Page 300 - American Stories, A History of the United States

12The Pursuit of

Perfection 1800–1861

Redeeming The
Middle Class
i n the winter of 1830–

1831, a wave of religious reviv-
als swept the northern states. The most
dramatic and successful took place in
Rochester, New York. For six months,
Presbyterian evangelist Charles G. Finney
preached almost daily, emphasizing that
every man and woman had the power to
choose Christ and a godly life.
Finney broke with his church’s tra-
ditional belief that God’s inscrutable will
decided who would be saved when he
preached that “sinners ought to be made
to feel that they have something to do,
and that something is to repent. That is
something that no other being can do for
them, neither God nor man, and some-
thing they can do and do now.” Finney
converted hundreds, and church mem-
bership doubled during his stay. The
awakened Christians of Rochester were
urged to convert relatives, neighbors,

Lea R ning O b j e C T i v e s

12.1 12.2 12.3

How did the What was What were
evangelical the doctrine some of
revivalism of “separate the major
of the early spheres,” and antebellum
nineteenth how did it reform
century change family movements?
spur reform life? p. 275 p. 280
movements? Revival MeeTing, 1850 Christians respond
p. 269 emotionally at an open-air revival meeting.
Oil on panel painting by jeremiah Paul. The
Granger Collection, New York, New York.
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