Burned-over district

The term "burned-over district"refers to thewesternand parts of thecentralregions ofNew York Statein the early 19th century, wherereligious revivalsand the formation ofnew religious movementsof theSecond Great Awakeningtook place, to such a great extent that spiritual fervor seemed to set the area on fire.^[3]

Charles Grandison Finney(1792–1875) popularized the term: his posthumous 1876 bookAutobiography of Charles G. Finneyreferred to a "burnt district" to denote an area in central and western New York State during the Second 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 revivals in which Finney was influential as a preacher.

In references where the religious revival is related to reform movements of the period, such asabolition,women's rights,utopian social experiments,anti-Masonry, Mormonism, prohibition, vegetarianism, and Seventh-Day Adventism, the "burned-over" region expands to include other areas ofUpstate New Yorkthat were important to these movements.^{[citation needed]}

Historical study of the phenomenon began with Whitney R. Cross, in 1951.^[3]^[4]Subsequent study in the last quarter of the twentieth century re-assessed the extent to which religious fervor actually affected the region. Linda K. Pritchard uses statistical data to show that, compared to the rest of New York State, to the Ohio River Valley in the lower Midwest, and to the United States as a whole, thereligiosityof the burned-over district was typical rather than exceptional.^[5]More recent works have argued that these revivals in Western New York had a unique and lasting impact upon the religious and social life of the entire nation.^[6]^[7]^[8]

Religion

Western New Yorkwas still an American frontier during the earlyErie Canalboom, and professional and establishedclergywere scarce. Many of the self-taught people were susceptible to enthusiasms offolk religion.Evangelists won many converts toProtestantsects, such as Congregationalists, Baptists, and Methodists. Converts innonconformistsects became part of numerous new religious movements, all of which were founded bylaypeopleduring the early 19th century, including:

TheLatter Day Saint movement(whose largest branch isthe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), originating circa 1828.Joseph Smith, Jr.,lived in the area and said he was led by the angelMoronito his source for theBook of Mormon,theGolden Plates,nearPalmyra, New York.
TheMillerites,originating circa 1834.William Millerwas a farmer who lived inLow Hampton, New York.He preached that the literalSecond Comingwould occur on October 22, 1844. Millerism became extremely popular in western New York state. Some of its concepts are still held by church organizations affiliated withAdventism,such asSeventh-day Adventists.
TheFox sistersofHydesville, New York,conducted the first table-rappingséancesin the area around 1848, leading to the American movement ofSpiritualism– centered in the retreat atLily Daleand in thePlymouth Spiritualist Churchin Rochester, New York – which taught communion with the dead.
TheShakerswere very active in the area, establishing theircommunal farmin central New York in 1826, anda major revival in 1837.The first Shaker settlement in America, also a communal farm, was established in 1776 just north of Albany in an area first known as Niskayuna, then Watervliet, now the town ofColonie.Shaker leader MotherAnn Leeis buried in the Shaker cemetery located in theWatervliet Shaker Historic District.^[9]^{[citation needed]}
TheOneida Societywas a large utopian group that established asuccessful communityin central New York, founded in 1848; it disbanded in 1881. It was known for its unique interpretation ofgroup marriageunder which mates were paired by committee; the children of the community were raised in common.
TheSocial Gospel,founded byWashington Gladdenwhile he was living in nearbyOwego, New York,during his childhood and teens, circa 1832 to 1858. Gladden was succeeded byWalter RauschenbuschofRochester, New York.
TheEbenezer Colonies,calling themselves the True Inspiration Congregations (German:Wahre Inspirations-Gemeinden), first settled in New York near Buffalo in what is now the town of West Seneca. However, seeking more isolated surroundings, they moved to Iowa (near present-day Iowa City) in 1856, becoming theAmana Colony.

Social and political reform

In addition to religious activity, the region known as the burned-over district was noted forsocial radicalism.TheOneida Institute(1827–1843) was a center ofabolitionismand the first college in the country to admit black students on the same terms as white students. The short-livedNew-York Central Collegewas the first college to accept both black students and women from its beginning and was also the first college in the country to employ African-American professors.Alfred Universityis the oldest surviving college in the United States to admit women to all its programs of study, rather than having female-specific programs.^[10]

Elizabeth Cady Stanton,the early Americanfeminist,was a resident ofSeneca Fallsin central New York in the mid-1800s. She and others in the community organized theSeneca Falls Conventiondevoted towomen's suffrageand rights in 1848.

The larger region was the main source of converts to theFourierist utopian socialistmovement, starting around 1816. TheSkaneateles Communityin central New York, founded in 1843, was such an experiment. The Oneida Society was also considered a utopian group.

Related to radical reform, Upstate New York provided manyHunter Patriots,some of whom volunteered to invade Canada during thePatriot Warfrom December 1837 to December 1838.

Location

The District can be broadly described as the area in New York State between theFinger LakesandLake Erie,^[1]^[2]and contains the following counties:

References

Notes

^^a ^bMartin, John H (2005)."An Overview of the Burned-over District".Saints, Sinners and Reformers: The Burned-Over District Re-Visited.
^^a ^bAltschuler, Glenn C.; Saltzgaber, Jan M. (1983),Revivalism, Social Conscience, and Community in the Burned-over District: the Trial of Rhoda Bement,Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press,ISBN 0801415411,LCCN 82014296,OCLC 8805286
^^a ^bCross, Whitney R (1950),The Burned-Over District: The Social and Intellectual History of Enthusiastic Religion in Western New York, 1800–1850,New York: Harper & Row,LCCN 50012161,OCLC 1944850
^Wellman, Judith (2000).Grassroots Reform in the Burned-over District of Upstate New York: Religion, Abolitionism, and Democracy.ISBN 0815337922.
^Pritchard, Linda K. (Summer 1984). "The burned-over district reconsidered: A portent of evolving religious pluralism in the United States".Social Science History.8(3): 243–265.doi:10.2307/1170853.JSTOR 1170853.
^Johnson, Paul (2004).A shopkeeper's millennium: society and revivals in Rochester, New York, 1815-1837(1st rev. ed.). New York: Hill and Wang.ISBN 9780809016358.
^Kruczek-Aaron, Hadley (2015).Everyday religion: an archaeology of protestant belief and practice in the nineteenth century(1st ed.). Gainesville: University Press of Florida.ISBN 9780813055503.
^Ferriby, Peter Gavin."History of American Christian Movements: Introduction".Sacred Heart University Library.Sacred Heart University Library. Archived fromthe originalon 2020-10-01.Retrieved9 June2021.
^Landmarks of American women's history, Chapter: Watervliet Shaker Historic District, Page Putnam Miller, Oxford University Press US, 2003, pp. 36 ff.
^Strong, Susan (2008).Thought Knows No Sex; Women's Rights at Alfred University.Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. p. 57.ISBN 978-0-7914-7513-3.

Further reading

Backman, Milton V."Awakenings in the Burned-over District: New Light on the Historical Setting of the First Vision".Brigham Young University Studies9.3 (1969): 301–320.
Cross, Whitney R. "Mormonism in the 'Burned-Over District'".New York History25.3 (1944): 326–338.JSTOR 23163065.
Foster, Lawrence.Religion and Sexuality: The Shakers, the Mormons, and the Oneida Community(Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1984)
Friedman, Lawrence J. "The Gerrit Smith circle: Abolitionism in the Burned-over District".Civil War History26.1 (1980): 18–38.
Hill, Marvin S. "The Rise of Mormonism in the Burned-over District: Another View."New York History61.4 (1980): 411–430.JSTOR 23169797.
Martin, J.E. "Saints, Sinners and Reformers: The Burned-over District Re-Visited",The Crooked Lake Review,Fall 2005, no. 137. Book-length study in a local history quarterly.
Roach, Monique Patenaude. "The Rescue of William 'Jerry' Henry: Antislavery and Racism in the Burned-over District."New York History(2001): 135–154.JSTOR 42677782.
Wellman, Judith. "Crossing over Cross: Whitney Cross's Burned-over District as Social History".Reviews in American History17#1 (1989): 159–174.JSTOR 2703143.

External links

The "Burned-over District, 1810–1830, Federal Census Indices",Oliver Cowdery

[martin-1] Martin, John H (2005)."An Overview of the Burned-over District".Saints, Sinners and Reformers: The Burned-Over District Re-Visited.

[cornell-2] Altschuler, Glenn C.; Saltzgaber, Jan M. (1983),Revivalism, Social Conscience, and Community in the Burned-over District: the Trial of Rhoda Bement,Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press,ISBN 0801415411,LCCN 82014296,OCLC 8805286

[Cross_1950-3] Cross, Whitney R (1950),The Burned-Over District: The Social and Intellectual History of Enthusiastic Religion in Western New York, 1800–1850,New York: Harper & Row,LCCN 50012161,OCLC 1944850

[4] Wellman, Judith (2000).Grassroots Reform in the Burned-over District of Upstate New York: Religion, Abolitionism, and Democracy.ISBN 0815337922.

[5] Pritchard, Linda K. (Summer 1984). "The burned-over district reconsidered: A portent of evolving religious pluralism in the United States".Social Science History.8(3): 243–265.doi:10.2307/1170853.JSTOR 1170853.

[6] Johnson, Paul (2004).A shopkeeper's millennium: society and revivals in Rochester, New York, 1815-1837(1st rev. ed.). New York: Hill and Wang.ISBN 9780809016358.

[7] Kruczek-Aaron, Hadley (2015).Everyday religion: an archaeology of protestant belief and practice in the nineteenth century(1st ed.). Gainesville: University Press of Florida.ISBN 9780813055503.

[8] Ferriby, Peter Gavin."History of American Christian Movements: Introduction".Sacred Heart University Library.Sacred Heart University Library. Archived fromthe originalon 2020-10-01.Retrieved9 June2021.

[Miller-9] Landmarks of American women's history, Chapter: Watervliet Shaker Historic District, Page Putnam Miller, Oxford University Press US, 2003, pp. 36 ff.

[10] Strong, Susan (2008).Thought Knows No Sex; Women's Rights at Alfred University.Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. p. 57.ISBN 978-0-7914-7513-3.

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