Comparing The Enlightenment And The Great Awakening

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.

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