The Great Awakening Notes

Origins and Nature of the Great Awakening

Background

1. By the early 1700s, church attendance in the British colonies had declined, and religion felt distant and formal.
2. Many colonists viewed ministers as out of touch with everyday life, and Enlightenment ideas of reason and skepticism further weakened traditional religious authority.

Revival movement

1. The Great Awakening was a wave of Protestant religious revivals that swept across the colonies, emphasizing personal faith, emotional preaching, and spiritual equality.
2. Revival meetings crossed class and regional boundaries, uniting settlers from New England to Georgia and creating a shared American religious experience for the first time.

Leaders

1. Key figures included Jonathan Edwards (“Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”) and George Whitefield, who toured the colonies preaching to thousands outdoors.
2. Whitefield’s use of print media and dramatic oratory made him one of the first transatlantic celebrities, linking revival movements in Britain and America.

Social Impact

1. Religious renewal
   1. Many ordinary colonists felt empowered to question established churches and seek a direct relationship with God.
2. New denominations
   1. The revival led to the growth of Baptist and Methodist churches and split older ones (Old Lights vs. New Lights).
3. Inclusion
   1. Women, the poor, and enslaved Africans were drawn to revival meetings, as preachers emphasized spiritual equality.
4. Education
   1. The movement encouraged literacy and the founding of new colleges (e.g., Princeton, Brown, Dartmouth) to train ministers.

Political Impact

Challenge to authority

1. By encouraging individuals to think for themselves spiritually, the Great Awakening weakened respect for traditional hierarchies, both religious and political.
2. Ministers and governors were increasingly seen as fallible human figures rather than divinely appointed leaders, planting early seeds of democratic thought and self-determination.

Colonial unity

1. The movement spread across all 13 colonies, helping create a sense of shared American identity before the Revolution.
2. Traveling preachers and printed sermons circulated widely, helping to build networks of communication and a collective sense of “American” identity that transcended regional boundaries.

Seeds of independence

1. The idea that people could challenge religious authority inspired later political challenges to British rule. Freedom of conscience became tied to freedom from tyranny.
2. Phrases like “liberty of conscience” and “inner conviction” became linked to emerging revolutionary ideals of individual rights, consent of the governed, and political freedom.