1 / 16

PRECONDITIONS OF REVOLUTION

PRECONDITIONS OF REVOLUTION. THE INFLUENCE OF THE FIRST GREAT AWAKENING II. FRENCH & INDIAN WAR. Taken from Brian Kiteley , The River Gods: A History of Northampton, Massachusetts.

geoff
Download Presentation

PRECONDITIONS OF REVOLUTION

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. PRECONDITIONS OF REVOLUTION THE INFLUENCE OF THE FIRST GREAT AWAKENING II. FRENCH & INDIAN WAR

  2. Taken from Brian Kiteley, The River Gods: A History of Northampton, Massachusetts “Ministers should be Sons of Thunder: Men had need have Storms in their hearts, before they will betake themselves to Christ for Refuge.” - Solomon Stoddard, The Defects of Preachers Reproved (1723)

  3. CASE STUDY: NORTHAMPTON, MASS • TOWN IN WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS • LAND HAS ALREADY BEEN PARCELED OUT • RIVER GODS HAVE DISPROPORTIONATESHARE JONATHAN EDWARDS, MINISTER OF NORTHAMPTON, 1739

  4. INFLUENCE OF THE GREAT AWAKENING • One of the major results of the Great Awakening was to unify 4/5ths of Americans in a common understanding of the Christian faith and life. Americans--North and South--shared a common evangelical view of life. • Dissent and dissenters enjoyed greater respect than ever before.

  5. THE RELIGIOUS IMPULSE • The Awakening reinterpreted the meaning of the covenant between God and his creatures. In Puritan theology the focus was on what God has done for us. • In the aftermath of the Awakening, the new emphasis was on what man can do in response to God's great gift. The responsibility for salvation is not God's but man's.

  6. THE DEMOCRATIZING IMPACT OF THE MOVEMENT • A complete dissolving of the theocracy occurred. The establishment in Virginia and North Carolina began to fall apart. • Ministers could no longer control the direction of religious life. It had been democratized and made accessible by people.

  7. OLD LIGHTS v. NEW LIGHTS • There was a break down in theological consensus. The New Lights (the revivalists) versus the Old Lights (traditional orthodox). Those who wanted to adapt the faith to changing times and circumstances versus those who wanted to hang on the old order.

  8. George Whitefield Preaching THE INFLUENCE OF THE FIRST GREAT AWAKENING AS A NEW WAY OF THINKING ABOUT PERSONAL SALVATIONCREATED A NEW DEMOCRATIZING EFFECT AMONG COLONISTS IN NORTH AMERICA.

  9. COMMUNITY RESULTS • The Awakening responded--like the English Puritans of the 16th and 17th centuries--to needs of the people for reassurance and direction, to give them release from anxiety.

  10. COLONIAL PREDISPOSITIONS • ADD TO THE PREDISPOSITION OF COLONISTS TO DEBATE GOVERNMENT, POWER AND INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS THE FACT THAT COLONISTS TRULY FELT SEPARATED FROM THEIR OLD GOVERNMENT IN ENGLAND BY THE THOUSANDS OF MILES THAT SEPARATED THEM FROM THE “OLD WORLD” AND WE HAVE A POTENT SCENARIO FOR CHANGE. • AMERICAN COLONISTS FOUND IT EASY TO ACCEPT THE IDEA OF A NATURAL, “ABSOLUTE, UNREGULATED MAN” WHO EXISTED AND HAD ACQUIRED PROPERTY BEFORE GOVERNMENTS WERE DEVELOPED TO MAKE DEMANDS UPON THE COLONIST’S LIBERTY OR PROPERTY.

  11. SINCE THE INDIVIDUAL COLONIST HAD TO COMBINE WITH OTHER COLONISTS TO MEET COMMON PROBLEMS AND MAKE USE OF COMMON OPPORTUNITIES, THE IDEA THAT GOVERNMENT CAME FROM THE PEOPLE AND IS THE AGENT OF THE PEOPLESEEMED APPARENT TO MANY AFTER THE 1740s. • IT ALSO SEEMED NATURAL FOR AMERICAN POLITICAL LEADERS TO ACCEPT THE PREMISES OF JOHN LOCKE, THE GREAT EXPONENT OF ENGLISH CONSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT, AS THEIR SPOKESMAN. SOCIETAL CHANGES AFTER 1740s

  12. THE PRESENCE OF THE FRONTIER WAS OF TREMENDOUS IMPORTANCE IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF AMERICAN IDEAS OF GOVERNMENT. • EACH COLONY HAD “BACK-COUNTRY” DISTRICTS THAT WERE THINLY POPULATED, SUBJECT TO INDIAN ATTACKS, AND FAR REMOVED FROM THE POLITICAL AND CULTURAL INSTITUTIONS OF TIDEWATER AREAS. • THE INDIVIDUALISM OF THE FRONTIER EARLY CAME INTO CONFLICT WITH THE GROWING AUTHORITARIANISM OF COLONIAL GOVERNMENTS, AND OUT OF THAT FRICTION CAME A CONTINUAL PRESSURE FOR FURTHER DEMOCRATIZATION AND FOR GREATER REPRESENTATION FOR THE NEWER AND POORER DISTRICTS.

  13. FRENCH & INDIAN WAR • OFFERED OPPORTUNITY FOR LAND AND SETTLEMENT IN THE WEST • OFFERED OPPORTUNITY FOR AMERICAN COLONISTS TO WORK CLOSELY WITH BRITISH SOLDIERS • GREATER FAMILIARITY BRED CONTEMPT

  14. GENERAL BRADDOCK • Arrives in Virginia in 1755 to train soldiers • Meets French and their Indian Allies during a campaign to take French Fort Duquesne (near Pittsburgh)

  15. BRITISH SUFFER DEFEAT • BRADDOCK’S FORCE OF 2400 BRITISH REGULARS DEFEATED BY 900 FRENCH AND NATIVE AMERICANS AT MONONGAHELA RIVER

More Related