My Name
At the end of the XVIII century, a lot of educated Americans have not shared the traditional Christian beliefs. In the first half of the XIX century, a religious revival comes as a reaction to the secular spirit of the age. It was the second major religious revival in American history consisted of several kinds of activity and ways of expressing religious duties. In New England, the revived interest in religion caused a social activity. In the west of the State of New York spirit of rebirth caused the emergence of new religions. In the Appalachian region of Kentucky and Tennessee revival intensified activities of Methodists and Baptists, giving rise to a new form of religious expression - "the camp fees" (air preaching).
In 1825, on the religious scene came a young preacher named Charles Finney. He has developed new methods of evangelization, which overturned the old order in society and church life. These new methods included the roll-call prayers for people, prayers and testimonies of women, call for repentant people to go to the altar, visiting groups of houses of believers and subsequent work with new believers after their repentance at large gatherings.
The Second Great Awakening led to a lot of changing in the social life. At the beginning of the XIX century, there were very high levels of demarcation of the private and public spheres. The public sphere, including the world of politics, the legal rights, and obligations, market institutions, recognized sphere of "real" power, prestige and power. The metaphor of separated spheres with the cult of domesticity visibly expressed and implicitly justified the discrepancy of gender status. Family life was also marked by childhood centricity, which means that children begin to play the lead role. Moreover, it became popular the concept of "marriage for love" as a new value of family relationships.
It is important to notice the work of Horace Mann, who change the ideas of public schooling in America. Prominent teacher and public figure Horace Mann rightly regarded as the founder of the American education system and the American educational theory. Pedagogical heritage Mann covers a wide range of pedagogical themes - goals, objectives, forms and means of education and training, but mainly - the various aspects of the democratization of education. In his State of Mann campaigned for the improvement of the education system. On his initiative, the school system started the reform, not only in the state but also outside it. There was eliminated fragmentation of schools, created a unified school system, set a mandatory length of school year, strengthened state control, based school library, expanded education program, introduced music teaching , health, and physical education.
Second Great Awakening also woke Americans` fervor and led them to rethink many issues. Since the beginning of the 30s in the country began to gain popularity nationwide movement for the abolition of slavery - abolitionism, which combined the efforts of many Americans from the North. The beginning of a mass movement can be considered as 1830 when the American Anti-Slavery Society was founded, and also launched the newspaper «Liberator». Furthermore, this movement led to the women's movement. It is the struggle of women for equality of rights with men in the economic, social, political and cultural fields, as well as their participation in the general political struggle. Moreover, there was the rise of the popularity of the utopian movement.
During the XIX century, in America, there were more than 100 utopian communities, which at the peak of the movement (1840-1860 years) have joined more than 100 thousand men and women.
