ࡱ> AC@` ,bjbj .6# &&&Lr8" " " 8Z f c $h:     z 1=6" d30cL( |  l4 bX cd" "  The Power of Revivals in Rochester, New York Paul Johnson, professor of history at the University of South Carolina, addresses the issue of rapid capitalization and connects it with politics, economy and religion in the small, rural town of Rochester, New York. In his book, The Shopkeepers Millennium: Society and Revivals in Rochester, New York, 1815 1837, he poses the question, What precisely were the links between revivals and the transformation of politics and reform in the 1830s? Furthermore, he gives his interpretation to the revivals powerful affect in Rochester. Johnsons argument addresses four spheres of social experience, life, politics, community relations, and work, to understand the revivals converts. Johnson creates his argument by starting with the founding of Rochester and the creation of its economy. Rochester was built on the shoulders of wealthy families who bought and sold land to newcomers to increase their fortune. With the engineering of the Erie Canal, Rochester became the first inland boom town in the United States. Inside of a decade, the population became the fastest growing in the country. The wealthy families took advantage of this and intertwined their economic prowess with extended relatives and trustworthy friends. It was common practice for prominent families in Rochester to marry in order to create business opportunities and expand their wealth. In 1827, 42 percent of the richest property owners were in business with relatives. It is the rich property owners that lay the ground work for Johnsons reasoning behind revivals. The Rochester church member was more times than not a businessman, journeyman craftsmen, or lawyer. It was the citizens who were grounded in the city that contributed to the majority of the Presbyterian congregation. A direct refute to the old belief that revivals were made popular by transients who wandered from town to town looking for work. Economy as the preliminary point leads Johnson into society and the emergence of a working class. The continual rise in migrating workers created a bottom heavy and unstable urban population. It was estimated that everyday 120 workers left Rochester, and everyday there were another 130 ready to take their place. Day laborers and journeymen made up 71 percent of the workforce and turned Rochester from a country town into a blue collar city. Rise in unskilled workers created tighter controls on the procedure of labor. Initially, the employer employee relationship extended far beyond the workplace and involved every aspect of home living. They lived life as a family, working together, eating together, going to church together and so on. The flux in migration had employers separate themselves from their employees and wok life. The shop was once a place to share a drink and build morale; soon they became little factories where the main goal was production. This separation created a social class network that never existed before 1820, and divided Rochester into separate neighborhoods. While no one class had claim to certain parts of the city, the working class neighborhoods were mainly on the outskirts of town. As Johnson describes, working class people were not the churchgoing type. He cites several instances of alcohol abuse, violence, and murder. The middle class communed on quieter streets, generally closer to the business district. Their homes became a refuge from the amoral economy and disorderly society outside its doors. The neighborhoods widened the gap between the classes. Living separately, the middle class based their lives around discipline, self control, and domesticity that banned liquor. The working class continued drinking as part of their daily lives, but now its meaning had changed. It was a stigma that defined them as sinners and drunkards. And was a main reason for rising animosity toward the entrepreneurs who tried to control their lives. The control of social disorder is Rochester is another central point to Johnsons thesis. He outlines several failed attempts at reformation. The primary attempt being politically based control. Two main factors contributed to the failure of political reformation. First, as described by Johnson: The Antimasonic hysteria of 1827 and 1828 divided and destroyed the office holding elite. . . It was a skillfully directed assault upon wealthy and powerful men who had been the focus of resentment since the beginning of settlement. Antimasons discredited these men and drove them out of politics, leaving divided and embittered elite to face the social crisis of the late 1820s. The other reason was the ineffectual policy of the politicians who were running for or who were already in office. The voting public made it clear that they were not going to be controlled through coercive means. In accordance with voters wishes, political platforms stayed away from social reform and the temperance movement. Those who were elected and had the power to control refused to utilize it. The Temperance Movement and the efforts of the Sabbatarians were the two other documented failed attempts at reform. The Temperance Movement was a way for the elite to turn their power into authority. They encouraged shop owners and business men to make their employees stop drinking on the job and to pressure them into a more pious lifestyle. By pushing morality, the shop owners withdrew themselves further away from their employees. And while the drinking at work stopped, they still drank within their community. The Sabbatarians effort was similar in nature but had a more stringent approach. They told shop owners to refuse employment to anyone who disobeyed orders against drinking at work or drinking on the Sabbath. They petitioned their state senator to make it unlawful to drink on the Sabbath but were rejected and ultimately humiliated. All the Sabbatarians did was give the workingman more hatred toward their adversaries. It is at this point that the revival comes to Rochester. Johnson gives detail as to the basis of the increasingly popular revivals. The revival befalls acceptance when Charles Finney began preaching at Presbyterian churches in Rochester everyday of the week and three times on Sunday. His message of free choice and a personal relationship with god reached all of the church community. It refuted the previous belief of original sin and gave people the conviction that they could better themselves and their community. Revivals put excitement back into religion. People had something to work towards, all of a sudden the savior of their souls wasnt preordained, it was in their direct control. The sweeping affect of the revivals over the middle class changed life for the working man. Their message of the Church was clear; they were calling for a complete reformation of the city. Shop owners poured their barrels of whiskey into the street as a proclamation of their faith. They donated money to the poorer communities so they could create their own Presbyterian congregations. They opened banks in order to promote thriftiness and self reliance. The Church created programs to help kids read, write and stay out of trouble. Those of the working class who did take part in the revivals were rewarded for their faith. They were allowed to go to the same church as the elite. Many were given the chance to succeed at work with promotions and raises. The very poor were helped to find jobs and received loans to buy food and pay bills. Those who refused to accept the revival often times were run out of town. Most job ads refused to employ workers unless they were of the faith. The moral suasion and economic coercion created a reformation in Rochester where if someone didnt carry the Presbyterian faith, it was extremely difficult for one to succeed. Johnson strongly presents his case on the power of revivals on the economy structure of Rochester, New York. Strictly according to his thesis, he explains why Rochester perfect for the revival to take place and answers his question about the links between revival and reform. Johnson uses a narrow view that doesnt explain the revivals in their entirety. Economically they made sense as a coercive force against the working class, but he didnt address their drive for betterment like the middle class felt. Its hard to belief an entire group of people would change their lives and fake a belief in something purely to keep a job. Johnsons method for collecting sources came directly from the town church records, tax records, petitions, census schedules, newspapers, petitions, diaries and letters from the converts. Many of the sources used are reliable, but in his last chapter, Christian Soldiers, a majority of the weight of Johnsons arguments came from biases sources such as diaries of the converts and politically influenced newspapers, and on one occasion a sketch. However deeply analyzed and well thought out, Johnsons views of the revival on the working class are too narrow to give a complete answer as to its overwhelming success.  Johnson, Paul. A Shopkeepers Millennium: Society and Revivals in Rochester, New York, 1815 1837. (Hill and Wang: New York) 14.  Ibid, 26.  Ibid, 37.  Ibid, 37.  Ibid, 38.  Ibid, 60.  Ibid, 57.  Ibid, 60.  Ibid, 62.  Ibid, 79-88.  Ibid, 95-115.  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