“O sinner! Consider the fearful danger you are in: it is a great furnace of wrath, a wide and bottomless pit, full of the fire of wrath, that you are held.

First Great Awakening& America’s Enlightenment

“O sinner! Consider the fearful danger you are in: it is a great furnace of wrath, a wide and bottomless pit, full of the fire of wrath, that you are held over in the hand of that God, whose wrath is provoked and incensed as much against you, as against many of the damned in hell.” - Jonathan Edwards

It took the form of a wave of religious revivals that began in New England in the 1730s.

The wave soon swept across all the colonies during the 1730s - 1740s.

Two most famous ministers: Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oD39YYSbvs&list=PLI5WiKA0yd-rXVxg_nsrtaxg7oRGIoK83&index=88

Key Points to remember . . .

“New Light” ministers advocated an emotional approach to religious practice; this weakened the authority of the traditional “Old Light” ministers and the old established churches.

A Key Consequence . . .

“There is nothing that keeps wicked men at any one moment out of hell, but the mere

pleasure of God."

Promoted the growth of New Light institutions of higher learning, such as Princeton University

Sparked a renewed missionary spirit that led to the conversion of many African slaves

Led to a greater appreciation for the emotional experiences of faith – a believer could have a close and personal relationship with God/Jesus Christ

Effects of the 1st Great Awakening

Led to divisions within both the Presbyterian and Congregational churches, resulting in growing religious diversity

Led to the growing popularity of itinerant ministers

Led to an increase in the number of women in church congregations (Women became the majority in many church congregations)

Effects of the 1st Great Awakening

The Enlightenment was an 18th century philosophy that stressed that man, using reason, could improve the human condition.

Founding Fathers, like Franklin and Jefferson, formed their idea from early European Enlightenment thinkers like John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, and Charles Montesquieu

“Thanks, Dr. Franklin!”

Arrival of the Enlightenment in America

The Original Gangsta!

Stressed the idea of natural rights which came from the writings and thoughts of John Locke & [Which is clearly seen in the 2nd paragraph of the Declaration of Independence].

Franklin & Jefferson were representative of Enlightenment thinkers in America

American Enlightenment

The Enlightenment opened the door for Deism

Deism is the belief that God created a universe that is governed by natural law.

These natural laws can be discovered by man through the use of human reason

Enlightenment & Deism

The belief that the government should be based on the consent of the governed inspired/fueled 18th century American revolutionaries

Key principles of republicanism at that time:

◦ Sovereignty comes from the people; therefore, representation should be based on population

◦ A republic is better than a monarchy because it would create a smaller, limited government directly responsible to the people

◦ Widespread property ownership was a safeguard for the people

◦ Standing armies should be avoided◦ Agrarian life is virtuous and desirable

Ideas of Republicanism Arose

The idea of breaking away from England was starting

to look more attractive!

BOOM!

Principle author: Thomas Jefferson

Actually written and delivered to the king after the war had started

Used the philosophy of natural rights derived from the writings of John Locke

Written to appeal to the sympathies of the English people

Accused King George III of tyranny

Declaration of Independence, 1776

“We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

The Colonies Turn Up. . .

Paine was an English and American political activist, philosopher, political theorist and revolutionary

Common Sense, was a pro-independence monograph pamphlet that Paine anonymously published on January 10, 1776.

It quickly spread among the literate, and, in three months, 100,000 -500,000 copies making it the best-selling American title of the period

Promoted separation from Britain, and encouraged recruitment for the Continental Army.

Common Sense by Thomas Paine

How did the ideas and the concepts of the Great Awakening and the Enlightenment Periods bring the colonists closer to a state of rebellion?

Consider . . .