Abstract
Women sought the right to share their sacred voices in a variety of situations in the New World. The developing theology of Calvinists in New England churches coupled with the powerful movements of the first and second Great Awakenings gave women permission to speak publicly with unintended consequences. As women began first to share their testimonies of personal salvation and then to hold forth on their own interpretations of scripture a growing sense of empowerment swept through women's collective consciousness. The ultimate result of this preaching/sacred movement was the inevitable birth of the secular women’s rights movement. The development and sustaining of the movement relied on women whose first desire was to share the Gospel. In doing so they discovered their voices in all realms.