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Comparing The Enlightenment And The Great Awakening

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Although different, both the Enlightenment and the Great Awakening had a powerful impact on colonial society in America (Schultz, 2010). First, the American Enlightenment was a shift in thinking from the old style of medieval thought to prioritizing the human capacity for reason as the highest form of attainment. Simply put, the Enlightenment promoted scientific inquiry and reasoning to all areas including politics and even religion (Caron & Wulf, 2013). Exploring the scientific reasoning behind religion brought both rejection and support for the Enlightenment from various religious leaders (Schultz, 2010). However, the American Enlightenment did not dissuade the colonists from seeking religion, in fact, while the Enlightenment did promote thinkers to explore a balance between science and religion, not many atheists or agnostics were born from it. …show more content…

The American Enlightenment brought about the importance of educating young colonists and the need for a structured and established learning system. Therefore, in 1636, America founded its first college, Harvard. By 1642, a Massachusetts law was established which required parents to teach all of their children how to read. Furthermore, in 1647, a law was passed which required towns to build primary schools.
While the school systems were expanding in the colonies, so were the additions of nonreligious newspapers (Schultz, 2010). Benjamin Harris published America’s first newspaper in 1690, and by the mid-1700s, all major towns had their own papers. Andrew Bradford established America’s first magazine in 1741, appropriately titled: American Magazine. New freedoms felt by the Enlightenment encouraged the colonist’s growth of individual

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In18th century, two movements were spread across America. They greatly influenced the way how people think about religion, and more importantly they challenged the authority. They were the Great Awakening and the Enlightenment. Philosophers such as Jonathan Edwards and Thomas Paine brought their theory and belief to the public and caused great impact. Although they might have different belief, but Jonathan Edwards and Thomas Paine were more similar than they appeared.

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In conclusion, the Great Awakening and the Enlightenment both contributed to democratic thought by causing humanity to question ideas and religious with science which gives

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The great awakening and the enlightenment are similar in many ways but different in others. One way they are both similar is that they both defy traditional authority. Another way is that it taught them to seek truths for themselves. This shaped their beliefs. However they still had many differences.

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In the late 1600’s, many European settlers arrived in North America in hopes of escaping the hardships they faced back home. America initially promised colonists the wealth, religious freedom, and escape from oppression they desired. New England was home to dense forests, and hills which was not optimal for crop growth. Therefore, the colonists directed their attention towards trade and commerce. The people in this region were devoutly religious and believed in the education of children.

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Many Americans became complacent in their ways of worship so they began to break away from the strict and harsh ways of the English church in order to form their own ways of prayer and worship. The people wanted to practice religion in a way that made them feel a more intimate bond with the Lord. The Great Awakening most definitely influenced the fabrication of this new country’s documents such as The Declaration of Independence. However, the Awakening’s greatest significance was in the way that it prepared the American colonist for their war against the British in the fight for their freedom during the American Revolution. The revivalism of the Great Awakening taught the people that they could stand up for what they believed in when it came to the religious authorities and that when the churches were not living up to the expectations of the colonist, they could tear away from the church and form new ones that complied with what they wanted.

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The American Enlightenment and the Great Awakening were two very important motivators that changed the colonial society in America through religious beliefs, educational values, and the right to live one’s life according to each individual’s preference. The Great Awakening and the American Enlightenment movements were two events in history that signaled a grand distinction to the teachings among religious believers. New beliefs of how a person should worship in order to be considered in “God’s good graces” soon became an enormous discussion among colonists across the land. “Men of the cloth,” such as George Whitefield and Jonathan Edwards were well respected and closely followed when preaching about the love of God and damnation.

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However this was not the most important thing, the most important thing was their education. Their education can be seen in a way as part of their culture. New Englanders were people who were highly educated and view their education as a way of living and also as a necessity. For the founders of the colony of New England established little settlements that offered education for the kids and also for the adults. Also as the people settled in the colony they brought in with them books and also brought other literal devices that helped them gain more education.

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Elizabeth A. Cogan Professor Jonmarie CH 203 17 October 2014 Enlightenment Which movement had more influence on America, the Enlightenment or Romanticism? The birth of a new nation brings about monumental change in every facet of life. Politically, governmentally, socially—anything that has the ability to waver will be altered in one way or another. The progressive movement of life may either be detrimental or beneficial.

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The most critical subjects in New England public education were reading, writing, and religion. It was important to them to establish educational institutions to produce religious followers who could pass down their values, assuring a righteous community. Colonists were motivated to implement public forms of educational programs. This educational approach promotes religious beliefs and literacy, essential for a healthy community. As a result, the core curriculum emphasized reading, writing, and Bible study.

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William Byrd and Jonathan Edwards were two of the most influential Colonial American writers. Colonial America was a time of finding religious “refuge”. Enlightenment is emphasizing reason and individuals rather than tradition. Two major religious views came from Anglicans and Puritans. A puritan is a single minded visionary who is convinced of the rights to their own beliefs.

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The American Enlightenment began because of the European Enlightenment. The European Enlightenment was a movement to prioritize the human capacity. Copernicus began to question the fundamental beliefs from the 1500’s, which was the belief of spiritual and secular rulers, humans incapacity for social change and that a person’s time on earth is a temporary journey that leads to eternal salvation or eternal damnation. By the 1600’s educated people began to question that natural laws not divine laws were the laws that governed society.

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The rise in nationalism within America after the Revolution, stirred and compelled the Americans to form cultural independence. The key concept of the creation of national culture was the patriotic sentiments of the post-American Revolutionary ideology. Patriots strove for education for all, innovations in technology, and the justifying of American’s philosophy of religion. During the Jeffersonian Era, Jeffersonians envisioned America with universal education. In response, there were several political movements to educate African Americans, American Indians, and women.

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The Enlightenment in America “Reading furnishes the mind with materials of knowledge; it is thinking that makes what we read ours.” –John Locke In the time period of 1714-1818, the American Enlightenment was an intellectual movement during the eighteenth century in the thirteen colonies that focused on reason and science. In this time, there were several different kinds of thinking going on, and it depended on what the person believed in. Then there were six key ideas that came to interrupt the American Enlightenment.

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The Second Great Awakening, beginning in about 1790, influenced a reform movement that encouraged mandatory, free, public education. In 1805, the New York Public School Society was created by wealthy businessmen and was intended to provide education for poor children. In 1817, a town meeting in Boston, Massachusetts called for establishment of free public primary schools. Many wage earners opposed this proposal. Josiah Quincy, mayor of Boston, supported the idea that education should be a priority by saying, “(By) 1820, an English classical school is established, having for its object to enable the mercantile and mechanical classes to obtain an education adapted for those children whom their parents wished to qualify for active life, and thus

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Consequently, public schools existed in the colonies thanks to the Puritans pushing to spreads education. The Puritans believed it to be important to teach children religion as well as reading and writing. Early on the Puritans set guidelines for family’s where they “required parents to teach their children to read and also required larger towns to have an elementary school, where children learned reading, writing, and religion.” (Schmitz). Many poor and middle-class white children, as well as nearly all black children went without schooling.

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