IntroductionEvangelicalism did not evolve or operate in one space. It is essential to consider how members of this group participated in and changed their culture and, conversely, to assess how its social context provided both the ideas that evangelicalism adopted or transformed and those to which it actively rejected or resisted. As a movement that emerged during the first half of the 19th century, evangelical Protestantism can be understood most clearly within the political, economic, and religious contexts of post-Revolutionary American society. Although the movement would bring about profound changes in society, it was in the sense that the culture was ripe for its emergence. The tension between the evangelical movement and past movements of radicalism and centrism suggests that American society was still in the midst of transition from one era to another: the Revolution was not yet over. the character of American society. As is the case with all periods of major social change, the early national period generated both optimism and unease. Although the Revolution succeeded in getting rid of the British, it in no way resolved the nation's growing infrastructural, political, and racial problems. Rather, in the sudden absence of imperial control, Americans on all sides were faced with the task of structuring and preserving a viable society at a time of great uncertainty and instability, when internal political discord, allegiances Unstable international relations and the disorienting rise of capitalist enterprise have shaken the foundations of tradition and security on which they had long relied. It was particularly painful to realize that political union did not necessarily imply cultural harmony and that conflicts among Americans could become violent, as evidenced by the party wars of the 1790s, eruptions of economic discontent such as the Rebellion of Shay, ethnic and class conflicts. urban unrest based on this situation and by the seemingly insoluble conflict over slavery. In many ways, American society seemed to be growing more rather than less fragmented. American society began to open new channels for energies into culture that had previously remained dormant. In the proliferation of benevolent societies, paper temperance would only take place if the self had become sufficiently alienated, through conviction of sin, from the material world. At the moment of conversion, one felt that the heart had been touched by the hand of God. After conversion, the third stage was that of assurance of salvation, or the belief that one's sins were forgiven and that one could, after death, enter the kingdom of heaven and be reunited with God and others. other souls saved. The aftereffects of evangelicalism have evolved in other directions. Because evangelicals were, from the outset, intent on increasing the number of their followers, they succeeded in defining the daily religious life of the United States in a way that no other movement had done before, nor since. Since the Second Great Awakening, the power of evangelicalism has derived from its practical character: its ability to spread its message, to guide the religious life of its followers, to organize its members into coherent groups. Modern evangelical preachers are following in the footsteps of their predecessors by continuing to spread the word of God – even as they have now moved beyond rural camp meetings to leverage the power of television.