A Shopkeeper’s Millennium: Society and Revivals in Rochester, New York, 1815–1837

Finney was a prominent evangelical preacher in the 1820s and 1830s, leading a religious revival in Rochester, New York, from 1830 to 1831. Finney was first invited to preach in Rochester by the city’s minister Elder Josiah Bissell. Over the course of six months, Finney held near daily services, some of which lasted all night long. Finney’s services were notable for preaching an alternate understanding of Protestant theology. Prior to Finney, Protestant ministers taught that all individuals were predestined by God to be either evil or good. In contrast, Finney preached that all individuals held the free will to choose goodness and Christianity, and placed an emphasis on “human ability” to better the world through prayer (96).

Finney’s services also placed an emphasis on collective prayer, with “anxious sinners” often publicly announcing their acceptance of Christ (101). Through his emphasis on individual action, Finney’s congregants developed an activist attitude and sought to directly convert as many sinners as possible, often beginning with their immediate family members. As a result, Finney’s services were immensely popular and drew in congregants from across Rochester’s many denominations. News of Finney’s revival and preaching spread to other American towns, launching a general evangelical revival in the 1830s. Many of Finney’s followers believed that the revival’s popularity was a sign of Christ’s Second Coming and believed that they held the ability to spur a new millennium through prayer.

Nathaniel Rochester was amongst the first individuals to purchase the land that would later become the city of Rochester, New York. He played a key role in Rochester’s development, inviting numerous members of his extended family to settle on his land and open businesses. Though Rochester was not directly involved in the city’s government, he was amongst the town’s most prominent public leaders and played a key role in many of the city’s political debates. His associates formed one of the two main political factions in 1820s Rochester and were closely aligned with the state government’s Republicans. In the second half of the 1820s, his rival political faction, led by the Brown brothers, sought to tarnish Rochester’s reputation by questioning his ties to the Masons, a controversial secret society. The subsequent rumors and personal attacks dismayed Rochester, who as a result retreated from the public eye.

Bissell was the preacher at Rochester’s Third Presbyterian Church, and a prominent leader in the city’s Sabbatarian movement. Sabbatarians like Bissell wanted to force individuals to respect the Sabbath and sought to do so through the use of protests, boycotts, and other campaigns. In 1828, Bissell used donations to found the Pioneer Line, a boat company that followed the Christian Sabbath by not operating on Sundays. Bissell and his fellow Pioneers later began a campaign to pressure the US government to cease delivering mail on Sundays, garnering “nationwide” attention (85). In spite of the fierceness of Bissell’s campaign tactics, the US government ultimately decided that to follow the Sabbatarian’s demands would be a violation of the separation of church and state. As a result, Bissell and his Pioneer Line were “a national laughingstock” (88). Dismayed by a sense of growing social disorder and sinful behavior in Rochester, Bissell decided to invite minster Finney to preach in Rochester.

Beecher was a prominent minister in Boston, whose preaching helped to launch a nationwide movement for temperance. Beecher’s movement inspired a group of wealthy Rochester businessmen to form the Rochester Society for the Promotion of Temperance in 1828. Beecher argued that temperance advocates should seek to encourage drinkers to give up alcohol of their own free will, rather than use the law to outright ban alcohol.

Weed was a member of Rochester’s Clintonian political faction, which rivaled Nathaniel Rochester’s Republican faction. In the late 1820s, Weed used the controversy over the Masonic murder of Morgan to arouse suspicion of Nathaniel Rochester and his associates. Weed began publishing the Antimasonic Enquirer, which frequently published articles that insinuated that the Masons were controlling Rochester’s government through Nathaniel Rochester and his fellow Republicans. Weed also was a founder of the city’s Antimasonic Party. Such political fighting helped to fracture Rochester’s upper-class elite, leaving them powerless to control the city’s bourgeoning social crisis in the late 1820s.

Morgan was a stonemason living in Batavia, a town in the Genesee Valley that surrounds Rochester. Morgan sought to join Batavia’s Masons—a secretive society that was prevalent throughout the United States at the time. However, Morgan was denied membership, and he angrily published an “exposé of the secrets of Masonry” (66). Morgan’s exposé aroused the anger of Rochester’s Masons, who kidnapped Morgan. As Morgan was never heard from again, many Rochesterians assumed that the Masons had murdered Morgan. The presumed murder became the basis for a general controversy in Rochester over the identity of the Masons and the power they held over the city’s government.