Religious Revivals 1700-75
Early American Social History
Term 2, Week 3
Introduction
• Lecture mainly about ‘Great Awakening’ - religious revival
which swept through the American colonies from the late
1720s through to the 1740s and beyond.
• Definition – not easy. Not discussed as phenomenon of
colonial history until 19thC – hard to spot at the time.
• Characterized by increased attendance at churches, but
style and meaning of worship also v. diff.
• Seen as severing religious links between GB and America,
while strengthening ties between English and American
evangelicals
• To some it is a movement of lower class protest, others say
it was led by the elite; some point to inter-colonial links
which it forged, others to the localism which it
encouraged;
• Link between Gt. Aw and the Revolution?
Definition
• Gt. Aw was not a fixed event; strong in New England 1735-45,
Virginia 1750-65. In each place GA took a slightly different course,
affecting different people and having a different effect. Not a
monolithic occurrence, more complex and nebulous.
• Many of the American colonists in the 18thC thought they were
irreligious, too commercial, urbane and cosmopolitan. Lost their
spiritual roots, questioned meaning of their lives.
• GA appealed to the heart rather than the head, stressing inner
conviction not outward forms; subordinated theology to faith and
became a religion of the senses and emotions; moved away from the
Calvinistic beliefs which had been popular in the 17thC, beliefs which
stated that man was inherently evil and only complete submission to
God would lead to salvation.
• Evangelists stressed God’s capacity for love, - save every repentant
sinner (Arminianism). Popular amongst those whom Puritanism had
previously stated were beyond help, but it success was also due to
showmanship and charismatic preaching.
George Whitefield
• GW b. Gloucester 1714, went to Pembroke College,
Oxford, be-friended Charles and John Wesley ‘Oxford
Group’. Whitefield & Wesleys had doubts about
Anglicanism, but rejecting Ang = expulsion from
Pembroke.
• 1736 GW decided to stay within the C of E and trying to
reform it from within, became ordained in the Anglican
church.
• Evangelical mission to spread word of God, preach
amongst those who had little opportunity to hear about
Christianity. 1737 John Wesley apptd minister at
Savannah, told GW that the white people in Georgia were
sorely in need of preachers, - Spring of 1738 Whitefield
arrived in Georgia to start his missionary work.
• GW famous first for the Bethesda orphanage in Ga - only
institution of its kind in colonial America. GW’s preaching
tours were partly to raise funds for Bethesda
Whitefield the Preacher
• GW v. popular in Georgia - charismatic preacher: in Savannah
he stated that ‘they hear the word gladly, and people
everywhere receive me with the utmost civility, and are not
angry when I reprove them’: in Frederica, a small settlement
about 80 miles from Savannah, Whitefield declared again the
‘the people received me most gladly, having had a famine of
the word for a long season’.
• Whitefield like Wesleys, believed that minister should strive
to bring home message of Christianity to the populace.
Preached using simple but dramatic words and actions, placed
great emphasis on man’s sinfulness, depicting in terrible and
frightening language what happened in Hell to the
unregenerate. After terrifying his audience in this way the
preacher would soften his voice and point out that by coming
to God, and seeking forgiveness for sin, all men could be
saved. (Thunder & Lightening Speech) This emotional
catharsis would hopefully lead to many new converts to
religion, and more church members.
Whitefield the ‘Great Itinerant’
• After enthusing Ga, GW turned to SC. Sermons in Charleston v.
popular - banned from Ang church pulpits by Alexander
Garden, the ultra-conservative Anglican commissary, so
preached in the open air to even larger audiences. GW gained a
notoriety which preceded them from one town to the next, e.g
Nathan Cole ....
• Late 1740 GW journeyed to New England, preaching in Boston
to large crowds of blacks and whites, (Benjamin Franklin).
• Key to GW’s fame and success was mobility, from Ga to New
Eng. Called ‘great itinerant’. Traversed Atlantic 13 times before
his death in 1770, shows strength of character. His preaching
inspired many others to follow his footsteps, and consequently
he spread message of revivalism far beyond the places he
actually visited.
Whitefield’s
Preaching
Platform
Other Famous Preachers
• Daniel Bliss, appointed minister at Concord, Mass in 1738 after
previous minister sacked for drunkenness. When he arrived, few
people were religious, though all were supposed to attend church. Most
of the full church members were wealthy elderly women. Few men
were full members. By 1740 Bliss’s charismatic and evangelical style
of preaching had secured more than a hundred new full members,
which more than doubled the size of the church.
• Jonathan Edwards - minister at Northampton, Mass, started to enthuse
hundreds of younger people in Connecticut River valley in 1734 . Had
theo diffs with GW, but used similar techniques (Sinners in the Hands
of an Angry God) – show flexibility of GA, used by Puritans and
Anglicans.
• Gilbert Tennent – led revivalism in the middle colonies
• Samuel Davis – led revivalism in Va
Jonathan
Edwards
1703-58
Led the GA in
NEng
Samuel Davis
1723-61:
Led GA in Va,
Pres of
Princeton
1759-61
Gilbert
Tennent
1703-64
Led GA
in PA, NY
and NJ
Spread of Revivalism
• Growth of ‘furious preachers’ - encouraged
increases in church membership.
• New churches built, often simpler and less
ornate than Anglican churches
• Southern revival led by Baptists in 1760s –
focus on poor more than C of E had done.
Religious affiliation became class issue,
with rich attending Anglican services and
the poor becoming Baptists. By the time of
the revolution more than 20% of white Vans
were Baptists.
St James’s Goose Creek, SC, 1715
South Quay Baptist Church, Va, 1775
New York 1730
New York 1770
Opposition to the GA
• Many Anglican and Puritan ministers disliked evangelical
fervor of revival preaching, and excluded these preachers
from their churches, esp disliked the emotional nature of
revivalism, believing that it reduced the rational element in
religion to nothing. Satires appeared of GW.
• By championing of the ordinary people’s right to hold their
own services in their own way, evangelical preachers
challenged elite control of church and society. E.g in Va, in
response to Baptist attacks on their extravagant lifestyle,
Anglican gentry sometimes arrested and whipped itinerant
Baptist preachers.
• Growth of dissenting denominations undermined
legitimacy of established churches eg C of E and Puritans
• New emphasis on conversion experience, and reduction in
importance of clerical training = part of the long tradition
of anti-intellectualism in America
Opposition 2
• GA highlighted class/racial divisions in society since
revivals encompassed poor whites and slaves.
• Those opposed to GA became known as Old Side, or Old
Lights, supporters termed New Side or New Lights.
Congregations sometimes fought over by these groups.
Most Old Siders = older people, first generation
immigrants from England, New Siders = younger, and
usually American born. New Side ministers were usually
educated at American colleges - Harvard and Yale, and
new ones founded to continue tradition eg Princeton, NJ.
Old Side ministers usually educated at GB universities.
• GA began to divide those with strong ties to Great Britain
from those with roots firmly in American soil.
Princeton, founded 1746
Secular Explanations
• Possible socio-economic reasons for encouraging a return
to religion.
• War of Austrian Succession which started in 1739 in
Europe, disrupted trade and led to economic stagnation,
falling living standards and a growth in poverty and
vagrancy in America.
• 1737-8 diphtheria epidemic in NEng killed about 20,000
colonists, mainly children
• 1739 hundreds of slaves rebelled at Stono in South
Carolina.
• These events created tension in society - demonstrated
fragility of life, and the immediacy of death. Charismatic
preachers who told of the importance of repentance yet
who promised salvation, more likely to be effective.
Conclusions: Impact on Revolution
• Did GA help to create a climate for revolution?
• GA severed some of the religious links between the colonies and Great
Britain, especially between the ordinary people and the Anglican
church.
• GA was the first pan-colonial event - it touched the lives of hundreds
of thousands of colonists, creating a common religious experience,
which helped to define the American character.
• It stimulated mass communications, newspapers, letters, and
publishing. These information forms were to prove valuable during the
war of Independence.
• It gave revolutionaries a Calvinist language which they used against
the British. E.g emphasis that loyalty to God over-rides loyalty to state,
tied in with Republican thought concerning the ability of subjects to
legitimately dissolve the bonds between them and the King.
• Most patriots = New Lights, and they depicted the British as evil and
sinful while the American side was noble, pure and fighting for natural
justice. These arguments struck a chord with most Americans.
• However the link between the revolution and the Great Awakening
remains tenuous, because of the 30yr time lag.