Compare And Contrast The Great Awakening And Enlightenment

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The Great Awakening and Enlightenment were two very different cultural phenomena that happened during the 1700s but they both had a similar effect on colonial society. The Enlightenment was based on reason, science, rationality and progress. Benjamin Franklin, an Enlightenment thinker from Pennsylvania, believed that science could benefit society. Other Enlightenment thinkers had rational views of God and viewed him as a clockmaker that controlled the universe. This clashed with religious people that were influenced by the Great Awakening. This was a religious movement that appealed to people’s emotions and cut through social, economic and educational lines. Jonathan Edwards was a charismatic follower of the Great Awakening but he scared people