In the early 1700's spiritual revivalism spread rapidly through the colonies. This led to colonists changing their beliefs on religion. The great awakening was the level to which the revivalism spread through the colonists. Even with this, there was still religious revivalism in the colonies. One major reason for the Great Awakening was that it was not too long before the revolution. The great awakening is reason to believe that William G Mcloughlin's opinion and this shows that there was a cause to the American Revolution. Even with this, there were still religious arguments." No one doubts that the Americans were basically very religious people." This is how William G. McLoughlin, starts off his argument saying that America basically wanted to be a nation of Christians, McLoughlin also believes that a religious movement like the Great Awakening could not avoid having assumptions that worry the right and wrong ways in which power and authority can be used in a certain way. As he starts to get into his argument, he says after understanding the anthropological definition of religion, it will become a lot more easier for one to understand why the Great Awakening was so important and why it had such an impact on the American Revolution. For example He describes certain things like how the town meetings had quarrelsome affairs and they frequently had become a part of affairs that had to be solved within the town or city, because the local judicial and political systems could not. This could have or maybe led to some corruption because of the British not helping to solve the problems of the English colonists and led to the English showing they were not capable of running such a place like their own colony by themselves. 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.
It created an attitude that went against the intensely contrasting thinking that was deep rooted within English politics and religion. Instead of believing that God’s will was somewhat interpreted by the monarch, the colonists thought it would be more efficient to view themselves as being capable of performing the task themselves. According to an article titled, The Significance of the Great Awakening, “The youth of revivalism later echoed this radicalism and popular self-righteousness in the American Revolution.” It was through the revivalism of the very beginning of the Eighteenth Century that colonists were finally able to free themselves from the rules of the Christian churches and begin to confidently state their own religious control over the destiny of their
In the essay, “The Second Great Awakening” by Sean Wilentz explains the simultaneous events at the Cane Ridge and Yale which their inequality was one-sided origins, worship, and social surroundings exceeded more through their connections that was called The Second Great Awakening also these revivals were omen that lasted in the 1840s a movement that influences the impulsive and doctrines to hold any management. Wilentz wraps up of the politics and the evangelizing that come from proceeding from the start, but had astounding momentum during 1825.The advantage of the Americans was churched as the evangelizing Methodists or Baptists from the South called the New School revivalist and the Presbyterians or Congregationalists from the North that had a nation of theoretical Christians in a mutual culture created more of the Enlightenment rationalism than the Protestant nation on the world. The northerners focused more on the Second Great Awakening than the South on the main plan of the organization.
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 before the American Revolution, therefore the forefront in the minds of many colonists was religion. But, it also caused some tensions between religious ideologies. The American Revolutionary era was a period where the nation was finding an identity to unify with. Both George Washington and Jonathon Edwards, believed that religion was necessary for the stability of a nation. However, the way how Washington and Edwards accomplished their plans with religion were different. The differences between the two men show varying degrees of religious acceptance. Both men wanted religion in America, but only by their own definition of religious acceptance.
The Second Great Awakening began in 1790, as numerous Americans experienced uncertainty as they confronted a rapidly changing society with increases in urbanization and technology. The movement focused on the ability of individuals to change their lives as a means of personal salvation and as a way to reform society as a whole, which opened the door for many reform movements. The Second Great Awakening shaped reform movements such as temperance, abolition, and women’s rights in the nineteenth century because of the increase in concern for the morality of the American people.
The Great Awakening was a spiritual movement that began in the 1730’s in the middle colonies. It was mostly led by these people; Jonathan Edwards, a congregational pastor in Massachusetts, Theodore J. Frelinghuysen, a Dutch Byterian Pastor in New Jersey; Gilbert Tennent, a Presbyterian Pastor in New Jersey; and George Whitefield, a traveling Methodist Preacher from New England. The most widely known leader was George Whitefield. At the beginning of the very first Great Awakening appeared mostly among Presbyterians in Pennsylvania and in New Jersey. The Presbyterians initiated religious revivals during these times. During this time, they also started a seminary to train clergyman. The seminary’s original name was Log College, now it is known as Princeton University. In the 1740s the clergymen of these churches were conducting revivals throughout that area. The Great Awakening spread from the Presbyterians of the middle colonies to the Congregationalist (puritans) and Baptist of New England.
The Second Great Awakening was extremely influential in sparking the idea of reform in the minds of people across America. Most people in America just accepted things the way they were until this time. Reforms took place due to the increase of industrial growth, increasing immigration, and new ways of communication throughout the United States. Charles Grandison Finney was one of the main reasons the Second Great Awakening was such a great success. “Much of the impulse towards reform was rooted in the revivals of the broad religious movement that swept the Untied State after 1790” (Danzer, Klor de Alva, Krieger, Wilson, and Woloch 240). Revivals during the Second Great Awakening awakened the faith of people during the 1790s with emotional preaching from Charles Finney and many other influential preachers, which later helped influence the reforms of the mid-1800s throughout America.
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 Second Great Awakening started the was a religious revival movement during the early 19th century in the United States, it sparked the building and reform of the education system, women's rights and the mental health system. It was also the start of many different denominations of churches such as the, Churches of Christ, Seventh-day Adventist Church, and the Evangelical Christian.
The Enlightenment period in Europe was a shift in the way that society thought about power and liberty. The ideals of this period helped to inspire the revolutions of the 18th century. The American colonies desired liberty from foreign rule, the French wanted to increase the power of the people in their class structure, and the Haitians fought for representation for the millions of slaves on their island. While the ideas of the enlightenment were not fully employed in each of these revolutions, they brought the nations closer to a fully representative government, rather than one of absolute power.
In conclusion, the changes in the colonies were so significant that they seemed to create a completely different country. This was especially true with the ideas of an economic system, a common lifestyle, and religious diversity. The changes they made and became accustomed to, also began to change their political beliefs. This is what ultimately led to the war that people today are so accustomed to calling “the American Revolution”. According to John Addams, however, “The war? That was no part of the Revolution; it was only an effect and consequence of it. The Revolution was in the minds of the people… years before a drop of blood was shed at Lexington.”
The Second Great Awakening was a religious revival. It influenced the entire country to do good things in society and do what was morally correct. The Second Great Awakening influenced the North more than it did the South and on a whole encouraged democratic ideas and a better standard for the common man and woman. The Second Great Awakening made people want to repent the sins they had made and find who they were. It influenced the end of slavery, abolitionism, and the ban of alcohol, temperance.
In essence, the Great Awakening was a religious awakening. It started in the South. Tent camps were set up that revolve around high spirited meetings that would last for days. These camp meetings were highly emotional and multitudes of people were filled with the Spirit of God. These meeting, were sponsored mainly by Methodist, Baptist, and Presbyterians, and met social needs as well as spiritual needs on the frontier. Since it was hard for the Baptist and Methodist to sustain local churches, they solved the problem by recruiting the non educated to spread the word of God to their neighbors. The camp meetings eventually favored "protracted meetings" in local churches.
Reform movements including religion, temperance, abolition, and women's rights sought to expand democratic ideals in the years 1825 to 1850. However, certain movements, such as nativism and utopias, failed to show the American emphasis on a democratic society. The reform movements were spurred by the Second Great Awakening, which began in New England in the late 1790's, and would eventually spread throughout the country. The Second Great Awakening differed from the First in that people were now believed to be able to choose whether or not to believe in God, as opposed to previous ideals based on Calvinism and predestination.
Many took different steps in the fight for equality. Nat Turner, a religious leader among his fellow slaves, become convinced he had been chosen by God to lead his people to freedom. Leading a revolt, he and five other slaves killed their master and his family. Joined by about sixty other blacks, he led a general revolt. Within days, militiamen suppressed the revolt and Turner was ironically hung in Jerusalem, Virginia. Many took different steps in the fight for equality. Nat Turner, a religious leader among his fellow slaves, become convinced he had been chosen by God to lead his people to freedom. Leading a revolt, he and five other slaves killed their master and his family. Joined by about sixty other blacks, he led a general revolt. Within days, militiamen suppressed the revolt and Turner was ironically hung in Jerusalem, Virginia. Many took different steps in the fight for equality. Nat Turner, a religious leader among his fellow slaves, become convinced he had been chosen by God to lead his people to freedom. Leading a revolt, he and five other slaves killed their master and his family. Joined by about sixty other blacks, he led a general revolt. Within days, militiamen suppressed the revolt and Turner was ironically hung in Jerusalem, Virginia. Many took different steps in the fight for equality. Nat Turner, a religious leader among his fellow slaves, become convinced he had been chosen by God to lead his people to freedom. Leading a revolt, he and five other slaves killed their master and his family. Joined by about sixty other blacks, he led a general revolt. Within days, militiamen suppressed the revolt and Turner was ironically hung in Jerusalem, Virginia.