The Second Great Awakening (1790–1840)

By the close of the eighteenth century, spiritual life in America had grown faint. The young nation, though free politically, was bound by moral decay. Rationalism and skepticism had taken root in universities. Churches were empty, and drunkenness and crime were common. Yet in the quiet places, small groups of believers began to meet and pray for a fresh visitation from heaven. Among them were students at Yale University under the leadership of Timothy Dwight, the grandson of Jonathan Edwards. He taught that prayer and repentance could bring revival, and soon hearts began to stir again.

The revival began in the frontier lands of Kentucky and Tennessee, where thousands gathered at open-air camp meetings to hear the Word. In August 1801, at Cane Ridge, a vast crowd came together under the preaching of Barton W. Stone. The Spirit of God descended with such power that people wept, repented, and cried aloud for salvation. ‘The scene was awful beyond description,’ Stone later wrote, describing men and women trembling, falling, and rising again with faces shining with joy. From the frontier, the revival spread eastward into towns and cities. Charles Grandison Finney became one of its most fiery voices. A former lawyer turned preacher, Finney carried a message of conviction and repentance that pierced through apathy. His meetings were marked by confession, tears, and the transforming power of the Holy Spirit. In Rochester, New York, nearly the entire city turned to God within months.

The Second Great Awakening emphasized human responsibility and divine grace. It taught that revival was not a mystery but the result of obedience to God’s Word and earnest prayer. Finney often declared that if believers would humble themselves and pray, the heavens would respond. The movement called the Church to personal holiness and active evangelism. It also ignited compassion for the poor and led to the rise of missionary societies, schools, and social reforms that confronted slavery, injustice, and immorality.

The Second Great Awakening reshaped the moral and spiritual landscape of America. It reawakened faith in the power of prayer and gave birth to movements that carried the Gospel to the nations. The revival produced countless pastors, missionaries, and reformers who dedicated their lives to the cause of Christ. It also strengthened the unity of believers across denominational lines and inspired later holiness movements and missionary revivals. The flame that burned in the early nineteenth century became the foundation for many of the world’s great evangelistic and social missions that followed.