LITR 4232 American Renaissance 2010 final exam—Answers to Question A2

Jillian Silva

America’s Soft Spot:

The Re-Birth of Religious Sentiment

          In the mid-1800’s, America experienced a rebirth of religious sentiment of such a large magnitude that scholars deem this era in American history as the 2^nd Great Awakening. However, America’s first Great Awakening during the 1730’s saw a large shift from the previously held stance on morality and religion to a more emotional or expressive form of religious belief. Rather than adhere to the traditional structure of popular religion, this shift placed heavy emphasis on the internal “spirit” or calling and believers rather than a congregation or structured church system. Therefore, by the 18^th century, the former aspects of traditional Christian sentiment had experienced a significant change in American culture and the nation’s Second Great Awakening gave rise to the denominations and sects of religious belief we see in our society today. Additionally, the magnitude of this second revival also ignited political and social movement and directly influenced the moral and conscious argument for the emancipation of slavery as well as the civil rights of the unrepresented female and the American slave.

           In directly influencing the re-birth of American morality, these important revivals also greatly influenced the literature of the time. Seen in the writings of Harriet Beecher Stowe and Fredrick Douglas, sentimental language and literature was a highly stylized and popular representation of life during the time. Additionally, such writing served as a means of verbally and externally expressing the dependence on such strongly felt “spirit” within.  Sentiment in these types of text also applied to the reader’s sense of empathy and moral sentiment and affection. Therefore, in conjuncture with this stylized sentiment, semblances of religious literature also seen in Douglass and Stowe, function in co-habitation to apply to an individual’s moral and sympathetic consciousness; and it is this type of literature and “awakening” sentiment that heavily influenced the changing political and social movement in American society.

          For example, Sojourner Truth – a former American slave and women’s rights activist and abolitionist – spoke to Harriet Beecher Stowe about her own purpose and calling in the nation. She states, “The Lord has made me a sign unto this nation, an’ I go round-a-testifyin’, an showin’ on ‘em their sins agin my people.” Here, Sojourner greatly exemplifies the religious and sentimental aspects of upward religious movement. She claims that it is her religious duty to explain the sins of the nation to others in glorified religious testimony; and therefore, by applying to their moral sense of duty and obligation, she successfully utilizes her “awakened” religious argument to influence political change.

          Similar examples of this union of religious and sentimental notion can also be seen in the writings of Fredrick Douglass, also a former American slave who penned his own autobiographical narrative in 1845. In it, he constantly applies to the empathetic American in his vivid depictions of the cruelty and suffering undergone through the violation of human slavery. An example of this would be the gross misconduct witnessed and undergone in the murder of Demby, a misbehaving slave at Colonel Lloyd’s plantation. Douglass witnessed Demby shot in the head after repeatedly disobeying his master’s call and his language here depicts an avid application to the sentiment in his reader: “[…] Demby was no more. His mangaled body sank out of sight, and blood and brains marked the water where he stood.” Also, he applies to the bible in several references as a means of solidifying his religious argument; for example, when describing slaves used to constant lashings and mistreatment he states, “They were in very deed men and women of sorrow, and acquainted with grief.” This is taken directly from Isaiah 53.3 in which the verse describes a man “despised” and “rejected”, a man of “sorrows” and “acquainted with grief.” By utilizing the sentiment and religious aspects of his argument, Douglass is able to apply to the moral consciousness of his reader and successfully influence political and social change.