One of the theological legacies of the Second Great Awakening was postmillennialism, the view that Christ would return only after an extended era of peace and justice. Christians saw it as their duty to usher in this millennium and to prepare for Jesus’s return by reforming society and tamping down its vices. As a result, dozens of new Christian-led social reform organizations sprang into being. These societies addressed issues related to poverty, orphan and widow care, alcoholism, and abolitionism. The loose organization of these societies became known as the “Benevolent Empire.”
