View source for Burned-over district

{{short description|Historic region in Upstate New York}}
{{Distinguish|text=[[Burnt District, Omaha]] or [[General Order No. 11 (1863)|Burnt District (Missouri)]]}}
[[File:Burned over district.png|thumb|right|300px|Map showing the counties of New York considered part of the "Burned-over District"<ref name=martin /><ref name=cornell/>]]
The "'''burned-over district'''" comprises [[Western New York|Western]] and parts of [[Central New York|Central New York State]]. In the early 19th century, [[Christian revival#United States 1800–1850|religious revivals]] and the formation of [[new religious movement]]s of the [[Second Great Awakening]] took place to such a great extent that spiritual fervor expanded like a [[forest fire]].<ref>https://www.co.seneca.ny.us/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Seneca-County-and-the-Burned-Over-District-ADA.pdf {{Bare URL PDF|date=July 2025}}</ref><ref name="Cross_1950" />

[[Charles Grandison Finney]] (1792–1875) popularized the term: his posthumous 1876 book ''Autobiography of Charles G. Finney'' referred to a "burnt district"  to denote an area in central and western New York State during the Second Awakening:

<blockquote>I found that region of country what, in the western phrase, would be called, a "burnt district." There had been, a few years previously, a wild excitement passing through that region, which they called a revival of religion, but which turned out to be spurious. ... It was reported as having been a very extravagant excitement; and resulted in a reaction so extensive and profound, as to leave the impression on many minds that religion was a mere delusion. A great many men seemed to be settled in that conviction. Taking what they had seen as a specimen of a revival of religion, they felt justified in opposing anything looking toward the promoting of a revival.</blockquote>

These spurious movements created feelings of apprehension towards the revivals in which Finney was influential as a preacher.

In references where the religious revival is related to reform movements of the period, such as [[Abolitionism in the United States| abolition]], [[women's rights]], [[Utopia#Religious utopia| utopian social experiments]], anti-Masonry, Mormonism, prohibition, vegetarianism, and Seventh-Day Adventism, the "burned-over" region expands to include other areas of [[Upstate New York]] that were important to these movements.{{Citation needed|date = August 2023}}

Historical study of the phenomenon began with Whitney R. Cross, in 1951.<ref name="Cross_1950">{{Citation |last= Cross |first= Whitney R |year= 1950 |title= The Burned-Over District: The Social and Intellectual History of Enthusiastic Religion in Western New York, 1800–1850 |lccn= 50012161 |oclc= 1944850 |location=New York |publisher=Harper & Row |url= https://archive.org/details/burnedoverdistri0000unse}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first= Judith |last= Wellman |title= Grassroots Reform in the Burned-over District of Upstate New York: Religion, Abolitionism, and Democracy |year=2000 |isbn=0815337922 }}</ref> Subsequent study in the last quarter of the twentieth century re-assessed the extent to which religious fervor actually affected the region. Linda K. Pritchard uses statistical data to show that, compared to the rest of New York State, to the Ohio River Valley in the lower Midwest, and to the United States as a whole, the [[religiosity]] of the burned-over district was typical rather than exceptional.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Linda K. |last= Pritchard |title=The burned-over district reconsidered: A portent of evolving religious pluralism in the United States |journal=Social Science History |date=Summer 1984 |volume=8 |issue=3 |pages=243–265 |jstor= 1170853 |doi=10.2307/1170853}}</ref> More recent works have argued that these revivals in Western New York had a unique and lasting impact upon the religious and social life of the entire nation.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Johnson |first1=Paul |title=A shopkeeper's millennium: society and revivals in Rochester, New York, 1815-1837 |date= 2004 |publisher= Hill and Wang |location= New York |isbn= 9780809016358 |edition=1st rev.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Kruczek-Aaron |first1=Hadley |title= Everyday religion: an archaeology of protestant belief and practice in the nineteenth century |date= 2015 |publisher=University Press of Florida |location=Gainesville |isbn=9780813055503 |edition=1st}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Ferriby |first1=Peter Gavin |title=History of American Christian Movements: Introduction |url= https://library.sacredheart.edu/american_christianity |website= Sacred Heart University Library |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20201001193810/https://library.sacredheart.edu/american_christianity | access-date=9 June 2021|archive-date=2020-10-01 }}
</ref>

==Religion==
[[Western New York]] was still an American frontier during the early [[Erie Canal]] boom, and professional and established [[clergy]] were scarce. Many of the self-taught people were susceptible to enthusiasms of [[folk religion]]. Evangelists won many converts to [[Protestantism|Protestant]] sects, such as Congregationalists, Baptists, and Methodists. Converts in [[Nonconformist (Protestantism)|nonconformist]] sects became part of numerous new religious movements, all of which were founded by [[laity|laypeople]] during the early 19th century, including:

* The [[Latter Day Saint movement]] (whose largest branch is [[the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]]), originating circa 1828. [[Joseph Smith|Joseph Smith, Jr.]], lived in the area and said he was led by the angel [[Moroni (Book of Mormon prophet)|Moroni]] to his source for the [[Book of Mormon]], the [[Golden Plates]], near [[Palmyra (town), New York|Palmyra, New York]].
* The [[Millerites]], originating circa 1834. [[William Miller (preacher)|William Miller]] was a farmer who lived in [[Hampton, New York|Low Hampton, New York]]. He preached that the literal [[Second Coming]] would occur on October 22, 1844. Millerism became extremely popular in western New York state. Some of its concepts are still held by church organizations affiliated with [[Adventism]], such as [[Seventh-day Adventists]].
* The [[Fox sisters]] of [[Arcadia, New York|Hydesville, New York]], conducted the first table-rapping [[séance]]s in the area around 1848, leading to the American movement of [[Spiritualism (religious movement)|Spiritualism]] &ndash; centered in the retreat at [[Lily Dale]] and in the [[Plymouth Spiritualist Church]] in Rochester, New York &ndash; which taught communion with the dead.
* The [[Shakers]] were very active in the area, establishing their [[Groveland Shaker Village|communal farm]] in central New York in 1826, and [[Era of Manifestations|a major revival in 1837]]. The first Shaker settlement in America, also a communal farm, was established in 1776 just north of Albany in an area first known as Niskayuna, then Watervliet, now the town of [[Colonie, New York|Colonie]]. Shaker leader Mother [[Ann Lee]] is buried in the Shaker cemetery located in the [[Watervliet Shaker Historic District]].<ref name=Miller>Landmarks of American women's history, Chapter: Watervliet Shaker Historic District, Page Putnam Miller, Oxford University Press US, 2003, pp. 36 ff.</ref>{{cn|date=December 2019}}
* The [[Oneida Society]] was a large utopian group that established a [[History of Oneida, New York|successful community]] in central New York, founded in 1848; it disbanded in 1881. It was known for its unique interpretation of [[group marriage]] under which mates were paired by committee; the children of the community were raised in common.
* The [[Social Gospel]], founded by [[Washington Gladden]] while he was living in nearby [[Owego, New York]], during his childhood and teens, circa 1832 to 1858. Gladden was succeeded by [[Walter Rauschenbusch]] of [[Rochester, New York]].
* The [[Ebenezer Colonies]], calling themselves the True Inspiration Congregations (German: {{lang|de|Wahre Inspirations-Gemeinden}}), first settled in New York near Buffalo in what is now the town of West Seneca. However, seeking more isolated surroundings, they moved to Iowa (near present-day Iowa City) in 1856, becoming the [[Amana Colony]].

==Social and political reform==
In addition to religious activity, the region known as the burned-over district was noted for [[political radicalism|social radicalism]]. The [[Oneida Institute]] (1827–1843) was a center of [[abolitionism in the United States|abolitionism]] and the first college in the country to admit black students on the same terms as white students. The short-lived [[New-York Central College]] was the first college to accept both black students and women from its beginning and was also the first college in the country to employ African-American professors. [[Alfred University]] is the oldest surviving college in the United States to admit women to all its programs of study, rather than having female-specific programs.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Strong|first=Susan|title=Thought Knows No Sex; Women's Rights at Alfred University|publisher=State University of New York Press|year=2008|isbn=978-0-7914-7513-3|location=Albany, NY|pages=57}}</ref>

[[Elizabeth Cady Stanton]], the early American [[feminist]], was a resident of [[Seneca Falls (village), New York|Seneca Falls]] in central New York in the mid-1800s. She and others in the community organized the [[Seneca Falls Convention]] devoted to [[women's suffrage]] and rights in 1848.

The larger region was the main source of converts to the [[Charles Fourier|Fourierist]] [[utopian socialism|utopian socialist]] movement, starting around 1816. The [[Skaneateles Community]] in central New York, founded in 1843, was such an experiment. The Oneida Society was also considered a utopian group.

Related to radical reform, Upstate New York provided many [[Hunter Patriots]], some of whom volunteered to invade Canada during the [[Patriot War]] from December 1837 to December 1838.

== Location ==
The District can be broadly described as the area in New York State between the [[Finger Lakes]] and [[Lake Erie]],<ref name=martin>{{cite web|url=http://www.crookedlakereview.com/books/saints_sinners/martin1.html|title=An Overview of the Burned-over District|last=Martin|first=John H|year=2005|work=Saints, Sinners and Reformers: The Burned-Over District Re-Visited}}</ref><ref name=cornell>{{citation |first1=Glenn C. |last1=Altschuler |first2=Jan M. |last2=Saltzgaber |url=https://historical.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/cul.cdl/docviewer?did=cdl166 |title=Revivalism, Social Conscience, and Community in the Burned-over District: the Trial of Rhoda Bement |publisher=Cornell University Press |place=Ithaca, NY |year=1983 |isbn=0801415411 |lccn=82014296 |oclc=8805286}}</ref> and contains the following counties:

{{div col|colwidth=10em}}
* [[Allegany County, New York|Allegany]]
* [[Cattaraugus County, New York|Cattaraugus]]
* [[Chautauqua County, New York|Chautauqua]]
* [[Erie County, New York|Erie]]
* [[Genesee County, New York|Genesee]]
* [[Livingston County, New York|Livingston]]
* [[Madison County, New York|Madison]]
* [[Monroe County, New York|Monroe]]
* [[Niagara County, New York|Niagara]]
* [[Oneida County, New York|Oneida]]
* [[Ontario County, New York|Ontario]]
* [[Orleans County, New York|Orleans]]
* [[Seneca County, New York|Seneca]]
* [[Steuben County, New York|Steuben]]
* [[Wayne County, New York|Wayne]]
* [[Wyoming County, New York|Wyoming]]
* [[Yates County, New York|Yates]]
{{div col end}} Onondaga County, New York including the city of Syracuse

==See also==
* [[John Humphrey Noyes]]
* [[Seventh-day Adventists]]
* [[Ellen G. White]]
* [[Bible Belt]]
*[[Rust Belt]]

==References==
'''Notes'''
{{Reflist}}

'''Further reading'''<span class="anchor" id="Further reading"></span>
* Backman, Milton V. [https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4170&context=byusq "Awakenings in the Burned-over District: New Light on the Historical Setting of the First Vision"]. ''Brigham Young University Studies'' 9.3 (1969): 301–320.
* Cross, Whitney R. "Mormonism in the 'Burned-Over District{{'"}}. ''New York History'' 25.3 (1944): 326–338. {{JSTOR|23163065}}.
* Foster, Lawrence. ''Religion and Sexuality: The Shakers, the Mormons, and the Oneida Community'' (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1984)
* Friedman, Lawrence J. "The Gerrit Smith circle: Abolitionism in the Burned-over District". ''Civil War History'' 26.1 (1980): 18–38.
* Hill, Marvin S. "The Rise of Mormonism in the Burned-over District: Another View." ''New York History'' 61.4 (1980): 411–430. {{JSTOR|23169797}}.
* Martin, J.E. "Saints, Sinners and Reformers: The Burned-over District Re-Visited", ''The Crooked Lake Review'', Fall 2005, no. 137. Book-length study in a local history quarterly.
* Roach, Monique Patenaude. "The Rescue of William 'Jerry' Henry: Antislavery and Racism in the Burned-over District." ''New York History'' (2001): 135–154. {{JSTOR|42677782}}.
* Wellman, Judith. "Crossing over Cross: Whitney Cross's Burned-over District as Social History". ''Reviews in American History'' 17#1 (1989): 159–174. {{JSTOR|2703143}}.

==External links==
* [http://olivercowdery.com/census/BurntCen.htm The "Burned-over District, 1810–1830, Federal Census Indices"], Oliver Cowdery

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[[Category:19th century in New York (state)]]
[[Category:Christianity in New York (state)]]
[[Category:Former regions and territories of the United States]]
[[Category:History of Christianity in the United States]]
[[Category:History of New York (state)]]
[[Category:Patriot War]]