III. The Enlightenment and the Great Awakening, 1720-1765

1. III. The Enlightenment and the Great Awakening, 1720-1765 • Social and Religious Conflict in the South 1. The Presbyterian Revival • New Lights challenged the Church of England in the south; ritual displays of wealth became less meaningful as competition existed between the churches; Virginia governor denounced New Lights as offering “false teachings.” 2. The Baptist Insurgency • The Baptist Insurgency – 1760s thousands of white farmers converted to Baptist (adult baptism); Whitefield encouraged slaveholders to bring the enslaved to church but many whites opposed; free-blacks in Virginia embraced the church’s teachings; Baptist churches continued to grow in spite of these pressures; ministers spread teachings among slaves and began to shrink the cultural divide between white and black.

2. The Great Awakening • Awakening occurred among many denominations in different places at different times • New England in the 1730s, Virginia in the 1750s and 1760s • Jonathan Edwards was a prominent minister during this time • His sermons encouraged people to examine their eternal destiny

3. The Voice of Popular Religion • George Whitefield symbolized the revivals • Whitefield preached outdoor sermons to thousands of people in nearly every colony • Itinerants disrupted established churches • Laypeople, including women and blacks, gain chance to shape their own religious institutions • The Awakening promoted a democratic, evangelical union of national extent

4. The Voice of Popular Religion (2) • Most revivalists well-trained ministers • Revivalists found Princeton, Dartmouth, Brown, and Rutgers • Revivalists held optimistic attitudes toward America's religious role in world history • Fostered American patriotism

5. Clash of Political Cultures • Colonists attempted to emulate British political institutions • Effort led to discovery of how different they were from the English people

6. The English Constitution • The British Constitution universally admired • not a written document, but a system of government based on statute and common law • Believed to balance monarchy, aristocracy and democracy • Balance believed to guarantee liberties

7. The Reality of British Politics • Less than 20% of English males could vote • Members of Parliament notorious for corruption and bribery • “Commonwealthmen” criticized corruption, urged return to truly balanced constitution

8. Governing the Colonies: The American Experience • Colonists attempt to model England’s balanced constitution • Royal governors • most incompetent • most bound by instructions from England • possessed little patronage for buying votes • little power to force their will • Governors’ councils steadily lose influence

9. Colonial Assemblies • Elected officials depended on popular sentiment • Assemblies more interested in pleasing constituents than in obeying the governor • Assemblies controlled all means of raising revenue • Assemblies jealously guarded their rights • Assemblies held more popular support than governor

10. Colonial Assemblies (2) • Commerce, communication, religion broaden colonists’ horizons by 1754 • Colonial law courts increasingly adopt English usage • Growing awareness of ideas, institutions, problems shared with England, each other

11. Enlightenment • Rationalism – reason is the arbiter of all things • Cosmology – new concept of man, his existence on earth, and the place of the earth within the universe • Secularism – application of the methods of science to religion and philosophy

12. Interpretations of Freedom • Moral Freedom – “a liberty to do only what is good” • Civil Liberty – “obedience to the law” (Social Contract) • Hobbes • Locke • Rousseau • Freeborn Englishmen – “Britain as community of free individuals”

13. Century of Imperial War • British Americans increasingly drawn into European conflict during eighteenth century • Main opponents: France and Spain • British colonies militarily superior to New France but ineffective

14. North America, 1750

15. King William's and Queen Anne's Wars • King William’s War (1689-1697): French frontier raids on New York, New England • Queen Anne’s War (1702-1713): French frontier raids on North, Spanish South • Wars settled nothing • France subsequently extended its American empire from Canada into Louisiana

16. King George's War and Its Aftermath • Fought 1743-1748 • Embroiled colonists more extensively than earlier wars • 1745--New England troops captured Fort Louisbourg on Cape Breton Island • 1748--Louisbourg returned to France by Treaty of Aix-la-Chappelle • 1750s--fresh conflict over Ohio Valley

17. Albany Congress and Braddock's Defeat • Albany Congress, 1754--Benjamin Franklin propose plan for a central government • Albany Plan disliked by English and Americans, fails • 1755--General Edward Braddock leads force to drive French from Ohio Valley • Braddock’s army ambushed, destroyed

18. IV. The Midcentury Challenge: War, Trade, and Social Conflict, 1750-1765 • The French and Indian War • British war against French in America, surge in trade increases American debt to British, and an increase in westward migration leads to violence and rebellion 1. The Albany Congress(1754) • Delegates from British colonies met in Albany to discuss relations with the Iroquois and French expansion • Franklin proposed a “Plan of Union” with a continental assembly to manage trade, Indian policy, and defense in the western territories • Franklin’s effort failed; war between France and England seemed imminent. 2. The War Hawks Win • Pitt and Halifax in England wanted a war in North America with the French • Fighting began June 1755; expanded to Europe by 1756 with Britain vowing to destroy France’s ability to compete economically.

20. IV. The Midcentury Challenge: War, Trade, and Social Conflict, 1750-1765 • The Great War for Empire 1. The Seven Years War • British war against French in America, surge in trade increases American debt to British, and an increase in westward migration leads to violence and rebellion • (1756-1763) – Pitt directed the war successfully from England, controlling both the commercial and military strategies • British had stunning successes and acquired Cuba and the Philippines from Spain, French Senegal, Martinique and Guadeloupe (eventually returned to France) • Treaty of Paris ending the war gave Britain control of over half of North America, including French Canada.

23. Colonel George Washington

24. Fort Necessity