Burned-over district
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The term "burned-over district" refers to the western and parts of the central regions of New York State in the early 19th century, where religious revivals and the formation of new religious movements of the Second Great Awakening took place, to such a great extent that spiritual fervor seemed to set the area on fire.[3]
Charles Grandison Finney (1792–1875) popularized the term: his posthumous 1876 book Autobiography of Charles G. Finney referred to a "burnt district" to denote an area in central and western New York State during the Second Awakening:
I found that region of country what, in the western phrase, would be called, a "burnt district." There had been, a few years previously, a wild excitement passing through that region, which they called a revival of religion, but which turned out to be spurious. ... It was reported as having been a very extravagant excitement; and resulted in a reaction so extensive and profound, as to leave the impression on many minds that religion was a mere delusion. A great many men seemed to be settled in that conviction. Taking what they had seen as a specimen of a revival of religion, they felt justified in opposing anything looking toward the promoting of a revival.
These spurious movements created feelings of apprehension towards the revivals in which Finney was influential as a preacher.
In references where the religious revival is related to reform movements of the period, such as abolition, women's rights, utopian social experiments, anti-Masonry, Mormonism, prohibition, vegetarianism, and Seventh-Day Adventism, the "burned-over" region expands to include other areas of Upstate New York that were important to these movements.[citation needed]
Historical study of the phenomenon began with Whitney R. Cross, in 1951.[3][4] Subsequent study in the last quarter of the twentieth century re-assessed the extent to which religious fervor actually affected the region. Linda K. Pritchard uses statistical data to show that, compared to the rest of New York State, to the Ohio River Valley in the lower Midwest, and to the United States as a whole, the religiosity of the Burned-over district was typical rather than exceptional.[5] More recent works have argued that these revivals in Western New York had a unique and lasting impact upon the religious and social life of the entire nation.[6][7][8]
Religion
Western New York was still an American frontier during the early Erie Canal boom, and professional and established clergy were scarce. Many of the self-taught people were susceptible to enthusiasms of folk religion. Evangelists won many converts to Protestant sects, such as Congregationalists, Baptists, and Methodists. Converts in nonconformist sects became part of numerous new religious movements, all of which were founded by laypeople during the early 19th century, including:
- The Palmyra, New York.
- The Seventh-day Adventists.
- The Lily Dale and in the Plymouth Spiritualist Churchin Rochester, New York – which taught communion with the dead.
- The Shakers were very active in the area, establishing their communal farm in central New York in 1826, and a major revival in 1837. The first Shaker settlement in America, also a communal farm, was established in 1776 just north of Albany in an area first known as Niskayuna, then Watervliet, now the town of Colonie. Shaker leader Mother Ann Lee is buried in the Shaker cemetery located in the Watervliet Shaker Historic District.[9][citation needed]
- The successful community in central New York, founded in 1848; it disbanded in 1881. It was known for its unique interpretation of group marriageunder which mates were paired by committee; the children of the community were raised in common.
- The Social Gospel, founded by Washington Gladden while he was living in nearby Owego, New York, during his childhood and teens, circa 1832 to 1858. Gladden was succeeded by Walter Rauschenbusch of Rochester, New York.
- The Amana Colony.
Social and political reform
In addition to religious activity, the region known as the Burned-over district was noted for
The larger region was the main source of converts to the Fourierist utopian socialist movement, starting around 1816. The Skaneateles Community in central New York, founded in 1843, was such an experiment. The Oneida Society was also considered a utopian group.
Related to radical reform, Upstate New York provided many
Location
The District can be broadly described as the area in New York State between the Finger Lakes and Lake Erie,[1][2] and contains the following counties:
See also
- John Humphrey Noyes
- Seventh-day Adventists
- Ellen G. White
- Bible Belt
References
Notes
- ^ a b Martin, John H (2005). "An Overview of the Burned-over District". Saints, Sinners and Reformers: The Burned-Over District Re-Visited.
- ^ OCLC 8805286
- ^ OCLC 1944850
- ISBN 0815337922.
- JSTOR 1170853.
- ISBN 9780809016358.
- ISBN 9780813055503.
- ^ Ferriby, Peter Gavin. "History of American Christian Movements: Introduction". Sacred Heart University Library. Sacred Heart University Library. Archived from the original on 2020-10-01. Retrieved 9 June 2021.
- ^ Landmarks of American women's history, Chapter: Watervliet Shaker Historic District, Page Putnam Miller, Oxford University Press US, 2003, pp. 36 ff.
- ISBN 978-0-7914-7513-3.
Further reading
- Backman, Milton V. "Awakenings in the Burned-over District: New Light on the Historical Setting of the First Vision". Brigham Young University Studies 9.3 (1969): 301–320.
- Cross, Whitney R. "Mormonism in the 'Burned-Over District'". New York History 25.3 (1944): 326–338. JSTOR 23163065.
- Foster, Lawrence. Religion and Sexuality: The Shakers, the Mormons, and the Oneida Community (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1984)
- Friedman, Lawrence J. "The Gerrit Smith circle: Abolitionism in the Burned-over District". Civil War History 26.1 (1980): 18–38.
- Hill, Marvin S. "The Rise of Mormonism in the Burned-over District: Another View." New York History 61.4 (1980): 411–430. JSTOR 23169797.
- Martin, J.E. "Saints, Sinners and Reformers: The Burned-over District Re-Visited", The Crooked Lake Review, Fall 2005, no. 137. Book-length study in a local history quarterly.
- Roach, Monique Patenaude. "The Rescue of William 'Jerry' Henry: Antislavery and Racism in the Burned-over District." New York History (2001): 135–154. JSTOR 42677782.
- Wellman, Judith. "Crossing over Cross: Whitney Cross's Burned-over District as Social History". Reviews in American History 17#1 (1989): 159–174. JSTOR 2703143.
External links
- The "Burned-over District, 1810–1830, Federal Census Indices", Oliver Cowdery