Jacksonian Age religious commotion - Essay Example

Jacksonian Age religious commotion One of the prominent presidents of the United s is the seventh President knownas Andrew Jackson. He ruled America for two terms between the year 1829 and 1837(Sellers 2006). His policies and the way of governance brought a tremendous change in religion. This period is what is referred to as Jacksonian age. This paper seeks to examine the widespread religious commotion of the Jacksonian age.Christian religion in Jacksonian era The protestant doctrines and denominations of the old days were practiced all over America during the Jacksonian era.

For a long time, the government controlled every activity that the church was doing (Sellers 2006). The separation between the church and the state caused a commotion in the religion. Divisions in the church were evident, where each denomination claimed to have power than the other. The main denominations according to the ranking of the majority were Methodist, Presbyterians and the Baptists. It was due to this margin among the religious institution that caused changes in the church. This commotion gave birth to revivalism which was highly welcomed by the Americans.

Long before these changes, the Americans used to be attracted by secular meeting organized through camps to gain a social touch, but with the emergence of revival meetings, they diverged their lifestyle to concentrate on revivals (Sellers 2006). Salvation was evident in such meetings, having faith was also encouraged, and as a result, many people gave their lives to God. Each denomination could formulate ways to make their revivals unique. For instance, the Baptists came up with the idea of baptism.

They argued that, it was vital for the fulfillment of conversion experience (Sellers 2006). Those who were baptized, were convinced of having gained eternal life, hence as a way of maintaining it, they became so loyal to the church. The church at one point started deteriorating in terms of fame in the country. This was due to some actions that were happening in the church which did not make people happy. Business-minded revivalists emerged, using revivals as a source of income. Though giving was a requirement, in the church, American citizens wondered how they could make themselves rich.

People who conducted the revivals could not maintain their purity. They were involved in the dirty acts of immorality.Traditional religion The traditional religion in the United States was not forgotten. A good number of Americans believed in things like dreams, fortune tellers, ghosts and phrenology. This was early in the nineteenth century (Sellers 2006). Faith and folk medicines were the means through which they trusted the supernatural powers. Devilish acts such as Freemasonry were also reported in the United States.

Due to their evil deeds, they did not attract many people. Such groups were run under some rules and regulations which made people not to have faith in them. It is speculated that nobody understood what they were doing due to their high levels of secrecy (Sellers 2006). In fact, people who practiced it were accused of engaging in inhuman acts.Conclusion The study of Jacksonian age religious commotion has been the idea in this paper. As observed the rise of different denominations played a key role in the developments made in the religion.

Traditional groups also made an impact in terms of religious beliefs.ReferenceSellers, C. (2006). The Market Revolution: Jacksonian America. New York: Oxford University Press.