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How Did The Enlightenment And The Great Awakening Impact Colonial Society

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The Enlightenment and the Great Awakening impacted the colonial society in several ways. The American Enlightenment stemmed from the movement in Europe. It enabled the colonists to become free thinkers and allowed them to consider fee will. First, the affects of the Enlightenment caused both unity and discourse in religion. Most colonists either reject or accept the ideas. One major contributor was Cotton Mather. His sermon help the Puritans' ideas of God and the individual person. Another idea that was discussed during the Enlightenment, was "natural rights." The colonists questioned their actions to the king in Britain as well.

Education was also advanced during this time. New England is accredited for founding the first college and started
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The Great Awakening had a profound impact on Henry because his mother and father chose to worship in different churches. This is an important key to both his character and the kind of political leader that he became. His mother was involved in the Presbyterian revival. His father stayed with the Anglican Church. In 1745, when Henry was just nine years old, the Great Awakening brought a barnstorming English evangelist.

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The Great Awakening strived to erase the lines between religions by promoting religious pluralism and the concept that all faiths were equal. Primarily, the separation of Church and State was finally in place, which showed the opposition to allowing religion facilitate the decisions of their nation. The Awakening weakened the cultural authority of the upper class and produced a vision of a society drawn in more equal lines. Overall, the thought of finally being equal unified the colonies and created universities that were not controlled by the Church. The new universities promoted different types of curriculum which was not based on religion.

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1. What effect did the Great Awakening have on the colonies? First, the Great Awakening affected the colonies by changing many people's attitudes towards religion. Before this revival, religious piety and fervor had been waning in the colonies. ...

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Reading Review 2 - Chapters 5-10 Grace Williamson An important slave revolt that happened during the time period 1700-1775 was the New York slave revolt. The New York slave revolt took place in 1712 after enslaved African Americans helped to build the country with their labor, but still had no freedom.

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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.

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Background Information on the Enlightenment: In the year of 1791, The French and Haitian Revolution coexisted simultaneously. France was trying to pick up the pieces of a country left in shambles, while across the hemisphere, Haiti was about to ignite the fire. In France, they were in the process of creating a new government, in which all citizens would have equal rights, as based on the Declaration of the Rights of Man. In Haiti, a shocked oppressed populace was discovering the power that was held by the Declaration of the Rights of Man and was keen to set their own revolution.

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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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The enlightenment ideas began to spread to the Americas. Even though the ideas have slightly changed as they spread through long distances, both political and religious people were influenced. The new ideas of freedom and peoples rule helped form the Declaration of Independence. The concept of every one equal is a major change to what people have use to in the past; with that being said many agreed and embraced the new ideas that traveled over by boats. Equality is what builds a stronger government.

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The ideas of the Enlightenment influenced the American Revolution and the formation of the American Government. Firstly, The Enlightenment was a philosophical evolution that emphasized the aged ideas of the Greeks and Romans. In addition, the major philosophers of this time period were Voltaire, John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, Rousseau, Adam Smith and Isaac Newton. Their ideals include having an absolute monarch as a government (T.H), the separation of powers (Mont.), the government should not interfere with a free market economy (A.S), the freedom of speech (Volt.), the government could be overruled (J.L), and the government should rule according to the will of the people. Nevertheless, these ideals are important because they shaped the government that we have today.

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Religion was the main driving force throughout the entire period of European colonization of America. Most Europeans were motivated by desire for wealth, land, economic opportunity, and religious freedom. The First Great Awakening, although a religious revolution, had a huge impact on the class and colonial politics. This revolution helped formed a unity among colonists, allowed religious pluralism, and started the notion of state rule as a contract with the people. However, the downside of this revolution is that it combines religion and government together as well as created a fear and hatred of Catholicism.

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John Winthrop was a puritan who came to America seeking religious liberty. The puritans believed religion should be straight from bible scripture. They encouraged their supporters to read the bible and listen to sermons rather than participate in sacraments. They loathed Catholicism and disliked how England’s churches still utilized catholic rituals. They did not agree with the religious structure where authority passed down from pope, to bishops, and priests.

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The First and Second Great Awakening brought forth religious and social movements that impacted the American culture, appealing to the individual. Occurring in the early 18th century, the First Great Awakening was born within the 13 British Colonies with the Revolutionary War on the horizon. Decades later, the Second Great Awakening flourished under revivals and reforms, impacting the 19th century and years to follow. Despite being born out of different climates, The First and Second Great Awakening was characterized by the rejection of rational thinking for emotional preaching that reached the heart and soul, inspiring change in the negative perception of reason and positive perception of emotion and individualism in religion as well as the

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Enlightenment was a concept that inspired a new way of thinking of the people. In the newly formed United States of America, enlightenment shaped the way the new government was run. Scientific reasoning was applied to politics, religion, and science. Enlightenment saved music, art, and literature programs in colleges. Enlightenment in Europe led to drastically altered views on philosophy, politics, and communications.

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The Scottish Enlightenment was very influential to early America in different aspects. After the American revolution there were multiple areas within the political sphere that were impacted by Scottish philosophers such as Francis Hutcheson and Adam Smith. Hutcheson’s beliefs are incorporated through his pupil, Thomas Jefferson. It is evident that ‘when Jefferson wrote on fundamental questions of moral philosophy, he seems clearly to have identified his views with Hutcheson’s moral-sense doctrine.’ Additionally Hutcheson and Jefferson had similar ideas about community that it cannot be forced because then the morality of wanting to care for one another is lost.

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This angered the colonist. The taxes is one of the main reasons for the division. However, it also helped to reinforce the American identity. Slightly before the French and Indian War, the period of Enlightenment helped many to have a voice in society and question their surroundings. With this, the Enlightenment helped to open societies mind to the Common Sense written by Thomas Paine.

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