In the first half of the nineteenth century, men and women of all classes and races embraced the Protestant religious revival known as the Second Great Awakening to express deeply held beliefs and reclaim a sense of the nation’s godly mission. Yet evangelical Protestantism was not the only religious tradition to thrive in this period. Catholic churches and Jewish synagogues multiplied with immigration, and in the North Quaker meetings and Unitarian congregations flourished as well. New religious groups also attracted thousands of followers while transcendentalists sought deeper engagements with nature as another path to spiritual renewal.