<P> Like the First Great Awakening a half century earlier, the Second reflected Romanticism characterized by enthusiasm, emotion, and an appeal to the super-natural . It rejected the skepticism, deism, and rationalism left over from the Enlightenment . At about the same time, similar movements flourished in Europe . Pietism was sweeping German countries . Evangelicalism was waxing strong in England . </P> <P> The Second Great Awakening occurred in several episodes and over different denominations; however, the revivals were very similar . As the most effective form of evangelizing during this period, revival meetings cut across geographical boundaries, and the movement quickly spread throughout Kentucky, Tennessee and southern Ohio . Each denomination had assets that allowed it to thrive on the frontier . The Methodists had an efficient organization that depended on itinerant ministers, known as circuit riders, who sought out people in remote frontier locations . The circuit riders came from among the common people, which helped them establish rapport with the frontier families they hoped to convert . </P> <P> Postmillennialism theology dominated American Protestantism in the first half of the 19th century . Postmillennialists believed that Christ will return to earth after the "millennium", which could entail either a literal 1,000 years or a figurative "long period" of peace and happiness . Christians thus had a duty to purify society in preparation for that return . This duty extended beyond American borders to include Christian Restorationism . George Fredrickson argues that Postmillennial theology "was an impetus to the promotion of Progressive reforms, as historians have frequently pointed out ." During the Second Great Awakening of the 1830s, some diviners expected the millennium to arrive in a few years . By the 1840s, however, the great day had receded to the distant future, and postmillennialism became a more passive religious dimension of the wider middle - class pursuit of reform and progress . </P> <P> In the early nineteenth century, western New York State was called the "burned - over district" because of the highly publicized revivals that crisscrossed the region . Charles Finney, a leading revivalist active in the area, coined the term . 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 the country as a whole, the religiosity of the Burned - over District was typical rather than exceptional . </P>

Who did the second great awakening appeal to