Hatch

Nathan Hatch's post-revolution and post Second Great Awakening account on the democracy of American is an interesting one - The way he describes it in his opening paragraph suggests that the religious movements during the Second Great Awakening bound the marginal people, common people, as we talked in class, a majority, without authority, and the most influential people, together in a supportive community, and democracy emerges through these movements throughout the nation. Whitman believes that if we want a democracy in America, we have to have people who are mentally capable of conducting democratic behaviors and reactions, and the importance of a national literature gives people this capability. I found the difference between the two is that Hatch emphasizes more on the the religious movements as a whole and how they affected the common Americans, and how America benefited from them. Whitman on the other hand, focuses more on a certain group of people, including himself, should preserve the culture and help the others. I don't think they contradict each other, but in a way they complement each other, just like democracy and government or authority do not contradict each other.