Essay: The Second Great Awakening

Early nineteenth century America was a turbulent and influential era in the history of our country. Perhaps one of the most significant factors that caused this was the religious revival known as the second Great Awakening. This religious revival gave rise to a new wave of evangelicalism in the United States, which continues with their strong influence in American society in the modern era. It gave rise to many new religions large, long lasting ones, such as Mormonism, and smaller and short-lived ones like Matthias’ “Kingdom”. “The Kingdom of Matthias” shows the story of Robert Matthews, from upstate New York. The story of his religious society would wreak havoc on upstate New York society, and ultimately showed how far reaching the Second great awakening truly was, and how greatly it impacted all parts of society as a whole.
Initially, Robert Matthews’ family were strong, traditionalist, religious followers and regularly attended church in their local Presbyterian church. As a result of this, he and his family had a strong knowledge of the Bible and other traditional religious teachings. Like many American’s at the time, Matthews’ family believed in the Calvinist principles of predestination, the overwhelming effort that should be placed on the study of god in everyday life and the strong Patriarchal system in which only the men could be important figures in the church. (Wilentz 52) Also, as was the case prior to the second great awakening, they believed that people should follow a strict religious code and that the government should not get involved in religious affairs. These early life experiences can be seen in many of Mathias’s later religious views and clearly had a lasting influence on him through his life.
The 1820’s and 1830’s in America was a period of vast economic growth, and societal change, in part due to the market revolution. (Wilentz 61) It was also a time that enabled an unprecedented religious revival that took the northeast by storm and led to an entirely new culture being developed for many people. This was the perfect storm for young carpenter Robert Matthews, to proclaim himself prophet of the Jews and create his own society. …. Elaborate on creation of the cult bullshit.
An important example of the shift in religious values due to the great awakening is Elijah and Sarah. When Elijah married Sarah, he was expecting to have a long life together, and to spread the word of god. However, this would never actually come to fruition. As a result of the second great awakening, which loosened gender roles in regard to religious activity and allowed women to take a more active role; Sarah took a more active role in spreading the word of the lord. Previously, women were supposed to worship separate from men entirely, and not supposed to be directly involved in the church, as a result of its patriarchal structure. The second awakening thus allowed more people, particularly women, to get involved in religion, potentially doubling activity. However, in getting involved with religion, Sarah became gravely ill. As Paul Johnson states “Their diagnosis was consumption brought on by exhaustion and malnutrition: Sarah had literally worked herself to the edge of death.” (Johnson 37) This turn of events would have been impossible to the second great awakening as women had had a much more limited role in religion prior to this point. When Sarah died, the event was traumatic to Elijah, and it had a lasting impact on him for the remainder of his life. This is evident though him trying to raise Sarah from the dead during Sarah’s funeral and him subsequently declaring himself a prophet. These events show how the shift in religious attitudes during the great awakening impacted vast areas of American society as a whole.
Similarly, when Matthias established “The Kingdom”, he was heavily reliant on Elijah’s wealth from being a merchant. In fact, without Elijah’s wealth, it might not have been possible for Matthew’s to establish his kingdom at all. The importance of money in religion is in sharp contrast with the traditionalist view of religion that had existed for hundreds of years prior. In the traditionalist view, money and religion should be kept separate, because it was a “corruption influence”. However, Matthias makes use of the religious reforms and shifting views and uses money to his benefit. As Johnson writes “The prophet dressed at Mount Zion much as he had in New York. His hallmark, as ever, was a perfectly tailored green frock coat with a straight, military color. He now had several of these coats…cost a stupendous $14 per yard.” (Johnson 106)  In contrast with the modest and anti-money influences that had existed prior to the second great awakening, Matthias made much use of the wealth generated from the market revolution to spur religious interest. As Johnson puts it “The prophets vaguely out-of-fashion clothing proclaimed in part that god the father had come to reassert a swaggering, authoritarian, and resolutely anti-bourgeois way of being a man.” (Johnson 107) This soundly exemplifies the vast changes that took place in American society during this time.
Lastly, many of Matthias’s followers also begin to follow him against the traditional view of marriage that had been established by the church for millennia. Rather than be married to one particular person, and remaining with them for life, as had been the case prior to the Great Awakening; Matthias’s followers follow “the spirit of truth”. As a result of this, Matthias’s followers, begin to instead swap wives, which was perhaps the most scandalous thing that could be done at the time, and highly against the traditionalist religious views of marriage. This act is seen when Johnson says “Matthias rose and began the ceremony. He told the Kingdom that “an act on the road” had voided the marriage between his daughter and the man named Laisdell. Benjamin Folger and young Isabella were clearly fond of each other, and the situation might best be resolved by marriage in the Kingdom.” (Johnson 124) This act would have never been accepted by traditionalist religion and further shows the vast impact that the Great Awakening truly held. In fact, this event was so scandalous at the time, that it was a primary factor in its dissolution, with Benjamin and Ann soon revolting and public opposition to the kingdom mounting.
Therefore, Robert Matthews’ Kingdom showed the extremities of reactions to religious reforms that took place in 1830’s America as a result of the Second Great Awakening. Prior to this point, traditionalist views of religion that had been dominant for centuries guided a strict, patriarchal and moral society. However, as this story illustrates, the Second Great awakening uprooted many social norms of the time. With women becoming more active in the church, a new influence of money and wealth, as well as a new view on human sexuality help to portray the beginning of the shift in American society that began to be explored during this time. Matthias’ Kingdom uses the Second Great Awakening to show the numerous social changes that happened to general American society during this time which had a lasting impact that has impacted us even to this very day.