The Great Awakening (1730s-1740s)

1. The Great Awakening (1730s-1740s) What was the significance of the Great Awakening in America? In what ways did the Great Awakening prompt Americans to challenge traditional sources of authority? How did the Baptists in Virginia challenge conventional assumptions about race, gender, and class in the colony?

2. What was the Great Awakening? • Religious revival movement that began in New England • Revivalism stressed individual religious experience rather than needing church leaders as intermediary with God George Whitefield preaching

3. Causes of the Awakening Before the 1730s, most colonies had two established groups of religious following: • Congregationalistswere the largest religious group in New England (Puritans and other dissidents who broke away from the Church of England). • Anglicanismwas the largest religion in New York and the Southern colonies (same as the Church of England).

4. Evangelicalism Some Puritans had moved away from original ideal, beginning to seek material comforts 1. “Halfway covenant” excluded many younger generations from the church & rights of citizenship • As result, Puritan church attendance declined 2. Strict, often exclusionary religious practices led many younger New Englanders to follow preachers who spoke to them in plain, open terms 3. Evangelicalism – “new birth” considered the ultimate religious experience • Followers accepted that they were sinners and asked for salvation as individuals

5. Old vs. New Lights • Great Awakening challenged authority and hierarchy of “established” European churches • Old Lights: Congregationalists and Anglicans • Followers who took part in the Great Awakening (New Lights) said that anybody could be converted and “born again” • Rejected idea of traditional church leadership to decide whether or not you belonged & one’s place in society

6. Leaders of the Great Awakening Jonathan Edwards George Whitefield

7. Impact of Great Awakening • Clergy, such as Edwards and Whitefield, sought to restore the “ideal” and increase church attendance through a “rebirth” of religion Sought to Christianize all of North America • Contributed to sense of equality, since all were qualified to take an active role in the church • Widely believed that this movement was a major factor leading to a sense of freedom and independence within the colonies GA in the South came a bit later: • Minorities such as Native Americans and Africans brought into organized religion • Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian churches emerge

8. THE ENLIGHTENMENT INFLUENCED THE COLONISTS • Philosophical movement throughout Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries • Emphasis on reason as the most important human ability • John Locke, a British philosopher, argued that people possessed “natural rights” given to humans by God: life, liberty, property. • The purpose of government, then, was to protect those rights. • Baron de Montesquieu, French philosopher, argued that absolute monarchy went against natural, God-given rights • In this manner, colonial leaders believed British government was violating these rights; how were they to overcome oppression? LOCKE MONTESQUIEU

9. Similarities/Differences of the Enlightenment and the Great Awakening • Great Awakening saw Puritan ideal in saving people from decay; sought to return people back to religious lifestyle • Enlightenment sought to use scientific methods and rational thought to explain natural phenomena as something beyond an “act of God” • Enlightenment supported reason; GA supports emotionalism and religious faith • Both groups question traditional authority and practice • Both groups highlight the importance of the individual over the authority of the government or church