Burned-over District

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Burned- over district refers to the religious scene in Upstate New York, particularly the western and central regions of the state, in the early 19th century, which was repeatedly burned over by religious revivals of the Second Great Awakening. The term was coined by Charles Grandison Finney who in his 1876 book Autobiography of Charles G. Finney referred to a...
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Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Burned- over district refers to the religious scene in Upstate New York, particularly the western and central regions of the state, in the early 19th century, which was repeatedly burned over by religious revivals of the Second Great Awakening. The term was coined by Charles Grandison Finney who in his 1876 book Autobiography of Charles G. Finney referred to a burnt district (p78) to denote an area in central and western New York State during the Second Great Awakening. The name was inspired by the notion that the area had been so heavily evangelized as to have no fuel (unconverted population) left over to burn (convert). When religion is related to reform movements of the period, such as abolition, women's rights, and utopian social experiments, the region expands to include areas of central New York that were important to these movements.