Charles Grandison Finney

 Personal Statement: My name is Charles Grandison Finney. I was born to a farming couple on August 29, 1792 in Warren, Litchfield County, Connecticut. At a young age, I moved with my family to Oneida County, New York, where I briefly studied at the Hamilton Oneida Academy. After two years at the Academy, I then taught school. Though I never attended college, I completed a rigorous course of independent study while teaching in New Jersey. In 1818, I returned to New York and began to study law as an apprentice to Benjamin Wright. My involvement in the city of Adams, New York, made me well known throughout the city, though it wasn't until my legal studies introduced me to the Bible that I realized a real purpose to life. Despite regularly attending Church, I was unmoved by traditional preaching and worshipping. After much turmoil and questioning salvation, I underwent a religious epiphany which culminated in a dramatic conversion experience. Realizing the Glory of God, I renounced my legal practice and became licensed by the local St. Lawrence Presbytery in 1824. I am a notable person because from that time, I devoted my energies to preaching revivals, open-air meetings characterized by congregants frequently expressing their religious fervor through emotional outbursts and trances, throughout the United States. I was most active as a revivalist from 1825-1835, most notably when I was invited to speak in New York. I epitomized the evangelism of the 2nd Great Awakening; My innovations included having women pray in public meetings of mixed gender, development of the "anxious seat", a place where those considering becoming Christians could come to receive prayer, and public censure of individuals by name in sermons and prayers. My fiery speaking converted thousands of people to evangelical Protestantism, and several churches were built in my name. In my quest to save souls, I also took a firm stand against intemperance and slavery. My appeal spanned all social classes, but my urban middle-class converts eagerly took up my call to action on these issues, thus fueling some of the reform movements of the Antebellum Era.

Issue: I was initially concerned just with converting people to congregationalism in order to check the perversions of Christianity in the 2nd Great Awakening (I mean, I was the greatest revival preacher). But, the spiritual fervor that resulted from my inspiring revivals bubbled into areas of American life that reached beyond just religion. I caused everybody around me to get involved in various reform movements, just as I became particularly involved in the abolitionist, women’s rights, intemperance, and educational movements. I denounced slavery and alcohol, and championed a system of coeducation of men, women, blacks and whites to advocate for Christian Perfection. I believe in equality of all people, regardless of race or ethnicity.

Solutions: In regards to evoking spiritual fervor within my followers, I am successful because I converted thousands of Americans from newly emerging towns along the Erie Canal, to urban dwellers in such cities and Rochester and New York. The development of the "anxious seat", and public censure of individuals by name in sermons and prayers were successful in furthering religious feelings. In regards to women’s rights, having women pray in public meetings, and learn at Oberlin college is a measure of my success. In regards to educational reform, I became professor and later president of Oberlin College in Ohio (1851-1866) and helped the college in becoming one of the first to co-educate blacks and women with men. In regards to abolitionism, Oberlin College became a center of antislavery agitation and a stop on the Underground Railroad. In regards to intemperance, I condemn alcohol and drunkenness as going against Christian Perfection, and my followers became influential in upholding that view by banding together and forming various groups discouraging drinking. These accomplishments were not always received easily, as many people believed I only incited change by tapping into the emotions of others, and many orthodox clergymen were unsettled by my gaining so many followers in so little time.

Relationship with Others: I would feel comfortable talking with Harriet Tubman, Susan B. Anthony, William Lloyd Garrison, Arthur Tappan, and Theodore Dwight Weld. I would feel uncomfortable talking with John C. Calhoun, and Andrew Jackson.