Joseph Smith

Personal Statement: I was born on December 23, 1805 in Sharon, Vermont. I was deprived of the benefit of formal education. I received limited instruction in reading, writing, and basic arithmetic. I founded the Latter Day Saint movement also known as Mormonism. Mormonism was an American made religion designed to spread its influence worldwide. I published the Book of Mormon at age 24 and attracted tens of thousands of followers during the Second Great Awakening. I also ran for president in 1844.

Issues: I was concerned with the issue of religion in my time. I reformed religion by creating Mormonism. I also was an abolitionist, believing that blacks are not inferior to whites. I welcomed everyone into my church, freemen as well as slaves. I proposed abolishing slavery during my presidential campaign in 1844. I am motivated on these issues by the word of God.

Solutions: Although I proposed abolitionist legislation, my solution to the religious crisis is individual moral reform through God and Mormonism. I was successful in this reform through spreading the word of Mormonism and turning it into a famous and recognized religion. I was able to change people’s opinions through my religion. However, I was not an entirely successful abolitionist since my proposed legislation did not go through. However, I did help by allowing slaves to be Mormons. I was criticized during my fight for reform for being a polygamist.

Relationship to Others:  I would feel comfortable sitting next to Brigham Young because he is a Mormon and my successor. I would also like to sit next to David Walker or Frederick Douglas because they were abolitionists who believed in equality. I would not feel comfortable sitting next to Mother Ann Lee and Angelina Grimke because they were Quakers.

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.

Lyman Beecher

Personal Statement:

Hello to all and God bless. My name is Lyman Beecher and I was born on October 12th, 1775 in New Haven, Connecticut. My mother died shortly after my birth, so I was adopted by my uncle. I received a formal education at Yale and I graduated in 1797. I was then given a licence to preach by the New Haven West Association and I preached at a Presbyterian church in East Hampton, Long Island. I was then ordained in 1799. In 1832, my family and I moved to Cincinnati, Ohio. I had high hopes for the West, and felt that America had a duty to demonstrate by example what other peoples can achieve. I denounced the Roman Catholic religion, and published a book, A Plea for the West, which denounced the church and warned of its inevitable and corrupting influence. I co-founded the American Temperance Society, which was devoted to such reform topics as slavery, temperance, women's rights, and overall improvement of society. I became the president of the Lane Theological Seminary. I also believed that religious leaders should look past denominational differences to come together to reform the nation and spread Christianity. I was charged with heresy by my own congregation, the Presbyterian Church, after I supported the controversial New Measures initiated by revivalist Charles Finney, but the charges were dropped. I gained some popularity in 1806 after giving a sermon before the duel of Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr, but my claim to fame, as you say nowadays, is being a leader of the Second Great Awakening. I began moving away from strict Calvinist doctrine. I acknowledged that human beings are deeply sinful, but I also taught that they had the ability to accept God's grace, if they decided to do so. I am credited with being one of the most influential religious thinkers and social reformers of my time.

Issue:

An issue Lyman Beecher was involved with was the Second Great Awakening. As I said before, he is credited as being one of the leaders of it. Beecher favored the Protestant faith and felt that Catholicism should be stopped of its inevitable and corrupting influence. Beecher’s motivation was religious, seeing he was an ordained minister and preacher of the Protestant faith.  

Solution:

The solution that Beecher feels will help the nation is for the religious leaders of the time (except Catholic leaders), should come together and reform the nation and spread Christianity. Beecher strongly favored religious voluntarism and competition, but he felt that Catholicism should be stopped before its corrupting influence spread. I believe that Beecher was successful in his solution. The 2nd Great Awakening changed the lives of thousands of Americans and popularity of the Protestant religion. An example of his success is when he was the president of the Lane Theological Seminary in Cincinnati. While he was president, many successful organizations devoted to the spread and reform of Christianity were created including: the American Bible Society, American Educational Society, American Sunday School Union, American Tract Society and American Society for the Promotion of Temperance. The criticism the Beecher faced was when he supported the controversial New Measures initiated by revivalist Charles Finney. To other reform leaders, this was a controversial move. He was tried for heresy, but the charges were dropped.

Relationship to Others:

The people I would feel most comfortable talking with at the Dinner party would be: Catharine Beecher, Charles Finney, William Lloyd Garrison, Elizabeth Cady Stanton. I would feel least comfortable talking to Joseph Smith and Brigham Young seeing they both are leading figures in Mormonism and I am a leading figure in Protestantism.