Compare And Contrast The Great Awakening And The Enlightenment

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Topic Question 2: European nations began to colonize what now is the east coast of Northern America around the late 16th and then in onto the 17th century. Many proud nations decided to send their fleet of people to the New World especially Great Britain. England established to colonies along the coast that were know as New England and Chesapeake. Between these two colonies we have what are known as the middle colonies. This area was originally settled by the Dutch and was formerly named New Amsterdam and then finally by Great Britain. Although these colonies shared many things in common and were all quite close to each other, they also had major differences. Among the three colonies all of them had religion play a role in society. Whether …show more content…

The movements encouraged and led to an increase in free thinking while also questioning ideas of authoritative figures in both the government and church. The Great Awakening was a movement that suggested power to the individual and emotional expression with an understanding that you don’t need a minister to understand god. The Enlightenment was a movement which inspired the power of reasoning and also power of the individual. Both of these ideas generated questions in all forms of authority. This movement also held the strength of natural laws above the normal standard. The enlightenment 's idea of that things that cannot be explains are not miracles or laws of chance, that there was more at play. This idea challenged the church and the leaders of the Church of England. Another cause that came out of these two motions was that of the Great Awakening. More and more Christians denominations were starting to form. These new sects of the Christians church began questioning old puritan beliefs and traditions. The questions and causes that were a direct effects of these two movements really generated a rise in free and enlightened thinking. They ultimately led up to the American

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  • Similarities Between The Enlightenment And Great Awakening

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    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.

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  • Differences between the New England and Chesapeake Colonies

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    The English Settlement in the New World was largely the result of the Age of Exploration. The English started emigrated to the New World around the early 1600s; they settles in regions including the New England and the Chesapeake region and by the 18th century these two regions had developed their own society. These two regions had developed different political, economic and social system in their regions. The political differences were due to who governs the colony. The economic differences were due to the motives of the settlement. The social differences were due to the people who settled there, while the New England emigrated as a family, the Chesapeake emigrated with mostly male.

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  • How Did Christopher Columbus Definition Of Freedom

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  • The Effects of the Great Awakening

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    The First Great Awakening was a religious revival from the 1730s-70s, where we see an increase in the importance of Christianity, in addition to a challenge to traditional authority. One of the most important causes was known as The Enlightenment. This was a movement away from religion where individuals were becoming more encouraged to make decisions based on reason and logic rather than faith. People were starting to make decisions dependent on experiences and facts, rather than the individual beliefs of their religion. This can be credited to philosophers of that time advocating that, should people want change in their society, they should rely on education and reason to do so. John Locke, an English philosopher was one of the most well known contributors to the beginning of the Enlightenment. Before the Great Awakening, there was an increase in church absenteeism and religions piety was waning, meaning that the people were becoming less pure and less religion. In order to reverse the cause of the Enlightenment, we have people like, Jonathan Edwards, a Christian preacher, who is recognized as starting the Great Awakening, along with the simultaneous migration of German settlers who ignited a spark of Pietism in some New England states.

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    ...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.

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  • The Enlightment Caused the French Revolution

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    The Enlightenment was a major influence of the French Revolution. The Enlightenment caused the revolution in three ways. First of all, the Enlightenment made people see how France was not a perfect society. It opened their eyes to the fact that France was helping other countries more. For example, the French government gave money to support the American Revolution while the people in their own country need money. Also, Voltaire who was an Enlightenment thinker caused uproar by the peasants upon his return to France when he announced that England was superior to France (Voltaire 7). Second, it made people skeptical about whether the government was there to fulfill their duty of protecting the people’s natural rights. The Enlightenment encouraged people to question divine right, the God-given authority rulers claimed to have (Enlightenment, Its Origins and the French Revolution 15). Finally, it made the third estate realize how the taxation was simply greed. It made their eyes open to the fact that...

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  • Enlightenment Thought in New Zealand Schools

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    The enlightenment was an intellectual movement, which beginnings of were marked by the Glorious Revolution in Britain. (Kramnick, 1995). The enlightenment movement continued evolving over the following centuries. The main aim of the enlightenment was to make the world more focused on the individual rather than the authority of one person. The individual was not longer under the control of a government that had been given authority from God. Kant (1995) described it as a “man’s release from his self-incurred tutelage.” (p.1). This is talking about the individuals right to use their own judgment and reasoning not just accepting what others say and whet they are told. Kramnick (1995) stated that enlightenment intellectuals believed “human reason, not faith or tradition was the principle to human conduct.” (Kramnick, 1995, p.xi). This focus on the individual is summed up by Kant (1995, p.1) said “Have courage to use your own reason.” This in other worlds is telling people to think for themselves. With the enlightenment movement being for the individual, the individual had to learn that there were now responsibilities for each individual to take on if society was to function properly. The focus of the enlightenment of the rights of the individual allowed people to be more free, as stated by Kant (1995) “if only freedom is granted, enlightenment is almost sure to follow” (p.2). The individual was set fee in three...

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