baptism, therefore only allowing the children of saints’ to receive baptism. However, it left the adult-children half-way members and were prohibited from communion and church affairs. This corrupted the church because it questioned the definition of purity in the church, and as a result, worldly power overcame the value of spiritual purity. The Half-Way Covenant was important because it was the only attempted solution to the decreasing number of saints, but it failed to achieve its goal and also led to some religious misunderstandings. What factors contributed to the relative strengths of the British, French, and Spanish empires in North America? Some factors that contributed to the relative strengths the these European empires were mercantilism …show more content…
The significance of the Enlightenment was the inspiration and calling for new ideas in the fields of science. The Enlightenment was a movement of ideas focusing on the power of logic. Intellectuals including Benjamin Franklin, Isaac Newton, Locke, and more discovered and developed new concepts and ideas using logic and helped spread this movement. Benjamin Franklin discovered electricity through his renown story of the kite and the storm, and it helped improve the everyday lives of the colonists. There was also Sir Isaac Newton, a physicist who discovered the laws of gravity and other physical trends in the natural world. John Locke, also known as the Father of the Enlightenment, believed that everyone had natural rights: life, liberty, and property. These principles were adopted in the Declaration of Independence and is the foundation of the government today. Through the Enlightenment, new and improved ideas were founded, but one major part of Europe’s society took a major hit. Through logical reasoning, people began to question the teachings of the church. Despite these questionings, many religious figures reminded the people of who God is. Jonathan Edwards was a revivalist who was responsible for the revival of the people of Northampton, Massachusetts. George Whitefield was another very important religious figure who inspired the colonists through his tours across the land. Together, these religious figures initiated the Great Awakening, a religious movement of evangelism. The Enlightenment was so significant because it brought forth new ideas through the power of logical reasoning, and the Great Awakening proved to be important because it reminded the colonists that religion is still a necessary and huge part of their