168 Great Game the South Abolitionism received an influx of zealous evangelicals in the North, while slavery enjoyed the blessings of all the evangelical churches of the South THE LEGACY OF THE AWAKENINGS The Methodists’ powerful presence in antebellum America enticed other groups to adopt their style Perhaps the most important figure in this regard was also one of the century’s most important religious figures, Charles Grandison finney A lawyer when he converted, he developed a theology and preaching style that would produce revivals He adopted Arminian (free-will) views of human ability, arguing that conversion was an individual act that required no special divine grace He preached in a way that argued his case and demanded an immediate decision He brought a revivalism forged on the frontier to the urbanized Northeast and eventually the world His ideas—and the legacy of the Second Great Awakening—were passed on in his Lectures on Revivals of Religion in 1835 He and many other leaders became important voices for abolition, womens’ rights, health reform, the perfectibility of society, various moral reforms, and missions Neither awakening had as much of a numerical effect on the churches as their promoters hoped and claimed What they did effect was a revolution in how churches operated in a diverse, democratic society Protestants became open to experiment and were determined to grow in national influence, making evangelicalism the powerful movement it remains today Further reading: Bushman, Richard L The Great Awakening: Documents on the Revival of Religion, 1740–1745 Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1989; Lambert, Frank Inventing the “Great Awakening.” Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2001; Tracy, Joseph Great Awakening Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1989 John H Haas Great Game See Afghan Wars; Anglo-Russian rivalry Great Plains of North America The Great Plains of North America extend about 2,400 miles from parts of the Northwest Territories to Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba In the United States, they continue southward through sections of Mon- tana, North and South Dakota, Minnesota, Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Texas, into Mexico, and about 1,000 miles from the foothills of the Rocky Mountains eastward to Indiana The area of the Great Plains is 1.2 million square miles, with 700,000 square miles in Canada and 500,000 square miles in the United States The High Plains, a higher region of the Great Plains west of the 100th meridian, are arid and receive only 20 inches or less of rainfall a year, making the land suitable for range animals or marginal farms The southern part of the Great Plains lies over the Ogallala aquifer, an immense underground layer of water-bearing rock dating from the last ice age Drought devastates the plains about every 25 years and dust storms ravage it as well As Meriwether Lewis noted in his journal, vast herds of bison ranged on the Great Plains and provided the foundation for the lives and culture of the Native American tribes like the Blackfeet, Crow, Sioux, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Comanche, and others Much of this territory was acquired by the United States from France in the Louisiana Purchase and was then opened to settlement After European settlers nearly exterminated the buffalo and removed Native Americans to Indian reservations, they opened the Great Plains to ranching and grazing The Homestead Act of 1862 and later the Dominion Lands Act of 1871 in Canada opened the Great Plains for settlement and farming A settler could claim up to 160 acres of land if he and his family lived on it and cultivated it for a period of time Thousands of Americans and immigrants built homesteads Many were not skilled dryland farmers and failed, as they were unprepared for the rigors of life on the Great Plains In the early 1920s historian Walter Prescott Webb introduced his Great Plains thesis stating, “ for this land, with the unity given it by its three dominant characteristics, has from the beginning worked its inexorable effect upon nature’s children The historical truth that becomes apparent in the end is that the Great Plains have bent and molded Anglo-American life, have destroyed traditions, and have influenced institutions in a most singular manner.” He stressed the environmental distinctiveness of the Great Plains and differentiated them from the rest of the North American continent He cited the comparatively level land surface on the plains, the absence of trees, the semiarid climate, and argued that two important physical characteristics across the plains were missing These elements were water and abundant timber, and their lack made the Great Plains environmentally unique