• Facebook
  • Home
  • Archive
  • History
  • Map
  • Teaching
  • Contact
History of the Jerks: Bodily Exercises and the Great Revival (1803–1967)
  • All
  • Authors
  • Chronology
  • Collections
  • Denominations
  • Exercises
  • Genres
  • States & Territories
Select Page
Excerpts from Lorenzo Dow’s History of Cosmopolite (October 1–19, 1804)

Excerpts from Lorenzo Dow’s History of Cosmopolite (October 1–19, 1804)

1802-1804, American Antiquarian Society, Diaries & Journals, Methodists

Camp-meeting commenced at Liberty: here I saw the jerks; and some danced: a strange exercise indeed….

Letter from Samuel M. Wallace to Anne “Nancy” Fleming (November 2, 1804)

Letter from Samuel M. Wallace to Anne “Nancy” Fleming (November 2, 1804)

1802-1804, Correspondence, Other Bodily Exercises & General References, Presbyterians, Samuel M. Wallace

“The dissenters from the Presbyterian sect has increased in number considerably and still continue to be warmly engaged in religion. They are exercised with almost all the different kinds of exercise, that you have heard of in Tenesse and Kentucky….”

Newspaper Article from the Hudson, New York, Bee (November 6, 1804)

Newspaper Article from the Hudson, New York, Bee (November 6, 1804)

1802-1804, Anonymous/Unknown, Magazines & Newspapers, Other/Unknown

“It is asserted in some prints, that these assemblies have originated a disorder called the Jerks….”

Excerpt from the Autobiography of Peter Cartwright (ca. 1804)

Excerpt from the Autobiography of Peter Cartwright (ca. 1804)

1802-1804, Autobiographies & Biographies, Dancing Exercise, Methodists

“I always looked upon the jerks as a judgment sent from God, first, to bring sinners to repentance; and, secondly, to show professors that God could work with or without means…, and do whatsoever seemeth him good.”

Excerpt from William Henry Foote’s Sketches of North Carolina (ca. 1804)

Excerpt from William Henry Foote’s Sketches of North Carolina (ca. 1804)

1802-1804, Barking Exercise, Books, Essays & Treatises, Presbyterians, Running Exercise

“A venerable clergyman now living…was affected by the jerks a few times…. Suddenly he began leaping about, first forward, then sideways, and sometimes, standing still, would swing backward and forward ‘see-saw fashion.’ This motion of his body was both involuntary and irresistible at the commencement….”

« Older Entries
Next Entries »

Search the Archive

Browse by Category

Popular Tags

African Americans (10) Baptists (17) barking (23) Barton Warren Stone (8) Benjamin Seth Youngs (9) bodily exercises (33) camp meetings (29) convulsions (16) dancing (56) diseases (11) exhorting (10) falling (32) Issachar Bates (9) jerker tales (16) jerking (98) jumping (12) Kentucky (51) laughing (17) Lexington (Ky.) (8) Methodists (47) nerves/nervous affection (15) New Lights (22) New York (10) North Carolina (16) Ohio (22) Pennsylvania (20) Philadelphia (Pa.) (18) praying (13) preaching (39) Presbyterians (66) revivals (43) Richard McNemar (9) Rockbridge County (Va.) (8) running (17) sacrament (17) Shakers (19) shouting (22) singing (26) society meetings (10) sympathy (15) Tennessee (43) Turtlecreek Township (Ohio) (10) Virginia (26) Warren County (Ohio) (8) West Virginia (8)

For more information or to report technology issues, contact Douglas Winiarski, Religious Studies Department, University of Richmond, at dwiniars@richmond.edu.

Designed by Elegant Themes | Powered by WordPress