Lesson 5.1: The Great
Awakening and the
Enlightenment
Today we will explain how the Great
Awakening and the Enlightenment
caused revolutionary feelings to grow
in the colonies.
Vocabulary
• explain – give reasons for
• denomination – specific religious
group
• authority – power to command
• intellectual – having to do with the
ability to think or to reason
Check for Understanding
• What are we going to do today?
• What does it mean to explain?
• What are some religious denominations
you’ve heard about?
• Who has the most authority in your
home?
• Why would someone be described as
‘intellectual’?
What We Already Know
In Europe, people
believed in the divine
right of kings, which
meant that kings got
their power to rule
directly from God.
What We Already Know
Many of the first colonists to settle in
North America were very religious and
came here seeking the freedom to
worship God as they chose.
What We Already Know
By the early 1700s, ideas from the
Renaissance and the Scientific Revolution
were changing the way people saw the world,
themselves, and their governments.
A tell B
• What did European kings believe
about where their right to rule came
from?
• Be sure to re-state the question in
your response!
B tell A
• Why did many of the first colonists
come to America?
• Be sure to re-state the question in
your response!
The Great Awakening . . .
• was a religious movement.
• began because religious
leaders feared that colonists
had lost their religious
excitement.
• stressed religious emotion over
religious behavior.
• encouraged ideas of equality
and the importance of the
individual over the authority of
the church.
• inspired a sense of nationalism
among the colonists.
A tell B
• How did the Great Awakening affect
church attendance?
• Be sure to re-state the question in
your response!
Get your whiteboards
and markers ready!
1. What was the Great
Awakening?
Choose all that are true!
1. What was the Great Awakening?
A. It created a new sense of morality and a new
interest in religion.
B. It caused church congregations to split
apart and new denominations to be formed.
C. It led to the closing of several colleges.
D. It stressed religious emotion over religious
behavior.
E. It led colonists to question authority, even
that of Parliament and the king.
F. It was a philosophical movement that
emphasized science and reason.
G. It inspired a sense of nationalism among the
colonists.
Choose all that are true!
2. Why did religious leaders see a
need for the Great Awakening?
A. People were neglecting their personal
relationship with God.
B. Christians were banning African Americans
and Native Americans from their churches.
C. Many colonists seemed to have lost their
religious passion.
D. Too many churchgoers were challenging the
authority of their ministers.
Choose all that are true!
Major Figures of the
Great Awakening
Jonathan Edwards
was a preacher who
terrified his
listeners with
images of God’s
anger unless they
were saved.
Major Figures of the
Great Awakening
George
Whitefield was a
well-known
preacher who
raised thousands
of dollars for an
orphans’ home.
Impact of the Great
Awakening on the Colonies
• Caused disputes and divisions among
denominations
• New denominations created, some of
which accepted women, blacks and Native
Americans
• Religious colleges like Princeton and
Brown founded to train ministers
• Encouraged people to question authority,
first of the church and later the British
government
Get your whiteboards
and markers ready!
3. How did the Great Awakening
contribute to the Revolutionary War?
A. It inspired a sense of
nationalism among the
colonists.
B. It discouraged criticism
of established authority.
C. It demonstrated that
God was on the side of
the colonists.
D. It gave Englishmen a
sense of superiority
over their European
neighbors.
The Enlightenment . . .
• was an intellectual movement that
emphasized reason and science.
• was based on the belief in natural laws
that controlled how the universe worked.
• scholars believed natural laws should be
the basis of all government.
• taught that individuals have natural
rights.
Major Figures of the
Enlightenment
Benjamin Franklin
was a famous
American inventor
and political thinker.
Major Figures of the
Enlightenment
Charles-Louis
Montesquieu was a
French nobleman
who proposed a
three-branch
government to limit
the power of the
government.
Major Figures of the
Enlightenment
John Locke was an
English philosopher
who argued that
governments get their
power to rule from the
people.
Locke argued that people have natural
rights to life, liberty, and property.
• People create governments to
protect their natural rights, he
claimed.
• If a government fails in this
duty, people have the right to
change it.
• Locke’s ideas challenged the
belief that kings had a Godgiven right to rule.
B tell A
• According to Enlightenment thinkers,
where did governments get their
authority to rule?
• Be sure to re-state the question in
your response!
Impact of the Enlightenment
on the Colonies
• Made colonists begin to see the British
government differently
• Led colonists to believe that governments
should protect their natural rights, which
came from God’s natural laws
• Encouraged people to question the
authority of the government
Get your whiteboards
and markers ready!
4. What was the Enlightenment?
A. A philosophical movement that
emphasized science and reason
B. Belief in natural laws that govern the
universe
C. Ideas drawn from Christianity, the
Renaissance, and the Reformation
D. Support for the God-given right of
kings to rule
E. Opposed in the colonies by Benjamin
Franklin
Choose all that are true!
5. What ideas did John Locke
have about government?
A. It is the duty of every
government to protect
their citizens' rights.
B. All people are created
equal, regardless of race,
religion, sex, or nationality.
C. The people have a right to
change its government if it
fails in its duty.
D. Kings do not have a Godgiven right to rule.
Choose all that are true!
6. What Enlightenment ideas led the
colonies to break away from England?
6. What Enlightenment ideas led the
colonies to break away from England?
A. It encouraged them to change their
government if it fails to protect their
natural rights.
B. It helped them see how helpful an
alliance with France could be.
C. It led them to demand that the English
king divide his powers of government
into three branches, as Montesquieu
suggested.
D. It caused them to believe that
independence was part of God’s plan
for America.