Enlightenment: Early 18th century European cultural movement that emphasized the power of human
reason to understand and shape the world.
Enlightenment thinkers:






Copernicus
Isaac Newton, Principia Mathematica, 1687
John Locke
o Essay Concerning Human Understanding, 1690; Emphasized:
 Education
 Rational thought
 Purposeful action
o Two Treatises of Government, 1690; Emphasized:
 Political authority derived from social compacts to preserve
 Natural rights to life, liberty, and property
Reverend Andrew Eliot, Congregationalist minister; “there is nothing in Christianity that is
contrary to reason.”
Reverend John Wise; religious covenant of ordinary church members.
Benjamin Franklin
o Pennsylvania Gazette, 1729
o Poor Richard’s Almanack, 1732-1757
 Nonreligious periodicals that drew from Deism and the Grand Architect
Fundamental principles drawn from empirical research and scientific reasoning:




Law-like order of the natural world
Power of human reason
“natural rights” of individuals (i.e. right to self-government)
Progressive improvement of society
American Pietism and the Great Awakening: 18th Century evangelical Christian movement that
stressed the individual’s personal relationship with God.



Pietism appealed to believer’s hearts rather than their minds.
Revivals promoted religious enthusiasm
Spread by German migrants.
Great Awakening Thinkers:




Theodore Jacob Frelinghuysen preached to German Americans
William and Gilbert Tennent preached to Scots-Irish Presbyterians
Jonathan Edwards sparked a New England Revivalism in Puritan New England
George Whitefield carried John Wesley’s message of pietism to America
Controversy:


Old lights vs. New Lights
Great Awakening undermined legally established churches and their tax-supported ministers.
o Placed less stress on university trained ministers
o Challenged the authority of all ministers
o Minister’s authority comes from the conversion experience; not theological training.
o Led to the founding of new colleges under the New Light:
 Princeton by New Light Presbyterians
 Columbia by New York Anglicans
 Brown by Baptists
 Rutgers subsidized by Dutch Reformed Church
Legacy:

New sense of authority among the many; rather than education for the privileged few.