America's Second Great Awakening

George Whitefield, from the First Great Awakening

Did God use the social scourge of the Harpes' killing spree to spark, or at least fuel, America's Second Great Awakening?

It's a question I found myself contemplating while researching for my recent release, The Blue Cloak. In the various accounts of the travels of the notorious Harpes, mention is made of them camping at the site of a recent revival meeting near Russellville, Kentucky. What an odd choice, I thought. Further investigation revealed that an entire movement took place in the region, attributed in Wikipedia as the Revival of 1800. The article explains the custom of "sacrament seasons," begun in Scotland but carried over onto the frontier of America, and how the camp meeting grew out of it. Obviously there were revival meetings happening even before 1800, but it gave me cause to wonder--how much did the terror of the Harpes drive folk to their knees and bring to light their individual need for redemption? And how much did the corporate prayers which doubtlessly were offered around the region for the ending of the Harpes' reign of terror affect the wider move of the Holy Spirit?

The Second Great Awakening, as it was called, had already been taking place in New England during the 1790's. Earlier waves of revival, all up up and down the Eastern Seaboard in the 1730's and into the 1750's, are referred to as the First Great Awakening, influenced by the preaching of Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield, and others. Some accounts state John Wesley as an influence, but I find it interesting that after an unsuccessful ministerial venture in Savannah, Georgia, he found his own spiritual revival through conversations with the Moravians, and then went on to preach all across England and lead many souls to Christ. All such movements were marked by what some condemned as unnecessary emotionalism, but had the undeniable effect of drawing people closer to God in their personal lives and shifting their focus from things of a purely material nature to the more spiritual. (Sound a bit like our own times?)

The revivals happening in New England in the 1790's are noted as being less emotional, though, than what took place in southern Kentucky and spread throughout the region, including Tennessee and southern Illinois and Indiana. Wiki comments, "Early settlers were fiercely independent and egalitarian; skilled with the long rifle; and fond of fighting, gambling, tobacco chewing, and horse racing." (Not terribly different, then, from what we know of the Harpes, before they went public with their criminal career.) In summary, frontier folk were considered to be a people ruled more by their passions than by intellectual reason, so it's likely no small wonder that when moved by the Spirit, they committed to God with that same headlong passion.

And it would be just like God to use something as awful as a crime spree to fan the flames of revival.

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If you're interested in reading more:

• The Great Awakening of the Early 18th Century (ThoughtCo.)
• Great-Awakening.com
• Great Awakening - HISTORY
• Great Awakening - Britannica
• The First Great Awakening, by our own Tamera Kraft (don't miss her other articles under the "Great Awakening" label!)