The Great Awakening Dbq

The Enlightenment was a spread of ideas that occurred in Europe in which people began to think about humane things and individualism. These ideas caused a reaction in the colonies that is now known as The Great Awakening. During this Great Awakening, preachers called ‘New Lights’ spread their ideas to the people, causing mass effect. This leads to the Great Awakening causing a democratic spirit to emerge among the people.
The Great Awakening caused a religious upheaval that went and spread out to all of America. One specific place that this spread to was the New England Town of North Hampton, where Jonathan Edwards led a great revival. “He warned listeners of the overwhelming power of God and of their inability to do much to save their souls,”(Document

2A). Ideas like Edwards’ were being spread out greatly throughout the colonies and while it may have came as a surprise to Edwards that he had such influence on the people of the community with his bold statements, it actually is very logical that the people were affected by these claims.The idea that they could not do much to save their souls led many throughout the nation to begin to critical of their religious leaders. They began to question the authority that challenged them, like the enlightenment thinkers over in Europe were doing.
As the enlightenment thinkers in Europe were challenged, it is improbable that another wave of thinkers that challenged authority would face no obstructions, even though they are no longer in Europe.

The group that challenged the New Light thinkers were named the Old Lights. These Old Light preachers wrote, “And such a one is Mr. W… [and] all the itinerant preachers who have followed Mr. W’s example and thrust themselves into towns and parishes, to the destructions of all peace and order…”(Document 2B). In this document the Old Lights are denouncing the ideas of George Whitefield, Mr. W. They say that he is bring about destruction and destroying all of the peace and order that was occurring in the communities. Before one further delves into this, one must also hear the New Lights side of the story, they wrote, “Though at the same time it is to be acknowledged with much thankfulness, that in other places where the work has flourished, there have been few, if any, of the disorders and excesses,”(Document 1B). As explained in the text, the New Lights admit that there is a flaw in what they do, but if one is to consider things, is there really anything that can be perfect? There are bound to be flaws in everything that is made, so why do the Old Lights try and turn a light drizzle into a torrential downpour? It is due to the Old Lights feeling severely threatened by the spread of the ideas of the New Lights. If the New Lights were not threatening, why would the Old Lights bother to right such a document, which had no concrete evidence other than the fact that they have caused destruction, which the New Lights even admit to saying that they did in small amounts. This document appears to be a last ditch effort by the Old Lights to stop the challenge of authority the New Lights are

creating.