The Second Great Awakening is a Protestant religious revival during the early nineteenth century in the United States.
The movement begins around 1790, gains momentum by 1800 and, after 1820, membership rises rapidly among Baptist and Methodist congregations whose preachers lead the movement.
It is past its peak by the late 1850s.
The Second Great Awakening reflects Romanticism characterized by enthusiasm, emotion, and an appeal to the super-natural. It rejects the skeptical rationalism and deism of the Enlightenment.
The revivals enroll millions of new members in existing evangelical denominations and lead to the formation of new denominations.
Many converts believe that the Awakening heralds a new millennial age.
The Second Great Awakening stimulates the establishment of many reform movements designed to remedy the evils of society before the anticipated Second Coming of Jesus Christ.
Historians name the Second Great Awakening in the context of the First Great Awakening of the 1730s and 1740s and of the Third Great Awakening of the late 1850s to early 1900s.
These revivals are part of a much larger Romantic religious movement that is sweeping across Europe at the time, mainly throughout England, Scotland, and Germany.
