ABSTRACT
Meredith, in response to the Convention’s sanction, promised “to promote the cause of Religion and Morals, with a special reference, however, to the prosperity of the Denomination, and the important interests and objects of the Convention”. Controversy surrounded the revivals, and controversy spawned the religious press in efforts to define religious traditions and to sustain them against attack. It became more of a denominational organ and less of a news source to be embraced by the entire family for all of its news as the Presbyterian proclaimed in 1854. Following Meredith’s and other evangelicals’ concept, educated women would be the source of denominational and morals preservation, a great necessity for the welfare of society. The agenda of the Biblical Recorder in antebellum America was the prosperity of the denomination. Reading the Recorder rightly suggests that the readership of religious newspapers included a large number of women who passed on religious beliefs to their children—the future of the denomination.
