The Second Great Awakening was a response to the large-scale industrialization and increase in immigration that America was experiencing in the early 1800s. Revivals were religious meetings aimed at creating spiritual experiences through passionate preaching and prayer. (See image: Courtesy of allthingsd.com) One of the best known revivalist speakers was Charles Grandison Finney, who coordinated many successful revivals in western New York. Revivals greatly increased church membership throughout the United States.
The Second Great Awakening resulted in optimistic views about the ability to bring about both individual and social changes. Participation in religious revivals often inspired men and women to change their own lives and the world around them. This was done in various through missionary work and involvement in social reform movements. Also, the Second Great Awakening brought Christianity on a larger scale to free blacks and enslaved African Americans. Camp meetings and new revivalist churches operated on the principle that all people- black or white- belonged to the same God.