The Enlightenment had the most far-reaching impact on American culture. The Enlightenment stemmed from the Scientific Revolution. The Scientific Revolution caused people to start thinking on their own and stop believing in, or at least question, the Bible. Although the Enlightenment started in England, it quickly spread through the colonies. The Enlightenment was key in helping set in motion the thought process that would eventually lead to the colonists to revolt against British rule. Enlightenment is the backbone of today’s democratic government. The Great Awakening had a bearing in that it gave people humanitarian beliefs to build on, but in the war for freedom that ensued, it was Enlightenment that fueled their fire. Prior to Enlightenment the colonists, like the Europeans, were guided by their fear of God and rulers. They followed their church’s teachings blindly, as many of them could not read the scripture themselves. As the colonists began to educate themselves, they found that their interpretation of the readings did not always match what was preached to them in Sunday’s sermon. Even with the vamped up services and revivals during the Awakening many continued to question organized religion and separate from the Catholic Church. Many smaller denominations resulted from these breaks caused by the Awakening, leading to the Protestant Reformation. Martin Luther even wrote entire doctrines based on his differences of opinion which would eventually form the basis for the Lutheran Church. The colonists also questioned the authority of their European rulers. Many believed that God himself had put their rulers in charge, but with all the political disasters and condemnation they were seeing they began to question their... ... middle of paper ... ...l people were created equally by God and that those who govern should be allowed to do so only when chosen by the people to do so. The colonists wanted a country where all citizens had an equal right to participate in government and were now ready to fight for that right. The Awakening shaped the way we view religion today, it helped people to view society as a whole instead of the separate religious groups divided by different faiths and beliefs. But the Enlightenment shaped society as a whole by introducing the core values that today still serve as the foundation of the United States government. The belief that all people are created equal and have a right to be treated as such. Those rights not only serve to protect us, but the rights of our neighbors as well, by assuring that we are all in this together. It is our duty to serve ourselves, and our country.
The Great Awakening was a superior event in American history. The Great Awakening was a time of revivalism that expanded throughout the colonies of New England in the 1730’s through the 1740’s. It reduced the importance of church doctrine and put a larger significance on the individuals and their spiritual encounters. The core outcome of the Great Awakening was a revolt against controlling religious rule which transferred over into other areas of American life. The Great Awakening changed American life on how they thought about and praised the divine, it changed the way people viewed authority, the society, decision making, and it also the way they expressed themselves. Before the Great Awakening life was very strict and people’s minds were
By 1763, although some colonies still maintained established churches, other colonies had accomplished a virtual revolution for religious toleration and separation of church and state. The Anglican Church was the only established denomination in England. In contrast, the colonies supported a great variety of churches. The largest were the Congregationalist, Anglican, and German churches, but many smaller denominations could be found through the colonies. In addition to this, a high percentage of Americans didn’t belong to any church. These differences could be attributed to the fact that many of the Europeans who immigrated to America didn’t fit in to or agree with the churches in their homelands.
Although the Great Awakening did have a great influence on the development of a democratic society, that influence does not outweigh the even greater influence the Enlightenment had. The Great Awakening increased religious diversity and led to the Enlightenment. However, it also preached a stricter form of spirituality, which is not what the colonies needed. The logic and reason the Enlightenment emphasized and encouraged throughout the colonies helped them prosper and
The Great Awakening was known because it brought many new ideas that influenced the American Revolution. In the 1730s, religion was the main idea that the Great Awakening introduced. It all started with Jonathan Edwards. He was a very religious man that went to Yale to become a pastor. After graduating from Yale, he had a huge spiritual encounter, which the Puritans called a “conversion”. Throughout the years, he became a minister and then took over his grandfather’s place as a minister of the Puritan Congregational Church, where he led local religious revivals.
The Pilgrims were also eager to experience new religious freedom from the state-ran church of Great Britain. This helped them build vibrant faithful communities in the New World. However, many individuals came to work not for God and were not all believers. After the establishment of the Church of England, other religions were inhibited. Everyone was expected to follow one religion and to believe in one religion. This led to a sense of stability from a political perspective because everyone practiced the same religion. However, instead of being a positive force for religious belief, it created spiritual dryness among believers. Individuals weren’t feeling anything spiritual or divine and it created a lack of relationships with individuals and their religion. The First Great Awakening arose at a time when people in the colonies were questioning the role of the individual in religion and society. It began at the same time as the Enlightenment, an insight that emphasized logic and reason and stressed the power of the individual to understand the universe based on scientific laws. Similarly, the Great Awakening had influenced individuals to rely more on a personal approach to redemption than the church and doctrine. There was national hunger for spiritual freedom and had wise and moral leadership. These convictions led to a spiritual revival in the colonies known as the Great Awakening. However, little did the colonists know that this spiritual movement would aid in their separation form Britain and lead to independence in the long
Before the American Revolution there was the Enlightenment and Great Awakening period. The Enlightenment and Great Awakening period were different from each other but in similarities they both challenged the way society thoughts of situations in life. They both had a big impact leading towards the American Revolution and how the colonist were thinking differently from before. They were able to think outside the box and become more of a personality than a group. The Enlightenment was a philosophical, social movement that challenged the ideals of reality. They wanted reasons over faith, to establish an authoritative system. The Enlightenment gave a way for a new perspective into the world and take a scientific approach to questioning situations.
The Enlightenment is the era were the intellectual, scientific and individual freedom, centered upon the 18th Century; there were many important people of this time that brought forth many new concepts. For example, Benjamin Franklin, he brought many new inventions to this era, such as the Poor Richards’ Almanac, lightening rod, harmonica, and his own thought on the Christian outlook. Secondly, Sir Isaac Newton discovered the laws of nature such as, gravitation. Third, the most well known religious revival was brought forth, The Great Awakening, which put a fire in many people during the 18th Century. During the 18th Century, Benjamin Franklin, Sir Isaac Newton, and The Great Awakening goes to show the intellectual, scientific and individual
Even with its high entertainment value, religion had much more significant impact on colonial America: it was directly responsible for the Great Awakening. Arguably the single most important movement leadings towards the Revolutionary War, the Great Awakening fractured religion as the colonies knew it and set in motion a dissenting mentality that would ultimately culminate in conflict (Bonomi, 2003). Perhaps even more important than the dissenting mindset was the role it elevated the church to. With a new found rebellious attitude ever present, churches utilized their influence and propagated revolutionary political positions to their members (Bonomi). Religion shaped colonial America in a way that no other factor could have. Under the Cope of Heaven provides the reader a chance to fully comprehend this often misconstrued
Religious conscience in America has evolved considerably since the first settlers emigrated here from Europe. Primary settlements were established by Puritans and Pilgrims who believed "their errand into the wilderness [America] was above all else a religious errand, and all institutions - town meeting, school, church, family, law-must faithfully reflect that fact" (Gaustad 61). However, as colonies grew, dissenters emerged to challenge Puritan authority; indeed, many of them left the church to join untraditional religious sects such as "the Ranters, the Seekers, the Quakers, the Antinomians, and the Familists" (Westbrook 26). Debates over softening the stance on tolerance in the church engendered hostility in many religious leaders, priming some officials to take action. Whether it was in direct response to "the liberalizing tendencies beginning to take hold in some [. . .] New England churches" (Westbrook 65), or a "reaction against the attempt in the Age of Reason to reduce Christian doctrine to rationalistic explanation" ("Great Awakening"), the Great Awakening impressed upon the issues of religious conscience. Moreover, what spawns from this controversy is a query over the juxtaposition of morality and spirituality: the question of whether these conditions are actually related. The gradual escalation of unconventional thinking in religious affairs facilitated new ideas on what defined spirituality; one religious theory, boosted by Thomas Paine and his book, The Age of Reason, denounced both Christianity and Atheism, proposing instead, a new concept: the middle path of Deism.
These are very strong words from Thomas Jefferson, but they reflect the way these colonists felt. They were angry, and they had every right to be.
A Scientific Understanding of God Two eighteenth century movements, the Enlightenment and the Great Awakening, changed American colonists’ views on reason and wisdom. The Enlightenment, led by philosophers such as John Locke, emphasized abstract thought to acquire knowledge. The European and American thinkers’ research led to a greater understanding of scientific phenomena and the questioning of the government’s rule. Similar to the Enlightenment, the Great Awakening changed colonists’ mode of thought through the concentration of emotion rather than wisdom. Reverend Jonathan Edwards, a Great Awakening revivalist, emphasized seeking salvation by recognizing one’s own moral corruption and surrendering to God’s will. Although the Great Awakening challenged religious, social and political orthodoxy, the Enlightenment had a greater impact on colonial America and vastly influenced future decisions. The Great Awakening reached a large quantity of people because of the traveling orators that preached the evangelical word. Although Enlightenment learning was limited to the wealthy, educated colonists, the movement’s influence was still stronger because the well-to-do ruled the land. Enlightenment philosophers began questioning corrupt governments and the combination of church and state. John Locke claimed that because the people created a government, then civilians could change the run of the government. This belief, perhaps, was the most influential to colonial society. Educated and powerful political leaders began questioning their government under British rule, therefore, igniting dreams of independence. 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. Also, because revivalists preached mainly to backcountry people who had no religious affiliation, the emphasis on emotion rather than wisdom gave less-educated people a feeling of self-worth. These new freethinking converts gained the strength to begin questioning social and political order. The movements of the Enlightenment and the Great Awakening mainly produced a new mode of thought for American colonists.
... corruption of the government in many countries including France. It stated what was reasonably correct not just what was traditionally taught to people. It allowed the French people to gain a surfeit of power and have a say in the government. However, their work was obliterated once Napoleon Bonaparte declared himself dictator of France in 1799 (French Revolution 13). Not only did the Enlightenment cause the French Revolution by allowing the people to see how inferior France really was, making them question divine right, and opening their eyes to the injustice between estates occurring, but it also described the United States which is the epitome of an ideal society. While the Enlightenment criticized monarchy governments, it influenced democratic forms of government. Without the Enlightenment and the help of France, the United States wouldn’t be what it is today.
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 cause for the Awakening was the efforts of theologians to stop the influx of rationalism from the 1700s, which clashed with religious views. As well, the Christian church sought to revitalize their establishments by bringing in a new wave of converts and believers. The effect of the Awakening was the great participation of women in the new churches and African Americans developing communities around preachers. Their learnings of religious teachings made them develop plans for revolts for freedom, ultimately crushed but stirred racial unrest. Similarly, the awakening is just another instance in history where religious institutions seek to win over new believers by putting done any rational thought that came from the Enlightenment in years previous which may put religion aside as possibly unnecessary. The Second Great Awakening was important because it revitalized society with religious piety and a daily embrace of god in everyday life. It changed Native American and African American societies, bringing their cultures closer to those of white
...n, the advancement of these three philosophies from the theological Puritan views to the great scientific and reason ideals of the Enlightenment showed how a reform of beliefs and ideas resulted in the progressively modern ethics that our government is based on today. Scientific reasoning of the world ignited ideas that the ignorant society of the Puritans was immensely closed-minded about which gave way to how we explain how things happen through the use of science and reasoning. Though Puritans saw that this great reform was a blasphemy against God, the Enlightenment expanded different beliefs of religion which furthered societies intellect and understanding of religion. The social awakening of the arts help pave the way for entertainment we have today, and if not for this great “awakening” of knowledge our society would be far less advanced than we are today.