The Great Awakening
1730s-1740s
Questions
• What was the significance of the
Enlightenment in America?
• In what ways did the Enlightenment and
the Great Awakening prompt Americans to
challenge traditional sources of authority?
• How did the Baptists in Virginia challenge
conventional assumptions about race,
gender, and class in the colony?
THE ENLIGHTENMENT INFLUENCED THE
COLONISTS
Philosophical movement throughout Europe
in the 17th and 18th centuries
Emphasis on REASON as the most important
human ability
John Locke, a philosopher, argued that people
possessed “natural rights” given to humans by
God: life, liberty, property.
LOCKE
The purpose of government, then, was to
protect those rights.
Others, like the Baron de Montesquieu, argued
that absolute monarchy went against natural,
God-given rights
In this manner, colonial leaders believed
British government was violating these rights;
how were they to overcome oppression?
MONTESQUIEU
What was the Great Awakening?
George Whitefield preaching
•Religious revival
movement
•Evangelicalism
– “new birth”
considered the
ultimate religious
experience
•Followers
accepted that they
were sinners and
asked for
salvation
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Before the Great Awakening
•Before the 1730s, most colonies had two
established religions.
•Congregationalism was the largest
religion in New England (Puritans and other
dissidents who broke away from the Church
of England).
•Anglicanism was the largest religion in
New York and the Southern colonies (same
as the Church of England).
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Old Lights vs. New Lights
•Churches that grew as a result of the Great
Awakening: Presbyterianism, Methodism,
Baptism (New Lights)
•Great Awakening challenged authority and
hierarchy of established churches (Old
Lights: Congregationalists and Anglicans)
•Great Awakening said that anybody could
be converted and born again. You didn’t
need traditional church leadership to decide
whether or not you belonged.
6
Leaders of the Great Awakening
George Whitefield
Jonathan Edwards
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Central Historical Question:
Why was George Whitefield so
popular?
Review: The Great Awakening
GA: religious movement throughout
colonies in 1700s, based on
revivalism—stressed individual
religious experience rather than
needing church leaders as
intermediary with God
Contributed to a sense of quality for
all, since all were qualified to take an
active role in the church
INFLUENTIAL
MINISTERS
JONATHON EDWARDS
Widely believed that this movement
was a major factor leading to a sense
of freedom and independence within
the colonies
GEORGE WHITEFIELD
Review: The Great Awakening
∞ Some Puritans moved away
from original ideal, beginning
to seek material comforts
∞As result, Puritan church
attendance declined
∞Some Puritan clergy, such as
Edwards and Whitefield
sought to restore the “ideal”
and increase church
attendance through a
“rebirth” of religion
∞Sought to Christianize all of
North America, by bringing
Native Americans and
Africans into organized
religion
Similarities/Differences of the Enlightenment
and the Great Awakening
 Enlightenment sought to use scientific methods and
rational thought to explain natural phenomena as
something beyond an “act of God”
 Great Awakening saw Puritan ideal in saving people
from decay; sought to return people back to religious
lifestyle
Enlightenment supported reason; GA supports
emotionalism and religious faith
Both groups question traditional authority and
practice
Both groups highlight the importance of the
individual over the authority of the government or
church