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A Shopkeeper's Millennium: Society and Revivals in Rochester, New York, 1815-1837 (American Century)

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New York State's construction of the Erie Canal transformed the tiny frontier town of Rochester into young America's first inland boom town, with an economy based on milling local grain and transporting the flour east to feed the older coastal cities. In this role, it became the prototype for all the thousands of commercial towns and cities that sprang up along railroads across the Midwest during the nineteenth century, as well as the crucible in which the Midwest's particular brand of evangelical protestant piety was first worked out. 'A Shopkeeper's Millenium' is by far the best examination of this important piece of American history I have found anywhere, and I recommend it highly.

Paul Johnson's highly readable case study of Finney-inspired revivals in Rochester argues that these revivals were a response to the breakdown of social relationships involving work. His research finds that the revivals converted the relatively stable entrepreneurial class of Rochester who had recently abandoned former traditional employer-employee relationships where the employee boarded within the home of the employer. The revival legitimized this abandonment (and the resulting free labor system) by emphasizing the individual's moral freedom. Furthermore, the revival united the entrepreneurial class behind a mission-oriented Protestantism that enabled them to assert economic pressure, and a measure of social control, over the working class. While clearly sympathetic to the working class perspective, Johnson does not create a Protestant hegemonic conspiracy where none existed. Although one may dissent from his fundamental assumptions and approach, Johnson's argument is quite effective within the framework he has set for himself. I recommend this work to students of religion and society and antebellum reform.

Through patient research (six years in the making) and profound interpretation Paul E. Johnson has composed a small, but masterful, account of how the rising bourgeois class of Rochester, New York shaped its budding culture around religious action within the tsunami of pre-industrialism that was flooding American mill and manufacturing towns during the early nineteenth century. Taking Rochester as a representative microcosm of the new capitalist paradigm that was sweeping the new nation, A Shopkeeper's Millennium dissects the roots, causes, changes, and outcomes that occurred during 1815 to 1837 that paved the way to a new dominant culture where old paternalistic norms for social control gave in to devout religious internalization. Johnson's thesis centers around the climatic role that the Rochester religious revival of 1831 played in converting not only individuals first, but in the aftermath, Rochesterian society as a whole. The Rochester revival of 1831 played a! ! vital role in the Second Great Awakening. Rochester was the pivotal point in Charles Gradison Finney's rise to fame. As Peter Worsley in his book, The Trumpet Shall Sound, discovered that "charisma provides `more than an abstract ideological rationale...It is a legitimation grounded in a relationship of loyalty and identification in which the leader is followed simply because he embodies values in which the followers have an interest.'" Through Finney's charisma, converted Rochesterians; many being the master workmen or manufacturers; took the proverbial "bull by the horns" and ran with their new found paradigm--a paradigm that justified, through religious conversion, the acts that one social class should dominate another for economic gain. Prior to the 1831 revival, social construction in Rochester was quite different.

A Shopkeeper's Millennium is in response to new interest in the Great Awakening. But while previous studies have explained the growth of multiple cities during this time period, Johnson's book focuses entirely on Rochester, arguing that it was "America's fist inland boom town" (33). A combination of factors, including improvements in inland transportation and prime geographical location, made Rochester an ideal place for opportunity and social mobility, according to Johnson. His book utilizes many rags to riches stories that effectively demonstrate how farmers started to become businessmen, which increased their revenues (16). One example is Johnson's illustration of how two of the ten richest men in 1827 Rochester grew up in poverty (28). The promise of rags to riches experiences led to an increase in migration from those seeking to advance their economic status, and Johnson discusses how this increased influenced and changed people's relationships, especially as citizens were constantly moving. With all of this social upheaval, Johnson argues, many turned to the churches for stability. With this milieu of social forces came the emergence of distinct social classes and pronounced party politics. Ultimately, Rochester offers a rich account of how these classes and party politics operated in early 19th century New York.

This book effectively explains how party politics emerged in response to the newly distinct social classes. According to Johnson, social classes started to become distinct after 1825. Johnson believes this happened because some of the middle class started to move away from their businesses and into side streets while the working class started to live in their own residential areas. Although some middle and working class peoples started to live in their own areas, there were some who decided to live in a mixed class area (48). Because of these distinct neighborhoods, political parties started to emerge to serve their interests. In particular, the book discusses how Whigs drew their support from church members and the middle class while Democrats drew their support from the working class (129). This created class conflict because each political party had its own class interest. For example, the Whigs cracked down on drinking by limiting four grocery licenses at forty and fifty dollars each (131). Workingmen were most affected by this policy because they became heavy drinkers during the revivals (58). This forced every drinking establishment in working class neighborhoods to either go out of business or operate illegally (131). Johnson successfully demonstrated the emergence of party politics through an effective use of methodology.

Johnson uses an effective use of methodology in this book. The author uses first hand accounts to provide a better description. For example, the author used a first hand account to effectively describe theatre crowds as being "rowdy" (54). The author uses statistical analysis to demonstrate change. He used statistics to show the changes of householders headed by proprietors from 1827 to 1830, which showed a decrease in percent change (107). Another effective use of statistical analysis was "In 1826 an editor estimated that 120 persons left Rochester every day, while 130 more arrived to take their place" (36). This shows the difficulties of lower class peoples to settle in. A Shopkeeper's Millennium uses first hand accounts and statistical analysis to achieve the goals of this book.

Although this book is a detailed account of Rochester, it does have some weaknesses. One of the main weaknesses of the book is that it does not provide enough background information about the Great Awakening. Also, it provides little information about the women's reaction to the changes. Women's reactions to this economic and social change are as important as other groups because women belong to the same social structure. Another weakness of this book is that it could have been longer. As mentioned earlier, the book could have added much needed background information as well as women's reaction to make this book longer and more effective. Even though A Shopkeeper's Millennium has many strengths, the weaknesses make this book fall short of being great.

Overall, A Shopkeeper's Millennium is a good book that is well written. This well-written book is also well organized. Each chapter's goal is clearly defined and has an effective introduction, body, and conclusion. Unlike other books in this genre, A Shopkeeper's Millennium focuses on the transformation of one city instead of multiple cities. This allows the author to show effects on different social groups more effectively by their responses to policies that directly affected them. This book is also well written and easily understood by anyone who is interested in Rochester, New York during 1815-1830. A Shopkeeper's Millennium is a must read for anyone who wants to understand the economic, political, religious, and social transformation in early America.

This is one of the textbooks my daughter needed for her college class. It is one she will keep.

For those who want to discover how the Second Great Awakening affected the town of Rochester, New York, then this book is for you. You can tell the amount of hardwork that Johnson put into this book by the sheer amount of information that is contained within.

In any truly socialist understanding of history the role of the class struggle plays a central role. Any thoughtful socialist wants to, in fact need to, know how the various classes in society were formed, and transformed, over time. A lot of useful work in this area has been done by socialist scholars. One thinks of E.P. Thompson's The Making of the English Working Class, for example. One does not, however, need to be a socialist to do such research in order to provide us with plenty of ammunition in our fight for a better world. Shopkeeper's Millennium by Paul E. Johnson is such a work.

One can disagree with Professor Johnson's conclusions, and perhaps aspects of his methodology that relies very heavily on the interpretation of governmental and church records. He has nevertheless written a very interesting case study of Rochester, New York as a prime example of how America in the 1820's and 1830's, that is at the infancy of American capitalism, turned from a wilderness into an important new center of capitalist development as the Eire Canal became a cog in the transnational transportation system. Johnson has also provided some useful insights into the role that religion, especially the `born again' evangelical religion that we are familiar with today, helped form the prevailing capitalist ethos that drove this expansion forward.

Professor Johnson uses the well-known sources (city directories, tax assessments, censuses, Church registries) to flesh out his argument. One can take exception to some of his conclusions based on rather scanty data (and on the reliability of such data in a very mobile and transient environment). However the overall thrust of his work makes the important point that this period turned this part of America away from a sleepy agrarian/mercantile society to a rather dynamic capitalist one within a relatively short time. And, moreover, the social preconditions that fostered such growth were not merely accidental but represented the expansion of an already stable elite ready to take advantage of the new mode of production. In short, as we have seen at other previous nodal points of history (and today, as well) the rich and able have a leg up when the new riches are to be distributed.

Religious indoctrination, strict social mores, intense social pressure and flat out coercion are detailed here as ways in which the budding capitalist class dominated the society. Religious revivals, anti-Masonic struggles and various social reform campaigns, particularly the fight against 'demon' whiskey, play their part. As does plain old-fashioned politics that we are very familiar with. Perhaps not as familiar is how political sides were chosen in various local fights, like the closing of dram shops, despite common religious affiliation.

The key struggle in forming the capitalist mode of production was the effort to discipline a reluctant workforce to the tasks at hand. That was achieved in Rochester by many of the old tricks like coercion, ostracism and shunning that we have seen elsewhere at the rise of capitalism, particularly in England. In an interesting sidelight Professor Johnson details the change over, in a fairly short period of time , from workers being housed under the paternalistic supervision of their employers in their homes to the establishment of separate working class quarters. This is a big step in the forming of class-consciousness, both ways.
Such details are the stuff that makes this an interesting study.

Is this what today's working class looks like in a `post-industrial' American society? No. However many of the same techniques of domination still hold sway. Read this book about the days when American capitalism was a progressive force in the world. And begin to understand why it needs to be fought tooth and nail now.

Though Johnson does his homework in bringing Rochester and revivals to life, the book is too short. Nowhere do we get background on the Great Awakening; the role of women is glossed over hurriedly; and incredibly Johnson leaves out as an explantion for the interest in revivals one of the most basic assumptions: spirituality!

I read this book in conjunction with another about antebellum religious reform in the 19th century. I found this book easier to understand, but that's not saying much. It was still not fully clear what Johnson was trying to say, although his writing abilities are pretty good for a historian.
His work examines the city of Rochester, New York leading up to the reform of Charles Finney. However the assumptions he makes by examining only one area are not convincing enough to be applied to the entire reform efforts in New England at the time.