The Significance Of The Great Awakening

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

sealed; they were taught everything they know one way or no way.
The Great Awakening was caused by a fight between political and religious groups. In 1688, an event happened known as the Glorious Revolution and it made the Church of England the top church in the country. Not only did it force everyone to practice the same religion, but it also began destroying religions such as: Judaism, Catholicism, and Puritanism. Due to the fact that people were forced to believe in a certain religion some did not take it serious. Over decades, this went on, and finally the people decided they needed a spiritual revival, also known as the Great Awakening.
The Great Awakening effected the people drastically on how it got them ready for a War of Independence. It taught people that they should have confidence and be fearless when one approached religious authority. If the church seemed a little off and did not fit the religious believer ideas on how it should be practiced, the people began to leave to find others that believed the same thing as them and formed their own alliance. This led to the people finally understanding that the religious power resided in their hands instead of the Church of England. Decades later with this type of mindset, the people also realized that political power did not belong in the hands of the English monarch, but in their own for how they wanted things done. By 1775, the people shared a common vision of freedom from British control even though they had different beliefs, which eventually made change possible.
Johnathan Edwards, known as the man on fire for god, was an East Windsor minister and was very significant in the Great Awakening. He was a man who was very aggressive about his beliefs and gave a strong sermon called Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, which changed the people’s view on how they practiced their religion. He refused to convert to the Church of England and helped change other’s opinions about it. He felt like people were starting to be concerned with worldly problems more than their religious views. From his point of view people that were “Calvinists” started to overlook the religion and its values, and began worrying about how wealthy they could become. This made him furious and he soon voiced his opinion and people began to follow his principles on how religion should be.
George Whitefield was also a minister, but he was from Britain and was more easy-going. He had the same beliefs as Johnathan Edwards; however, he shared his opinions differently. He would travel throughout the colonies and spread the word, but he was a little more sensitive than Johnathon Edwards. George Whitefield would preach the word of god to the colonies and act out sorrow. He was a trained actor so he knew how to act to gain people’s attention. He would weep and tremble with a passion while giving a sermon which helped him con in Europe, the Enlightenment was responsible for inspiring revived interests in education, science and literature. The advocates of this movement emphasized the power of humans as they promoted progress. Some clergy also ended up adopting liberal theology that is now known as Rational Christianity. Practiced here was the belief that God gave salvation to everyone and not just a chosen group. The followers of this faith believed that God’s greatest gift to mankind was reason which allowed people to follow the moral teachings of Jesus.
Revivalism, a result of the both Great Awakenings, spread to the American colonies, over the Atlantic Ocean. Whitefield, who came to Boston in 1740, was responsible for the success of Revivalism. People like Thomas Foxcroft, appreciated Whitefield’s teaching and greeted him with open arms. Foxcroft even expresses, “We have in a fresh instance seen this Pauline Spirit and Doctrine remarkably exemplified among us. We have seen a Preacher of Righteousness, fervent in Spirit, teaching diligently the Things of the Lord.”
The Great Awakening may have been a reaction against the Enlightenment, but it was also caused The Revolution. At first the awakening ministers just represented an upper class. Awakening ministers were not always certain with having respect principles for better. The new faiths that spread were approached in a more democratic way. The overall mission was to have greater equality. The Great Awakening occurred nation-wide. It was the first key event that everyone could share, helping people look past the differences. There was no event after this in England that stressed the differences between Americans and their family across the sea. As expected, this religious chaos started up political consequences, but it convinced many people.
The staple foundation of The Second Great Awakening was that it embraced an optimistic outlook on humanity. The Second Great Awakening was heavily built upon three faiths. Those faiths were Congregationalists, otherwise known as 18th century descendants from the Puritan Church, Anglicans, and Quakers. Large Camp Meetings were associated with the Second Awakening. These large camp meetings were held to convert large sums of people at one time. Using excitement and passion was the key to converting so many people. Around the 1800s, Evangelical Methodism and Baptists had become more a prominent religion.
Evangelical Churches favored the common man over the people who were otherwise “elite.” Evangelical Methodism contributed to the success of the Second Awakening. An important term that categorized Evangelicalism was “Free Will.” With this term, people began to put more emphasis on what the human was capable to do in order to change their unique lifestyles. A benefit of the Great Awakenings brought more African Americans and White women to be more involved in Christianity.
The effect of both Great Awakenings in total resulted in a unity.

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

nation.
In conclusion it may be known that the life as an American completely changed as a result of the First and Second Great Awakenings. Women became more involved within the church and were able to support the men within the church. African-Americans also became more acknowledge as a result. Due to great leaders including Johnathon Edwards and George Whitefield, Americans were able to distinguish between what kind of religion they wanted compared to what they had prior to the Great Awakenings. Due to the Awakenings American life was starting to finally become different compared to the Britain lifestyle.

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