Transcript The Great Awakening - Fenwick High School

The Great Awakening
1730-1770
The Great Awakening
• In the early 18th Century, there was a general
lessening of religious intensity in the colonies,
primarily due to:
-prosperity
-frontier settlers beyond the reach of church
or clergy
• The response was the Great Awakening (a
spiritual movement)
Jonathan Edwards
• Beginning in 1734 he
emphasized the need of the
congregations “to have their
hearts touched” not to cram
their heads—less intellectual,
more emotional sermons and
religious faith
• In 1741 Jonathan Edwards
delivered his famous sermon,
“Sinners in the Hands of an
Angry God”
• Edwards belief that only
conversion saved one’s soul
led to his dismissal in 1749
George Whitefield
• In 1738, British minister, George
Whitefield arrived in Georgia and then
went on a tour of colonies.
• Whitefield’s tour attracted HUGE
AUDIENCES, indoors and out.
• He preached a simplified religion.
• He chastised listeners as sinners but
left them with hope of salvation.
• He elicited emotional responses from
his listeners.
-there was a great deal of crying,
convulsions and fainting.
• He allowed women to speak in public.
Old Lights & New Lights
• Whitefield was controversial
-more conservative ministers=Old Lights, condemned
Whitefield and persuaded legislative assemblies to
prohibit evangelists from speaking to established
congregations without ministers’ permission.
-Dozens of farmers, women, artisans=New Lights,
roamed the countryside criticizing Old Lights for their
actions.
• Churches split into factions that tended to run along
class lines
-Those who supported their more traditional ministers
and opposed Whitefield and the emotional preachers
were generally wealthy an were called the “Old Lights”
-Those who favored revivalism were generally poorer
and were called “ New Lights”
Challenging Religious and Political
Authority
• In New England many New Lights left
Congregational (Puritan) Churches and founded
new “separatist” churches-by 1754 there were
125 of these.
-Separatist churches supported their ministers
through voluntary contributions.
-Congregational Churches tended to be
supported by public taxes (see list on p. 95)
• Others joined Baptist congregations.
• In this way the Great Awakening undermined
support for traditional churches and challenged
the authority of governments to impose taxes to
support them.
Religious and Social Conflict in the
South—the example of Virginia
• In Virginia the Anglican Church was legally established
and supported by public taxes, many of whom were
ignored by the Church:
-40% were African American
-20% were landless Euro-Americans
• The core Anglican Community were Middling EuroAmerican Freeholders, 35% of the pop.
• Wealthy Planters (5% of the pop.) held real power,
controlled parish finances and Ministers
-Wealthy planters were accustomed to parading their
power at church: wearing their finery, arriving in horsedrawn carriages, sitting in the front pews.
Religious and Social Conflict in the
South—the example of Virginia
• Inspired by Whitefield, evangelical preachers invited New
Light Presbyterian ministers to lead prayer meetings in
Anglican Communities.
• These prayer meetings spread and threatened the social
authority of Virginia Planters.
-Yeoman farmers flocked to the new Presbyterian meeting
houses, the colonial governments ability to enforce taxes
which supported the Anglican Church was threatened.
-The new Presbyterian meeting houses were not controlled
by the wealthy and did not feature them
• Not surprisingly, the Anglican governor of Virginia denounced
the New Lights.
• Anglican Justices (who were usually also planters) closed
down Presbyterian meeting houses.
Baptists
•
•
•
•
Emphasized equality
Called each other “brother” and “sister”
Welcomed slaves
Condemned wealthy planter’ gambling,
drinking, whoring and cockfighting
Violence against the Baptists
• In the 1760’s Baptists drew their congregations
primarily from the ranks of poor farmers
• By 1775, 20% of Euro-American and many AfricanAmericans were Baptists.
• In Baptist Churches the gap between Euro and African
Americans shrank undermining the justification of
slavery.
• Ruling Planters reacted violently to Baptists
-they viewed them as a threat to the social order and
to their way of life.
-They violently attacked Baptist prayer meetings and
ministers.
The Great Awakening
The intellectual Legacy of the Great Awakening
was a new, broader sense of religious and
ultimately political authority.
It happened spontaneously.
It was the FIRST TRULY NATIONAL EVENT in
American history. What does this mean?
The Great Awakening and the Albany Plan
• By the early 1750’s there was a reaction against
emotional revivalism which now waned everywhere
but in the South.
• Great Awakening
-caused social divisions
-first truly national event
• In 1754, Benjamin Franklin, drawing on new links
forged during the Great Awakening, proposed the
Albany Plan—a vision of colonial union to deal with
common problems.
Explain what Franklin was trying to
express in this cartoon.
Some Results of the Great Awakening
(1) One of the major results of the Great Awakening was to unify 4/5ths of
Americans in a common understanding of the Christian faith and life.
Americans--North and South--shared a common evangelical view of life.
(2) Dissent and dissenters enjoyed greater respect than ever before. Baptists,
Methodists, and Presbyterians--all non-established groups--took root and
grew. Despite the fact that these denominational lines remained, they
shared a common evangelical voice. Typical was the sentiment of John
Wesley: "Dost thou love and fear God? It is enough! I give thee the right of
fellowship. This catholicity of spirit became common.
(3) Great emphasis came to be placed on education. George Whitefield
founded the school that would latter become the University of
Pennsylvania, and UNC was originally a Presbyterian effort. Indeed, the first
generation of faculty members there were all Presbyterian ministers. The
focus on education was rooted in a concern for souls, but it also reflected
the fact that if the ground is level at the foot of the cross, education should
be available for all as well.
(4) A greater sense of responsibility for Indians and Slaves emerged from the
revival. George Whitefield, for instance, was among the first to preach to
Blacks. The evangelical experience was common to both whites and blacks,
making both aware that the ground level at foot of cross. This led most
evangelicals to denounce slavery as sinful, and at the first General
Conference of Methodism, slave holding was viewed as grounds for
immediate expulsion from the society.
Some Results of the Great Awakening
(5) The Awakening reinterpreted the meaning of the covenant
between God and his creature. In Puritan theology the focus was on
what God has done for us. In the aftermath of the Awakening, the
new emphasis was on what man can do in response to God's great
gift. The responsibility for salvation is not God's but man's.
(6) A complete dissolving of the theocracy occurred. The establishment
in Virginia and North Carolina began to fall apart. Ministers could no
longer control the direction of religious life. It had been
democratized and made accessible by people.
(7) There was a break down in theological consensus. The New Lights
(the revivalists) versus the Old Lights (traditional orthodox). Those
who wanted to adapt the faith to changing times and circumstances
versus those who wanted to hang on the old order.
(8) The Awakening responded--like the English Puritans of the 16 and
17th centuries--to needs of the people for reassurance and
direction, to give them release from anxiety.
(9) It served to revived a sense of religious mission. Everyone believed
there was some greater purpose behind the revivals, that God's
Kingdom must be near.
http://www.wfu.edu/~matthetl/perspectives/four.html