IntroductionEvangelicalism did not evolve or operate in one space. It is essential to consider the ways in which members of this group participated in and changed their culture and, conversely, evaluate how its social context provided both the ideas that evangelicalism adopted or transformed, and those it actively refused or resisted. As a movement that matured during the first half of the nineteenth century, evangelical Protestantism can be most clearly understood within the political, economic, and religious contexts of post-Revolutionary American society. Although the movement would bring profound changes to society, in a sense the culture was ripe for its emergence. The tension between the evangelical movement and the radicalism and centrism of past movements suggests that American society was still in transition from one era to another: the Revolution was not yet complete. History: Causes That Led to Evangelicalism The fifty years following independence witnessed dramatic changes in the character of American society. As happens in all periods of epochal social change, the first national period generated both optimism and unease. Although the Revolution succeeded in driving out the English, it in no way solved the growing nation's infrastructural, political, and racial problems. Rather, in the sudden absence of imperial control, Americans of all social classes were faced with the task of structuring and preserving a viable society in a time of great uncertainty and instability, when domestic political discord, unstable international alliances and the disorienting wave of capitalist enterprise shook the foundations of tradition and security on which they had long relied. Particularly distressing was the realization that political union did not necessarily imply cultural harmony and that conflicts among Americans could turn violent, as exemplified by the party warfare of the 1790s, by outbreaks of economic discontent such as Shay's Rebellion, by ethnic and class divisions. based on urban unrest, and the seemingly insoluble dispute over slavery. In many ways, American society seemed to be growing rather than less fragmented. American society began to open new channels for energies in the culture that had previously remained dormant. In the proliferation of benevolent societies, time... middle of paper ... could only occur if the self had become sufficiently alienated, through conviction of sin, from the material world. At the moment of conversion one felt that one's heart had been touched by the hand of God. After conversion, the third phase was that of the certainty of salvation, or the belief that one's sins had been forgiven and that one could, after death, enter the kingdom of heaven and reunite with God and other saved souls. they moved in other directions. Because evangelicals were intent on expanding church membership from the beginning, they were able to define the daily religious life of the United States in a way that no other movement had done before, or has done since. Since the Second Great Awakening, the power of evangelicalism has derived from its practical character: its ability to distribute its message, to help guide the religious lives of its adherents, to organize its members into cohesive groups. Modern evangelical preachers follow 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 harness the power of television.