The first Great Awakening was based around emotional preachings of sin and hell. Prominent figures of the first Great Awakening were heavily influenced by Calvinist teachings. These teachings included the idea at all humans were innately sinful and those who went to heaven were a part of the elect. This left the possibility of salvation out of the hands of the individual.
The Second Great Awakening was prominent in rural areas where traveling preachers spread ideas of Arminianism. These teachings contradicted the Calvinist belief of predestination and the absence of free will. It taught that salvation or damnation was based upon your own choices and that all people had the potential to be saved. Individuals could achieve salvation through revival, repentance, and conversion. These preachers focused on converting the hearts of their listeners. Rather than holding sermons in a traditional church setting, they were often outdoors at camps where listeners would travel many miles to attend. To a certain extent, this Great Awakening promoted democratic ideals by challenging traditional church authority, reaching out to a larger population of followers, and contributing to a growth in non-traditional denominations such as Methodism and Baptism. Its teachings followed more closely with the values of America of taking fate into your own hands and reaping the benefits of your own work.
The Second Great Awakening directly led to the Antebellum Reform movement. The ideas of public education, abolitionism, and temperance had roots in deep religious devotion. Many people believed that it was in God's plan to reform society. The churches saw it as their duty to redeem their communities by bringing individuals closer to salvation and changing laws and institutions that took people farther away from salvation. It was the Second Great Awakening that lead to a greater moral consciousness and created the platform for the Civil War to transpire.
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