Spearheading The Second Great Awakening

Unlike any other event or movement which had occurred in the colonies prior to the Great Awakening, this movement involved all different types of people. This factor allowed for unity, and people to start to identify together as Americans, and not simply as just separate colonists. Additionally, the Great Awakening called for a total revamp for religion in the colonies, which allowed for more people to practice religion in a more meaningful way, and in turn caused more people to practice religion in the comfort of their own homes. This meant that common folk no longer had to rely on ministers or reverends to tell them how to practice religion. In time, this idea also transferred over to politics, as many people believed that if they did not need authority to practice religion, then they would not need to be controlled by the English to govern their colonies.

The American Revolution was a war of independence between 1775 and 1783 caused by a myriad of political, economic, social and religious disputes between British and American colonies. Political representation for colonists was put into question when economic factors such as taxes came into play. A major factor that drove reform during the American Revolution was the freedom of religion. People were being limited in their participation, were forced to pay taxes on the official church and had to obey church laws. Colonists began to fight against these restrictions and eventually gained rights for people of different religion and as a result of the American Revolution, religious minorities experienced benefits such as the liberty of religion

The Great Awakening was the spiritual renewal that swept through the American colonies. It was first introduced by George Whitefield who brought the Awakening overseas from England. Due to a lot of religious activity in the colonies and in England, the Great Awakening was born through a “revival” because of the complacency in both the colonies and England. Who was involved in the Great Awakening?

The Great Awakening started with a series of revivals in the 1730s, which took a unique and more emotional approach to the Bible (Foner 157). These dramatically changed the face of religion in the colonies, even leading to the growth of several new Christian denominations, such as the Baptists and the Methodists (Foner 159). This importantly was done after a time period where the religion of the colonies was increasingly favoring Anglicanism, with most colonial churches in 1700 being “either Congregational… or Anglican” (Foner 114). The Great Awakening’s renewed religious diversity was thus an important step away from the increasingly overbearing English influence, and therefore a step toward American cultural divergence. Additionally, the Great Awakening decreased the value Americans attributed to “established elites” (160); it was more important how the individual interpreted the Bible as opposed to how established churches did. This change of thinking applied beyond religion; it meant that Americans no longer looked to the largest “established elite”, the British monarchy, for cultural advice and influence, instead increasing their confidence to look inward and develop their own divergent

During this time, though, religion was more prominent than ever. From my previous knowledge about religion in America, this was a time during which Christianity was going through a revival phase and was being debated as to which version was the “true” and “correct” one. The American revolution was a main cause in these religious revivals, what is also known today as the Second Great Awakening. This Awakening led to a huge change in American religious ideals. It became more acceptable to be pious than it was to be an atheist or agnostic.

Evangelicalism came out of various movements that came in the Protestant church the second Great Awakening” of the 1820s-1840s, resulted in the “Christianization” of young America and the dominance of evangelicalism over the American religious climate ”.The Second Great Awakening marked a fundamental transition in American religious life. Many early American religious groups in the CALVINIST tradition had emphasized the deep depravity of human beings and believed they could only be saved through the grace of God. The new evangelical movement, however, placed greater emphasis on humans' ability to change their situation for the better. By stressing that individuals could assert their "FREE WILL" in choosing to be saved and by suggesting that

The Great Awakening was a spiritual movement that swept the American colonies in the 1730s and 1740s. This movement changed the way of worship for Christians: from the established approach to a new approach which was characterized by great fervor and emotion in prayer. The Great Awakening was caused by complacency in religion. After fighting between religious and political groups came to a halt, the Church of England was established. Eventually, a spiritual dryness embodied resulting in religion being a pastime. One of the biggest effects the Great Awakening had on the colonies was preparing us for independence, which was granted to us on July 4th, 1776. The New England colonies were impacted the most during the Great Awakening. Presbyterians

Moreover, the effect of the Great Awakening changed the attitude of the colonists and altered it from traditional beliefs. What is meant by this is that rather than believing that God’s will is interpreted by the king or his bishops, the colonists could view themselves as more capable of performing tasks since the hierarchy went from God, to people, then ruler rather than God, to ruler, then people. In summary, the religious revival of the Great Awakening directed the colonists in a way that may that may have not been possible any other way. Through the Great Awakening the colonists were bonded together through religion as they saw it as an act of cooperation against one enemy, the catholic church. The colonist feared the domination of the catholic church and worked together to fight against it.

The Great Awakening also influenced the traditional church by sparking people's interest to revolt and this revolt encouraged the American Revolution, which would gain independence for the colonies from England.

The issues between the church and state contributed the American Revolution. Americans saw “the English church and crown both as hopelessly corrupt and as an imminent threat to subvert by their influence the religious superstructure of America” (Corrigan 94). Churches that focused on the individual had a better chance of surviving in America. Churches were not allowed to receive support from the state. Also, the state could not control religious institutions. The state essentially had to remain neutral to religions, because

of religon. More people came to church for the worship of god from their heart.

The Great Awakening, was a succession of religious revivals spanning from the 1720s to the 1760s, that swept across the thirteen colonies, and with it its ideals and doctrines. A theorized reason for the appeal of these revivalist principles was because it cut across lines of class, race, gender, occupation, and education (Press). This would further unite the colonies into a more common understanding of shared values, which introduced the spread of mass communication in America as revivalists travelled the colonies preaching to all. The thirteen colonies spread across a vast canvas of land, and each with their own unique state, but the religious revivals of the eighteenth century consolidated them with its reach of a lasting legacy that tolerated divergent ideas, promoted religious pluralism, and the separation of the church and the state (Press). These were all new concepts that were

Before the First Great Awakening, a revolution known as the Glorious Revolution of 1688, stopped the fighting between religious and political groups. The Glorious Revolution declared the Church of England the reigning church of the country. Now that all of the colonists were under the same religious rule, religion became a past time or a “go through the motions”

Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield had an indirect impact on the American Revolution due the Great Awakening. The Great Awakening was a revival of a person’s personal spirituality sparked by Whitefield and Edwards; which de-emphasized the church. The revolution preached similar messages regarding criticism and tensions of authority. Without these two men, the American Revolution would not have happened as early as it did, if it all.

Although faith was not the leading candidate for winning over the allegiance, faith in religion runs deep down to the foundations of America. The early settlers, such as the pilgrims, ran from Europe to practice their own faith without the accusation of heresy. Puritanism was a religious reform movement that sought to ‘purify’ the Church of England. Their philosophy of “a city upon a hill” caused the United States to strive for