...The Great Awakening in Colonial Society By Debbie Nichols Early in the 18th century America already had an eclectic religious history. One great series of events became a precursor to the coming political unity. Occurring a full 35 years before the battles of Lexington and Concord, the aftershocks of the “Great Awakening” tore open the floodgates whose waters were used for America's baptism in the Spirit of 76. Oddly enough, this torrent of religious fervor had its roots in the same soil that produced the rugged American love of Liberty. A New Birth The groundswell began at tiny Bell Inn in Gloucester, England when the Anglican Priest, George Whitefield, was born.George Whitefield was an inconsistent student but he had a flair for the dramatic and an unusually loud voice that some would swear they could hear two miles away. He entered Oxford University under a work-study program that allowed him to finance his education by being a servant to the upperclassmen. There, another soon to be well known itinerant preacher, Charles Wesley, loaned him a book called “The Life of God in the Soul of Man”. This book was the impetus that led Whitefield to craft his inspirational sermons about the “new birth”. It was to lead to the modern renewal of the religious concept of being “born again”. From that time forward Whitefield dedicated his life to preaching this “gospel” to whoever would listen. Thousands did, first in England, and then in every colony in America. Individual Freedom ...
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...sat uneasy in the minds of the settlers of New England. The Great Awakening was a time in when men and women were almost equal. Women were not likely to be seen wearing pants or working in a field, but they were welcome to accept this foreign religion. Hannah Heaton helps us realize what it was like for her to convert religions for a 20 year old women during the 1750’s. In the excerpt from Hannah Heaton’s diary, it sways me to believe that she was not found of a certain religion, but that she did in fact have knowledge of its concepts. She describes the day that she traveled from her home in North Haven to new Haven, to listen to Mr. Tennant and Mr. Whitefield give a sermon. The book states that George Whitefield was perhaps considered the first celebrity in the transatlantic world (p171). Heaton remarks that this was the strangest sermon that she had attended. Religion was not taken very seriously in the new world as it was in other parts of the world. These evangelists described ideas of religion that these people had never heard of before. They could actually have a relationship with their god instead of attending a long boring sermon and then going about their everyday lives. They could worship this god everyday and not just on holy Sunday. These sermons of the Evangelists seemed to frighten Heaton to the point where she could not think during her normal routines. The spread of religion during the Great Awakening could be slightly compared to the spread of trends we have...
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...The First Great Awakening Research Paper Submitted to Dr. William Bryant CHHI 302-D01 201340 BY Chris Jones November 21, 2013 Introduction The Great Awakening, which found its beginnings in 1740, was the first event to effectively influence all of the British colonies. In recent years religion had become complacent, and many people were going to church, but not really benefitting from the teachings. Going through the motions and acting like they were gaining something out of it was the main thought of the time. During this time, strong minded evangelists emerged and began preaching with fire-and-brimstone on their tongues; declaring the only way to find salvation was through conversion. This spirited revival became what is known as the Great Awakening. The Great Awakening empowered people to begin thinking on their own, making their own decisions, which brought them closer in relationship with God. The Great Awakening is believed to be one of the reasons the colonists lost favor with the British Empire, and gave rise to the beginnings of the American Revolution. The Great Awakening The Great Awakening had its beginnings in the American colony of New Jersey. Frelinghuysen and Gilbert Tennent are recognized as the first to organize the Awakening. Frelinghuysen, a Dutch pastor raised in the Dutch reformed churches, began teaching the necessity of deep transformation in the 1720’s. Tennent followed his father when he continued organizing the “log colleges” where...
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...The Great Awakening generated many Biblical truths during its time and is considered phenomena to today’s church. Some of these Biblical truths are salvation and a conversion of the heart, that all men and women can be saved. We can have an understanding of Gods truth and His word. Moreover we can have freedom of sin from the guilt and shame. Furthermore mankind can be transformed by His word. Edwards’s vision went beyond salvation, redemption is another Biblical truth. Edwards also stressed that God’s grace extends to everyone that will call on Him. The manifestation of God’s grace, and the bestowal of His richest blessings. All of these Biblical truths can be found in His Holy word. These truths are so essential to the Christians Faith....
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...Luis Castro Enlightenment to The Great Awakening The great awakening started in the 1720s and endured until the 1910s. It was a time when almost the entirety of the thirteen colonies had been attending sermons of many popular preachers, preachers such as George Whitefield. But it wasn’t always like that; the great awakening was preceded by a lack of Christianity, and a degradation of moral values. To try to fix this William Stoughton, a minister from New England, in 1688, went to the legislature in Massachusetts and said “O what a sad metamorphasis hath of later years passed upon us in these churches and plantations! Alas! How is New England in danger to be buried in its own ruins”^1. What he tried to say was that throughout time the churches have diminished, and that because of this New England will be sending itself to its grave. The Great Awakening was one of the most swaying religious movements that led people to do good, such as the American Revolution, and in some cases unpleasant acts. To quote Doctor Edwin S. Gaustad “… A revolution, while bringing deprivation and hardship, would bring also a new wholesomeness and vitality to American life.” He said this because he was trying to explain that in the eyes of the colonist’s Britain was starting to become evil, which he showed by quoting John Adams “Calamity will have this good effect, at least: it will inspire Us with many Virtues, which We have not, and correct many Errors, Follies, and Vices, which threaten...
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...The Second Great Awakening Liberty University CCOU 201 October 5, 2015 Carol Kirby The Second Great Awakening was quiet a big experience for many. It left a huge impact on religion as we know it. The Western Frontier put together “Camp Meetings.” These were religious services that lasted several days. The Pioneers really seem to enjoy these meeting it gave them something to do and filled their social calendar’s up. From the preaching, to the dancing, to the praise and worship, these meetings left many wanting to build churches of their own. The meeting held in Cane Ridge, Kentucky, in 1801, was the second meeting and was very huge. The numbers where phenomenal they had anywhere from 10,000 to 25,000 people attended. There was Presbyterian, Methodist and Baptist preachers all participating in the revival. This revival then started moving outwards spreading from state to state in the Western area. It went from Kentucky, Tennessee the Ohio. It seemed as though it was a great reward for the Baptist. The Methodist brought forth a group known as the Circuit Riders, they came from the common people. In the 1820’s, Charles Finney, who was a Presbyterian minister, led many revivals. He preached the Gospel in Western New York. He set forth a great planning technique and used his powerful preaching skills. In turn he did many conversions. Finney appealed too many and many converted their lives to Christianity. Finney was such a strong minister, he strength spoke volumes...
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...The Great Awakening and the Second Awakening were less of a rebellion and more of a mind shift for Christians. These two events caused people to rely on their faith. In previous centuries people relied on their religion. The two Awakenings were similar in their goals but very different in the way they came about and the individual tasks that were accomplished. The first movement, the Great Awakening, was focused on people. In the past preachers would read a sermon to the crowd of believers which often took hours. In the Great Awakening a preacher named George Whitefield got down from his pulpit and into the crowd. He preached from court steps, street corners and tree stumps. He brought the message down to the people. It was often said that he could be heard from a great distance due to his incredible blast of a voice. Benjamin Franklin even tested this. (Franklin) He talked to the people rather than at the people, an act unheard of and not always well accepted. George was determined to help bring God down out of the rafters and into the hands of the believers. Another change in the way we worship came about with Jonathan Edwards. He changed the way the Lord’s Supper was taken. Rather than waiting an entire year to partake of the Lord’s blood and body, he offered it on a regulatory basis. He also offered it to non church members. This was a great coop in a time when religion and regimen were synonymous. The Second Awakening was most responsible...
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...1. Describe the Second Great Awakening and why it was important. (Pages 332 -333) The Second Great Awakening was an Evangelist movement in the early nineteenth century. The first notable event in the Second Great Awakening was in 1801 at Cane Ridge, Kentucky. It was an official religious meeting for preachers to get their licenses, baptisms for new converts, and licensing marriages. The non-believers often set up in the outskirts of the event conducting actions of sin. When they had seizures the religious people encouraged it to continue, because they felt it was Christ relieving them of their demons. If they lived they were often converted and had religious zeal. The South had a wider influence; the Second Great Awakening was not as potent in the North. There were few significant Northern preachers. Reverend Timothy Dwight, Nathaniel Taylor, Charles G. Finney, and Lyman Beecher were the most significant preachers of the era. They had the most success in urban areas, but still strove to achieve religious awakening in the cities, New York being a major target. The Second Great Awakening was vital for the religious reformation to take place. The Second Great Awakening produced fruit during the...
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...Charles Finney was an important person during the Second Great Awakening. The Second Great Awakening was another religious revival. Finney influenced change in converting people to religion. Finney was a lawyer who became a Presbyterian minister. His conversion was by his “own consent to give up [his] sins and accept Christ” (Corrigan 130). Finney was a commanding figure when he talked. He “talked about things that the preachers preached about, but he did it with a bluntness few could evade” (Corrigan 130). Finney also was one that used the anxious bench; this is where people who struggled with their faith would sit. Finney came up with new methods of speeding up the rate of converting people. Finney preached that people could make...
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...George Whitefield was one of the first people to cause the Great Awakening to rise. George Whitefield was inspired and thought of ideas after a period of illness, which he called “New Birth.” George Whitefield was convinced that true religion was to only be found in God. The Great Awakening was fully started when George Whitefield started to preach and give sermons. He traveled throughout the middle colonies of England and preached. His sermons drew in large crowds of people causing an emotional stir throughout the crowd. A man very moved by George Whitefield’s sermons was Benjamin Franklin. George Whitefield was one of the first religious figures to employ new marketing strategies in his evangelism. George Whitefield distributed printed materials,...
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...The Great Awakening The Great Awakening was the evangelical revival in America during the 18th Century that lasted for thirty years. The Awakening combined unsophisticated mass evangelism with the Enlightenment. In 1842, Joseph Tracey came up with the term “Great Awakening.” This widespread social movement grew because of dissatisfaction in the White American community. The community had a deterministic and formalistic Protestantism style, which denied a lot of people salvation. Basing on the fact that America was a Protestant nation; the Anglican Church purged emotional Christian Faith. Christianity at that time in America was ceremonial. The Great Awakening, following a new commitment that dictated religion in the heart- a personal and emotional Christianity, united the American people. John Edwards, a Congregationalist in western Massachusetts, began a participatory and emotional ministry that purposed to bring more followers to the church. This ministry began in early 1730s. Edwards became a remarkable intellectual personality in America whose main message was love. He believed love was fundamental for any religious experience. Remembered through his encouraging wisdom; one should do Good, live a Godly life and at the same time assist others in attaining the same. Later in the same decade, an Englishman George Whitefield together with John Wesley, carried the evangelical Christianity style to the colonies in the mainland and founded the Methodist Church. Whitefield’s sermons...
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...I am going to describe the outbreak of revival during the Great Awakening. First of all the Great Awakening was a Christian revitalization movement that swept Protestant Europe and British America and especially the American colonies in the 1730s and 1740s, leaving a permanent impact on American religion. It resulted from powerful preaching that gave listeners a sense of personal revelation of their need of salvation by Jesus Christ. Some historians have speculated that the shift from rural and agricultural to urban and commercial styles of life may have engendered guilt in those leaving "the old ways" behind. In a few towns the rapid spread of revival followed closely upon the heels of serious illness, especially the "throat distemper" (diphtheria) which carried away large numbers of New Englanders in the 1730s. In other awakened localities, economic problems had been a troubling source of tensions. Some merchants worried about the effects of conflict following Britain's declaration of war on Spain in 1739. Many others joined the merchants in concern about the absence of an adequate currency. It deemphasized the importance of church doctrine and instead put a greater importance on the individual and their spiritual experience. The Great Awakening arose at a time when man in Europe and the American colonies were questioning the role of the individual in religion and society. It began at the same time as the Enlightenment which emphasized logic and reason and stressed the...
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...The Great Awakening There was a time when both the husband and the wife worked the land which they called home where they raised a family. During the women’s sphere women were confronted with the fact that in order for a family to survive either the husband or the wife would need to have steady employment to support the family. The industrialization of the country made it possible for the husband to secure a job which paid a good day’s wages and allowed for the family to purchase products which would have normally been made at the house for the family. Instead of the wife and husband making their own clothes or growing their own food it was now possible to just go out and buy the commodities. Since the husbands where away working, women had more responsibility running the house and raising the children. Not only where the women responsible for ensuring that the house was maintained the children educated and the husbands daily needs met she was also responsible for the moral education of the family members as well. Although women had more say so in the house women truly where not any more liberated because they still were not equal to men in the relationship and men still had the control over how the family and house was run. While the husband was allowed to go to clubs, smoke in public, and vote the woman was not afforded these luxuries even though they contributed as much if not more to raising the family. The abolitionists made it clear to the American people that the...
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...The Great Awakening: A wave of revivals During the 18th century, the life of the colonists had improved a lot. They had a choice between multitudes of religions, had a growing economy, and were inspired by the movement of Enlightenment in Europe. But with this revival happening in the American colonies, the true Christians got concerned. According to many historians, this wave of revivals was entitled ‘The Great Awakening’. This event revealed many social and economical trends in the colonies. Joseph Tracy, past minister and historian also saw this event as one of the precursor of the American Revolution. With the newly choice of religions, the colonists became little by little less affected by being part of one. In fact, a large number of them were either indifferent about it, deist, or not concerned by being religious. In the leading colonial cities, only 10 to 15% of eligible adults were members of a church (American Promise, p.134). When more religious people realized how few they were, they started to preach people to reconvert them to a more religious lifestyle. This was called the Great Awakening. Ministers were using different ways to lead the revival. The fact that ministers had to make the population go to Church shows an expanding social trend of the population refusing to attend church probably to express their recent ability to be free of choosing and make their own decision concerning religious views. But after many well-known ministers such as Jonathan Edwards...
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...The ideas of Mercantilism, The Enlightenment, and The Great Awakening had a lot to do with the War of Independence. The War of Independence is more popularly known as the American Revolutionary War, for those who do not know. Mercantilism contributed to the war because it was one of the causes of the why the war started. The British started to use the mercantile system to benefit their profits, which led to anger and rebellion. The Enlightenment has rooted ideas which are reasonability, empowerment, and reciprocity. All three of these ideas were broken when the King raised taxes because he thought he could make colonists pay since he had wars on their soil. Lastly, The Great Awakening contributed to the war because it gave the colonists some...
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