In The Kingdom of Matthias, the historians Paul Johnson and Sean Wilentz recaptured this forgotten event. The story contains stories of Elijah Pierson’s and Robert Matthews. Then it leads to a story of a religious imposter in 1830s New York, Matthews established a "Kingdom" of fanatical followers, causing a nationwide scandal. In the book it said, ““The story of Matthias and his Kingdom fascinated contemporaries. In the newspaper accounts, each of the Kingdom’s major characters appeared to be emblematic of a more general social type; and almost every twist in the plot seemed indicative of some larger cultural trend. The story was shocking but it was also significant-‘a bitter satire upon the age and country,’ one writers observed, an eccentric …show more content…
Elijah married a missionary woman named Sarah, and together they established a "Retrenchment Society" and other organizations designed to spread the word of God. Elijah Pierson’s story mentions the poverty of the poor people and the flamboyant lives of the wealthy. “The richest men in New York drank wine and courted women who wore jewelry and silks; the worst of them even kept mistresses. When asked about God, they seemed to think He was a warm-hearted gentleman like themselves. The poor were different, too. There were untold thousands of them, and they occupied their own neighborhoods and lived beyond the reach of Christian influence and paternal benevolence. Elijah had seen nothing like them: brutal men with whiskey bottles, children who ran loose and seemed to have no homes, gaudily dressed girls who strolled the sidewalks and smiled at gentlemen who passed them....” (Page 19) This shows how the real lives of 1800s were like. The people who were poor became poorer and rich getting richer. Even in the church, where the God said the people are equal, people who are wealthy were able to buy the seats in the church, and the people who are poor had to stand in the back and listen. “Elijah saw richer families that rented the more expensive pews near the pulpit. Behind Elijah sat families that paid …show more content…
The market revolution was invoked by the construction of the Erie Canal, which allowed for easy access to imported goods and greatly expanded trade and commerce. Also, the advent of the Market revolution saw the emergence of a newly defined middle class bound to factory labor and wage earnings. But with all the socioeconomic changes and the religious revival of the Second Great Awakening, there were still individuals who fought to preserve the patriarchal society that existed prior to the turmoil of reformation and revolution. Also, women in the 19th century did not have much right. They had to be obedient what their fathers or husbands say. “In keeping with his moderate evangelicalism, he publicly condemned luxury and applauded the new domestic influence of women (though he insisted that women’s “natural and amiable timidity” should keep them out of the sphere of “the stronger sex”). He insisted, however, that church-going ladies could find clothes that were both fashionable and modest. Mrs. Folgers’ extreme demands for plain dress were to his mind “preposterous or anti-Christian.” (Page