The Second Great Awakening: The Rise of Mass Democracy

Betwixt the time of 1816 and 1828 Mass Democracy was growing throughout the United States of America from the effects following the War of 1812. Although, at this time Mass Democracy did not mean the same thing as it does today. It was in fact relatively the opposite of what it means now. At the time though it was an accomplishment because all white males had the privilege to vote and before this it was mostly just rich and successful white males that were able to vote. “The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today,” (Roosevelt). Before lower class white males gained access to the right to vote they knew they were being treated unfairly. They made change happen so then they could vote, they did not know if they were going to succeed or fail but they tried. Now Mass Democracy means everyone over 18 years of age has the right to pick who they would like to become the president. In both instances people usually pick who they share more beliefs with, the person whose outlook on the country was close to theirs. Although, they could not vote women still could be active in church and stand for their rights which was more than what women in New England were urged to do. The birth of the new nation after the War of 1812 included many things such as patriotism, expansion, global presence and roots of sectionalism but only a few led to Mass Democracy. Despite, many people not having the right to vote after the War of 1812, nationalism, the Second Great Awakening, and the Market Revolution led to the rise of Mass Democracy.

To begin, nationalism contributed to the rise of Mass Democracy in small ways. Some of these small ways were that the federalists group was now nonexistent. Therefore, the Democratic-Republicans were the only group for a while. This was where the Era of Good Feelings comes from because with the Federalists declining it enabled the Democratic-Republicans to govern in a spirit of seemingly nonpartisan harmony. The people were proud that they had beat Britain but now they still have to work out their governing system. The people were also proud that they were democratic. The people that were proud to be democratic included the common man so then they wanted a say in their government that they supported. The people were also proud to be religious so they wanted to follow a religion that they agreed with fully or almost fully. They also wanted the world to better, they wanted the United States citizens to follow the wise words of God. People liked to see the people around them having the same beliefs. Consequently, the common man wanted a say in government so he could vote for someone he agrees with. Preachers also wanted people to believe in what they saw for the view of the world and the common man could have a say in the church. If they were proud to follow the religion that they chose then they should be proud to follow the president and for this to happen they needed a say. This led to Mass Democracy because common men wanted a say, a vote, in what happened in the United States.

Furthermore, the Second Great Awakening had a big impact on the rise of Mass Democracy from the aftermath of the War of 1812. This had a big impact because the government did not have a say in religion because of first amendment stating the separation of church and state. So people had a say in what religion they wanted to practice. If they had different ideas than one religion they could start up a new form of the religion or practice a different religion. With religions spreading it also cause people to spread. Expansion caused more states to be formed. With people moving west there were more farm owners so there was more people that were the common man. People were first able to start moving west easier from the Erie canal. States in the west had total male suffrage first because they consisted of mostly common men that were farmers. Transcendentalism also goes with the Second Great Awakening. They both wanted change to happen. The Second Great Awakening caused religious revivals which cleansed society of perceived moral evils and social reforms created a system where victims of a society perceived to be turbulent and unstable could be rehabilitated. Transcendentalism created utopian Societies which create a sense of community in an increasingly impersonal society. There were revivals, which were also called camp meetings. At the camp meeting or revivals there was sometimes up to 25,000 people that would be there. Many people saw the upcoming states in the west as lawless. They saw they states as lawless because of alcohol being involved and other crimes happening. They had the meetings to try to get people to go back to their ‘roots.’ People trying to get back to their roots lead to the redefining of how the world was supposed to be. People were creating new religions and starting to practice the new religions, if they had different views than the religion they were originally practicing. People having a say in their religion, society, and way of life led to the second Great Awakening having a contribution in the rise of Mass Democracy.

Finally, one thing from the aftermath of War of 1812 that had the greatest impact on the rise of Mass Democracy was the Market Revolution. The Market Revolution contributed to Mass Democracy by letting the common man earn money from inventions therefore, they felt that they should be able to vote if they could do so many other things. Transportation had a big part of the market revolution. People were inventing different things or thinking differently in general. DeWitt Clinton was thinking into the future. He was the one who had the idea of the Erie Canal and put his thought into action. Everyone else at the time, thought he was crazy for digging a ditch throughout New York. The horse and buggy, wagon, roads, canals, and the iron horse all made transportation easier and faster. With transportation being faster and easier it made people able to move to other places. The railroad systems resulted in expansion. It also resulted in opportunity, goods to be shipped, and immigration. Goods were now shipped to the North, South, East, and West. We had people coming to the United States from Ireland, Germany, and China. People had new opportunity because patents came out in the United States. Patents made it so a person could have an idea and the government would make it that person’s idea and keep it safe. If someone tried to steal the idea or invention, the patent would prove that it was their idea so their idea would be safe. If people were able to have their ideas protected and make money by making inventions they thought they should have a say in the government too. With people making their own inventions, they did not have to rely on others as much as they did before. This was because they could make machines to help with whatever they needed help with. Since, there was so many new things being made the prices of goods went down. With prices going down people were traveling because there was cheap land available in the west. Then with more people moving to the west there was more of the common man, which was mentioned earlier. Transportation was made easier from all these inventions being made and new ideas emerging. The world was more connected from this more advanced transportation such as canals and railroads. The steamboat was an invention that changed a lot of lives. The steamboat could o up and down waterways, which made flatboats almost irrelevant then. The flatboats were not as good as the steamboats because they could only go down stream. The steamboats made selling and buying things a lot easier. Markets emerged from people selling goods to get money in a particular area, now they could different things other than was just in their area. Or if they had been traveling by steamboats they did not have to wait as long to get their goods back to where they started. With more goods being brought to the markets the prices of those goods went down. The Erie Canal was not seen as a dumb idea then because people could use it to travel faster. This also made communication faster because you could relay a message faster if you could get from one place to another faster. With people having all this power, to go from one place to another, to invent things, and to communicate to people farther away it made people crave more power. The power the people, more specifically the common man, were wanting was the suffrage of all white men not just the wealthy. This was because the common man could now do all these things just like the wealthy man could, except the common man could not vote. Overall, the Second Great Awakening contributed to the rise of Mass Democracy through transportation, communication, and innovation.

It was clear through, nationalism, the Second Great Awakening, and the Market Revolution that the aftermath of the War of 1812 had strong, with some other less strong, contributions to the rise of Mass Democracy. Steve Jobs said, “Innovation is the ability to see change an an opportunity- not a threat,” this corresponds with the rise of Mass Democracy because many changes happened and people had to use these changes in their advantage not be scared of them. They had to do this to achieve what they were aiming for, which was Mass Democracy. A quote by Jamie Notter is in accord with the aforementioned quote, “Innovation is change that unlocks new value.” Both quotes are saying that you have to welcome change so that you can use it to thrive. This was what the common man had to do, they had to use their new gained power from inventions to get power on a say for government; getting this by first getting the ability to vote. There was many points from each result of the War of the 1812 that proved their contribution to the rise of Mass Democracy. Although, there was only a few mentioned there was many results of he War of 1812 that contributed to the rise of Mass Democracy. The meaning of Democracy has changed substantially throughout the years. For this time, the Mass Democracy of all white males was a great accomplishment.