Chances are, if you were an American with radical religious ideas, you came from Vermont, and you moved to the “Burned Over District” of New York. Join the History Buffs for Part I of a special three part series exploring America’s Second Great Awakening. In this episode Sarah, Marissa and Katie introduce the Second Great Awakening, and talk about some of the major movements of the period, including Joseph Smith and the Mormons.


Show Notes & Further Reading

Joseph Smith Welcome Center, Hill Cumorah

“The New York Period of the Mormon Church,” History of Mormonism

Crabtree, Adam. “Animal Magnetism and Mesmerism.” Occult World. Ed. by Christopher Partridge. London: Routledge, 2015.

“George Whitefield: Sensational Evangelist of Britain and America.” Christian History, August 8, 2008. Retrieved 24 March2016

Kidd, Thomas S. The Great Awakening: The Roots of Evangelical Christianity in Colonial America. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2007.

Juster, Susan. Doomsayers Anglo-American Prophecy in the Age of Revolution. Philadelphia, Pa: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2006.

Purvis, Thomas. “Great Awakening, first.” A Dictionary of American History. Blackwell Publishing, 1997. Blackwell Reference Online. 19 May 2016

Purvis, Thomas. “Second Great Awakening.” A Dictionary of American History. Blackwell Publishing, 1997. Blackwell Reference Online. 19 May 2016.

Todras-Whitehill, Ethan. “Mormon Faith and Spectacle at Hill Cumorah in Palmyra, N.Y.New York Times. 27 July 2007.


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Tied To Today: The Second Great Awakening | History is Stranger Than Fiction Podcast · June 21, 2016 at 9:04 am

[…] force in the political and social landscape of the United States.  But how did that come to be?  Take a listen to the History Buffs’ latest episode – part one of a three part series on the Second […]

TDISH: The Death of a Presidential Candidate | History is Stranger Than Fiction Podcast · June 27, 2016 at 9:11 am

[…] On June 27, 1844, in a Carthage, Illinois jail cell, sat the leader of the new Mormon Church, Joseph Smith.  He had just declared his intention to run for the Presidency of the United States.  This announcement had led to increased anti-Mormon sentiment among their Illinois neighbors and to clashes between the Mormon residents of nearby Nauvoo and those of Carthage.  Illinois state authorities had sided with the Carthaginians and had arrested Smith and his brother Hyrum.  While they were imprisoned, a mob of angry residents stormed the jail and murdered the brothers.  To find out more about the early history of Mormonism, take a listen to The History Buffs’ episode on America’s Second Great Awakening. […]

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