Great Awakening

In return, that British did not impose many laws on the colonies. Sir Robert Walpole believed that British interference would alienate the colonies and eventually damage commerce with England. To ensure that this didn’t happen he laxly enforced trade regulations such as the Navigation Act. The policy of salutary neglect led the American colonies to gain independence and develop their own political institutions such as the legislative assemblies. Although the colonies based many of their institutions off of the English, between 1690-1750, the British policy of salutary neglect drove them to become increasingly independent.

The Enlightenment theory added to the oppression of British rule led to a revolution. Although not as significant as the Enlightenment, the Great Awakening still had a deep impact on colonial society. Primarily, the conflict that arose between the religious revivalists and ultimately ended in a split in the evangelical group changed the face of religion in the British colonies. The New Light revivalists spawned such denominations as Baptist and Methodist, which differed in the old lights beliefs in doctrine and matters of faith. These new sects resulted in a stronger tolerance toward religious diversity.

The Second Great Awakening had its start in Connecticut in the 1790s and grew to its height in the 1830s to 1840s. Beginning the revolution, the largest denominations were Congregationalists, Anglicans, and Quakers; however, by the early 1800’s, Evangelical, Methodism, and Baptists were on the rise in the nation. During the time of the Awakening in United States history, churches experienced a more complete freedom from governmental control, opening the doors of opportunity to a great spiritual awakening in the American people. This awakening focused on areas of both religious and social issues of the time, which were important to the religious movements and the nation as a whole. The Second Great Awakening was driven by such issues, which included a focus on the increase in “evils” associated with the recent rise of industry and a lack of the political ideals of freedom of choice.

With the development of a civilized society in America during the 1700s and 1800s, the role religion played in an everyday person's life was becoming more and more diminished. To combat this, a series of religious revivals were set in motion: The Great Awakenings. These were a series of large, sweeping religious, social, and political changes that sought to use the basis of religion to revive faith in a neglected belief, bring about numerous social reforms, and use political factions to great effect upon society's mentality. Although most view the First Great Awakening as the ‘first' and ‘greatest' religious, social, and political influence to American society, the second Great Awakening can be considered far more influential in its religious, social, and political aspects of influence. Even though the First and Second Great Awakenings focused its attention on other matters of life later on, religion was the theme upon which they were built.

The Second Great Awakening, the religious revivalist movement of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, ignited not only a religious revolution that transformed the American landscape, but it also developed and cemented the individualistic ideologies that have driven American thought in subsequent generations. At its core, the Second Great Awakening was a religious response to the uncertainty of the period. The nation at the time was redrawing its boundaries westward to accommodate the booming population. The established Protestant denominations of the day, the Congregationalists and Anglicans, had failed to create their much desired religious utopias and discontent in their traditional beliefs set in. Through the means of renewed religious enthusiasm, a movement spread throughout the young nation seeking to reverse the spiritual apathy that had set in many of its Christian adherents.

Afterward in his argument, McLoughlin writes" As the opinion (the great awakening) spread after 1742 throughout the colonies, many came to believe that Americans could not effectively fulfill this mission so long as they were tied to a corrupt, oppressive, and tyrannical monarch and Parliament in England " The general effect of this Great Awakening had the outcome that the colonies were able to develop a new kind of neocolonial unity. This could have also been part of the resistance to the laws and such if the British. Lastly, McLoughlin says that the revolution in a way can be described as the political revitalization of a people whose religious regeneration began in the Great Awakening.

The Puritans hoped to reform and purify the English Church, whereas the Separatists wanted to create independent congregations. Prosecuted by English monarchs, the Puritans fled England and migrated to North America under a royal charter granted to the Massachusetts Bay Company with the desire to salvage their congregations after Charles I’s repression. Those who migrated to New England brought their families, with colonists ranging fro... ... middle of paper ... ...tives in New England and the Chesapeake. The divergent development of New England and the Chesapeake region can be attributed to the motives behind each area’s colonization. New England had a religious focus; the Chesapeake, an economic one.

Colonies settled by the British were not keen on being ruled by the British from the beginning of the colonization of America. Puritans immigrated to this New World after facing religious discrimination under the British Crown. The New World meant a fresh start for the Puritans. They could set up their own government and free practice their religion. Those who were not Puritan were still likely to share the belief in independence for the mother country and a fresh start However, British rule prevailed providing their own laws and power.

With some of the Puritans, known as the Separatists, he seemed to have succeeded. The Separatists, a tiny minority within the Puritan movement, were pious people from humble backgrounds who concluded that the Church of England was too corrupt to be reformed from within. In 1608 one Separatist congregation at Scrooby decided to flee to Holland. That move afforded them religious freedom, but they found only low-paying jobs and were distressed by desertions from within their ranks to other religions. Some decided to move again, this time to North America.

Puritanism and the American Great Awakening of the 18th century 1.0 Introduction The Great Awakening refers to the period of religious restoration that spanned across the 18th century. During that period, there was increased enthusiasm towards religious beliefs caused by evangelical ministries that protested against the early Roman Catholic Church and repressive colonial regime (Tracey 18). As a result, there was deep conviction and revival for the affected groups with a boom in church membership. The First Great Awakening is reported to have occurred between 1730s and 1760s leading to the growth of religious movements that constructed America’s national identity during the colonial era. This piece of work is aimed at examining the role of religion in colonial America.