a tension that led people to choose between two options: whether slavery was right or, morally wrong. This conflict continued to separate the free north from the slave south until the civil war.
Because of the religious ideals civilians had during the second great awaking our society has become what it is today.