According to our studies, the Enlightenment was a movement that prioritized the human capacity for reason as the highest form of human attainment (Lecture Insert Cite). The Enlightenment originally began in Europe and found it 's way to the colonies. Before the Enlightenment, people had always believed that the social class in which they were born into would be the one in which they would die. People would follow their leader 's words without daring to question them and believed that when they died they would either face eternal salvation or eternal damnation. There was no room for thought. They were told what to think and do and they did not dare question it. That is until in the 1500 's, a European scientist named Copernicus began questioning the foundational beliefs everyone had previously been lead to believe by their leaders. This led to a change in what the people believed. Thus, by the 1600 's, educated people were postulating whether natural laws governed society and the universe (lecture cite). Essentially, the Enlightenment challenged the role of religion and divine right. This assisted Colonial America is seeing that it was possible to challenge the King and divine right. The movement ended up taking a scientific approach to the world and human nature as it challenged the role of God. It allowed people to see that …show more content…
One of the biggest effects of the Great Awakening on the Colonies was the way it prepared the people for the War of Independence. The Awakening made the colonists realize that they could have the religious power in their own hands rather than in those of the Church of England. As such, the colonists started to develop a vision of freedom from British rule. The climate created by the Great Awakening made the American Revolution possible. The movement brought religious unity to the colonies, which resulted in political and cultural unity as well. Moreover, this spiritual awakening had a profound impact on the development of the American