<P> The burned - over district is the western and central regions of New York in the early 19th century, where religious revivals and the formation of new religious movements of the Second Great Awakening took place . </P> <P> The term was coined by Charles Grandison Finney, who in his 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 Great 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 genuine revivals which Finney was influential in . </P> <P> In references where the religious revival is related to reform movements of the period, such as abolition, women's rights, and utopian social experiments, the region is expanded to include those areas of central New York that were important to these movements . The historical study of the phenomena began with Whitney R. Cross, in 1951 . However, Linda K. Pritchard uses statistical data to show that compared to the rest of New York State, the Ohio River Valley in the lower Midwest, and indeed the country as a whole, the religiosity of the Burned - over District was typical rather than exceptional . </P>

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