The very appearance of women preaching was, for many, a sign of the coming End during the Second Great Awakening. For many Americans even with radical views, women standing in a the pulpit meant that they were stepping out of their proper place and their uniquely important role as women. If they spoke too intelligently or forcefully, they were being too masculine. If they stood up in front of men, they were arousing men's lusts. Even someone as radical as Rev. Lyman Beecher, the dedicated abolitionist, did not want "bold women" preaching to the faithful.
Even many women disapproved of seeing women exhorting and preaching in church. Many also disliked the passionate feelings expressed by women during the revivals which were the meetings that powered the Great Awakening.
Mrs. Frances Trollope, was an English woman and mother of famous writer Anthony Trollope who saw this emotionalism during revivals as having a very negative effect on young women who gave themselves over to it. Listen to her disapproving description of a revival meeting here
Mrs. Trollope concluded: “Did the men of America value their women as men ought to value their wives and daughters, would such scenes be permitted among them?”
Click below for an overview of the Second Great Awakening: