Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2005 Aliens in the World: Sectarians, Secularism and the Second Great Awakening Matt McCook Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES ALIENS IN THE WORLD: SECTARIANS, SECULARISM AND THE SECOND GREAT AWAKENING By MATT MCCOOK A Dissertation submitted to the Department of History in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Degree Awarded: Fall Semester, 2005 The members of the Committee approve the dissertation of Matt McCook defended on August 18, 2005. ______________________________ Neil Jumonville Professor Directing Dissertation ______________________________ Thomas Joiner Outside Committee Member ______________________________ Elna Green Committee Member ______________________________ Albrecht Koschnik Committee Member ______________________________ Amanda Porterfield Committee Member The Office of Graduate Studies has verified and approved the above named committee members. ii The following is dedicated to three individuals whose lives have been and will be affected by this project and its completion as much as mine. One has supported me in every possible way throughout my educational pursuits, sharing the highs, the lows, the sacrifices, the frustration, but always being patient with me and believing in me more than I believed in myself. The second has inspired me to go back to the office to work many late nights while at the same time being the most welcome distraction constantly reminding me of what I value most. And the anticipated arrival of the third has inspired me to finish so that this precious child would not have to share his or her father with a dissertation. Alyssa, Collin and Katie, or Jackson (or whatever we finally decide your name will be), I hope that you can be proud of this completed work and possible inspired by some of the individuals it discusses, but most of all, I hope you look forward to spending more time together with no looming ABD cloud hanging over us as much as I do. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Whatever measure of success I have attained in the field of academics is owed to all those who taught, advised, encouraged, challenged and nurtured me along the way. Neither time nor space is permitted to express my thanks to all who deserve it, but since this dissertation marks the completion of a terminal degree I find it appropriate to recognize mentors at each stage of my academic journey. First, I must thank Dr. Henry Speck III, my first college history professor. It was only by chance that I found myself in his course on world history my freshman year, but the coincidence proved to be life changing. Although I was by no means his most outstanding student, I was one of his most admiring. He was a brilliant, challenging and inspiring professor and I was an awestruck undergrad. After taking every other history course I could with Dr. Speck I set out to do for others what he had done for me. I wanted to be a history professor able to challenge others mentally and spiritually at their minds’ ripest moment. Quiet naively I originally imaged being a specialist in ancient and Middle Eastern history like Dr. Speck, but I am now committed to the study of another place and another time. Regardless of the scholarly distance between our areas of expertise, Dr. Speck will always be the professor I strive to become. Had I not been so inspired by his example I would never have started the educational journey which is now coming to an end. I must also thank the history department at Sam Houston State University for helping me get to this point. Both faculty and staff deserve recognition for the ideal educational experienced I enjoyed there. I enrolled in their Masters’ program in history iv determined to go from there to a doctoral program, but having little idea of how to get there or what to specialize in. I left SHSU certain of what I wanted to study and well prepared for the highest level of training as an historian. Although I was only a part time student taking much more from the department than I gave, I was encouraged, nurtured and refined every step of the way. I was also allowed considerable freedom in designing my program of study, and I never had trouble finding professors willing to oversee independent study courses, without which I could not have finished my degree and started at Florida State University when I did. In particular I want to acknowledge the SHSU professor who was responsible for my interest in American religious history, Dr. Terry Bilhartz. Because of my own naivety and his humility, I had no idea he had contributed so significantly to the study of the Second Great Awakening. It was not until I started researching the subject for a paper in a doctoral course on Jeffersonian America that I realized how great his contribution has been. I only hope mine is a worthy follow up as one of his former students. I consider his recommendation for admission to doctoral studies among my highest academic honors and I look forward to getting his feedback on this study as it evolves, hopefully, from dissertation to book. Next, I owe thanks to the members of my dissertation committee at Florida State University who have been exceptionally helpful and accommodating. I am forever grateful to Dr. Elna Green and Dr. Amanda Porterfield who were willing to replace retired committee members late in my dissertation process and still provided me with helpful and encouraging feedback. Without their kindness I would have been lost. I also thank Dr. Thomas Joiner for his willingness to serve as the outside committee member on v short notice, not to mention many good times playing on his team in basketball. I especially thank Dr. Albrecht Koschnik who, from the beginning, read each of my dissertation chapters more judiciously and provided helpful feedback more expeditiously than is expected of any secondary reader. The fact that he did this while I was out of state and he has been working toward securing his own tenure is remarkable. I thank each of these committee members for their sacrifices on my behalf. Finally, I thank my mentor, major professor and friend, Dr. Neil Jumonville. His acceptance of me as a graduate student made the pursuit of my professional goals possible. His courses made that pursuit enjoyable. And his encouragement made me believe I would succeed. Thanks to his direction my ill conceived ideas for a dissertation topic were refined and improved upon resulting in a finished product which is far greater than those I envisioned earlier. His suggestion that I include the Transcendentalists in my study of sectarians’ otherworldly attitudes gave this dissertation what I think is its most original part. For helping me develop as a scholar, pushing me toward excellence, placing me in an academic position I desired and praising my most noteworthy efforts, Dr. Jumonville has been an ideal major professor and dissertation director. My doctoral dream inspired by Dr. Speck is now happily a reality thanks to Dr. Jumonville. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract………………………………………………………………………………….viii Preface……………………………………………………………………………………ix CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ……………………………………………………1 CHAPTER TWO: THE CHRISTIANS AND DISCIPLES……………………………. 19 CHAPTER THREE: THE MILLERITES……………………………………………….54 CHAPTER FOUR: THE MORMONS…………………………………………………..85 CHAPTER FIVE: THE HICKSITES…………………………………………………..121 CHAPTER SIX: THE TRANSCENDENTALISTS..………………………………….158 CHAPTER SEVEN: CONCLUSION………………………………………………….192 ENDNOTES……………………………………………………………………………196 BIBLIOGRAPHY………………………………………………………………………241 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH…………………………………………………………...267 vii ABSTRACT The association of an otherworldly impulse with the Second Great Awakening and the study of sectarianism in the Jacksonian period have long been overlooked by scholars. Most have associated the awakening with evangelicals’ social and moral reform efforts or with Christian political mobilization because their attention has been focused on settled or maturing religious groups. Without question the awakening inspired many Christians to establish reform societies whose purpose was to turn the United States into a godly evangelical empire. However, the awakening also resulted in the creation of several new religious sects who rejected these efforts. The Disciples of Christ, or Churches of Christ, the Millerites, the Mormons and the Hicksite Quakers do not fit typical characterizations of the awakening. They tried in various ways to remain unblemished by the world rather than expending their energies trying to perfect it. As sectarians in their initial stage of religious development they focused more on rewards in the next life than on comfort and conquest in this one. An analysis of their views on politics, social reform and economics suggests that the Second Great Awakening inspired an otherworldly outlook among sectarians even while it nurtured a reform impulse among denominations. The fact that American Transcendentalists, who were engaged in a separate literary, intellectual and spiritual movement, had similar attitudes toward politics, social reform and economics further suggests that the otherworldly outlook was pervasive in Jacksonian America. viii PREFACE This dissertation marks the end of my career as a student and represents the completion of a long educational journey. At times the journey was physical. I started researching and writing this dissertation in Tallahassee, Florida, and finished it in Edmond, Oklahoma. Like most historical scholarship it required travel to libraries and archives as well. But the most important journey was internal. I now understand that writing a dissertation involves serious reflection and, at times, soul searching. Readers are only privy to the writer’s thoughts at a given moment, not to the evolution of the scholar’s ideas. They acquire much more from a dissertation and its author if they know what led an author to a particular project, what the author’s purpose was, and how his or her ideas were shaped over time.