Burned-over district

Map showing the counties of New York considered part of the "Burned-over District"[1][2]

The term "burned-over district" refers to the western and parts of the central regions of New York State in the early 19th century, where religious revivals and the formation of new religious movements of the Second Great Awakening took 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 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 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 as abolition, women's rights, utopian social experiments, anti-Masonry, Mormonism, prohibition, vegetarianism, and Seventh-Day Adventism, the "burned-over" region expands to include other areas of Upstate New York that 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, the religiosity of 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]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference martin was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference cornell was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b 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 from the original on 2020-10-01. Retrieved 9 June 2021.