The Second Great Awakening

How did the Second Great Awakening demonstrate democratic ideals of the time? My high schoolers are always fascinated by the material in this complete lesson. They learn causes of the Second Great Awakening and about how populist and democratic ideals affected the Second Great Awakening. Then they get to see how those ideals manifested themselves vividly (and sometimes shockingly!) in new belief systems and religious movements. This lesson is an ideal follow-up or precursor to Jacksonian Democracy and also sets you up perfectly to discuss 19th century reform movements.

Students begin by watching an interesting video clip depicting modern Sacred Harp singing, a uniquely American tradition with its roots in the Second Great Awakening. They take an anthropological approach to analyzing what they see in the video to understand the underlying values in Sacred Harp singing, which they can connect to the ideals of the Second Great Awakening they will learn about. (If you have students who enjoy or study music, they will especially enjoy this part - I've even had students find their local Sacred Harp group to visit and sing with them! Groups are very welcoming and love new attendees.)

Students then analyze a primary source account of one of the first "camp meetings" in the Second Great Awakening and use additional secondary source information to augment their understanding. I've always had some great class discussions while digging into these ideas!

• What was a camp meeting/revival characterized by?
• Why motivation did ministers have to begin these camp meetings and revivals, and why did they become so popular?
• Why was the Second Great Awakening more concentrated in American frontier areas?
• What are differences between Calvinism and Arminianism? How did religious ideas preached in the Second Great Awakening differ from previous Calvinist religious ideas?
• Students will see for themselves that the Second Great Awakening was characterized by a degree of communitarian/democratic/populist/egalitarian ideals - how would these philosophical ideas impact people's perspective on society and politics?

Finally, students will complete a jigsaw activity to learn about how different belief systems and religious movements of the Second Great Awakening demonstrated some of these ideas. The resource includes a two page essay on each of the following movements: Mormons, Shakers, the Oneida Community, and Transcendentalism. After reading their assigned essay independently, students discuss it together with several others who read the same. Then, students rotate to teach about their movement to a small group of four, where each student has read about a different movement. (Note: knowledge of the Oneida Community requires students to understand their ideas on "free love", so be sure your students can handle that!

The download includes both PDF and Word formatting, to allow you to make edits, and to allow for virtual teaching.

This resource covers all the key points students must know about this subject for state assessments, and is completely Common Core aligned. Ideal AP US History exam preparation.

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Living-History

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