First Great Awakening
Encyclopedia
The First Awakening was a Christian revitalization movement that swept Protestant Europe and British America
, and especially the American colonies in the 1730s and 1740s, leaving a permanent impact on American religion. It resulted from powerful preaching that gave listeners a sense of personal revelation of their need of salvation by Jesus Christ. Pulling away from ritual and ceremony, the Great Awakening made Christianity intensely personal to the average person by fostering a deep sense of spiritual conviction and redemption, and by encouraging introspection and a commitment to a new standard of personal morality.
It brought Christianity to African slaves and was a monumental event in New England
that challenged established authority. It incited rancor and division between old traditionalists
who insisted on the continuing importance of ritual and doctrine, and the new revival
ists, who encouraged emotional involvement and personal commitment. It had a major impact in reshaping the Congregational church
, the Presbyterian church
, the Dutch Reformed Church
, and the German Reformed denomination, and strengthened the small Baptist
and Methodist denominations. It had little impact on Anglicans and Quakers.
Unlike the Second Great Awakening
, that began about 1800 and which reached out to the unchurched
, the First Great Awakening focused on people who were already church members. It changed their rituals, their piety and their self awareness. To the evangelical imperatives of Reformation Protestantism, 18th- century American Christians added emphases on divine outpourings of the Holy Spirit and conversions that implanted within new believers an intense love for God. Revivals encapsulated those hallmarks and forwarded the newly created evangelicalism into the early republic.
, marked the start of the English awakening. Historian Sydney E. Ahlstrom
sees it as part of a "great international Protestant upheaval" that also created Pietism
in Germany, the Evangelical Revival
and Methodism
in England. Revivalism
, a critical component of the Great Awakening, actually began in the 1620s in Scotland
among Presbyterians
, and featured itinerant preachers.
. In the southern Tidewater and Low Country, northern Baptist
and Methodist preachers converted both whites and blacks, enslaved and free. The Baptists especially welcomed blacks into active roles in congregations, including as preachers. Before the American Revolution
, the first black Baptist churches were founded in the South in Virginia
, South Carolina
and Georgia
; in Petersburg, Virginia
, two black Baptist churches were founded.
. Edwards came from Puritan
, Calvinist roots, but emphasized the importance and power of immediate, personal religious experience. Edwards was said to be 'solemn, with a distinct and careful enunciation, and a slow cadence.' Nevertheless, his sermons were powerful and attracted a large following. "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God
," is his most famous sermon. The Anglican preacher George Whitefield
, visiting from England, continued the movement, traveling across the colonies and preaching in a more dramatic and emotional style, accepting everyone into his audiences.
Winiarski (2005) examines Edwards's preaching in 1741, especially his famous sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God
." At this point, Edwards countenanced the "noise" of the Great Awakening, but his approach to revivalism became more moderate and critical in the years immediately following.
probably sparked the religious conflagration. Whitefield, whose reputation as a great pulpit and open-air orator had preceded his visit, traveled through the colonies in 1739 and 1740. Everywhere he attracted large and emotional crowds, eliciting countless conversions as well as considerable controversy.The English minister George Whitefield who declared the whole world his "parish" sparked the Great Awakening. God, Whitefield proclaimed, was merciful. Rather than being predestined for damnation, men and women could save themselves by repenting of their sins. Whitefield appealed to the passions of his listeners, powerfully sketching the boundless joy of salvation and the horrors of damnation. Critics condemned his "enthusiasm", his censoriousness, and his extemporaneous and itinerant preaching. A famous literary example of the new style of preaching can be found in Jonathan Edwards' sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God
". His techniques were copied by numerous imitators both lay and clerical. They became itinerant preachers themselves, spreading the Great Awakening from New England to Georgia, among rich and poor, educated and illiterate, and in the back-country as well as in seaboard towns and cities. The first new Congregational church
worship building in Massachusetts
in the Great Awakening period of 1730–1760, was at the newly incorporated town of Uxbridge
. It was pastored by the newly called Pastor Rev. Nathan Webb
, a native of Braintree
, who remained in the ministry here for the next 41 years. His student, Samuel Spring
, served as an American Revolution
ary war chaplain , and started the Andover Seminary and the Massachusetts Missionary Society.
Benjamin Franklin
became an enthusiastic supporter of Whitefield. Franklin, a Deist
who rarely attended church, did not subscribe to Whitefield’s theology, but he admired Whitefield for exhorting people to worship God through good works. Franklin printed Whitefield’s sermons on the front page of his Gazette, devoting 45 issues to Whitefield's activities. Franklin used the power of his press to spread Whitefield's fame by publishing all of Whitefield’s sermons and journals. Much of Franklin’s publications between 1739-1741 contained information about Whitefield's work, and helped promote the evangelical movement in America. Franklin was a lifelong friend and supporter of Whitefield, until Whitefield's death in 1770.
. Participants became passionately and emotionally involved in their religion, rather than passively listening to intellectual discourse in a detached manner. Ministers who used this new style of preaching were generally called "new lights", while the preachers who remained unemotional were referred to as "old lights". People affected by the revival began to study the Bible at home. This effectively decentralized the means of informing the public on religious manners and was akin to the individualistic trends present in Europe during the Protestant Reformation. The Awakening played a major role in the lives of women, especially, though rarely were they allowed to preach or take public roles.
denominations were especially affected. For example, Congregational churches in New England experienced 98 schisms, which in Connecticut
also had impact on which group would be considered “official” for tax purposes. These splits were between the New Lights (those who were influenced by the Great Awakening) and the Old Lights (those who were more traditional). It is estimated in New England that in the churches there were about 1/3 each of New Lights, Old Lights, and those who saw both sides as valid.
period taught an ideal based on ancient Rome of republican government based on hierarchical social orders of king, aristocracy and commoners. It was widely believed by secular Enlightenment writers that English liberties relied on the balance of power divided between king, elite and commoners, and that social stability required hierarchical deference to the privileged class. "Puritanism … and the epidemic of evangelism of the mid-eighteenth century, had created challenges to the traditional notions of social stratification” by preaching that the Bible taught that all men are equal, that the true value of a man lies in his moral behavior, not his class, and that all men can be saved. Franklin, who grew up a Puritan and became an enthusiastic supporter of the evangelical movement, rejected the salvation dogma, but embraced the radical notion of egalitarian democracy. The evangelical revivalists, especially Whitefield, were the greatest advocates of religious freedom, “claiming liberty of conscience to be an ‘inalienable right of every rational creature.’” Whitefield’s supporters in Philadelphia erected a large, new hall, that could be used as a pulpit by anyone of any belief.
In Virginia, the existence of Baptist preachers challenged the established Anglican Church. Young Baptist preachers were arrested and tried in Fredericksburg
before the Revolution. The issue of religious freedom was incorporated into the new constitution by James Madison
, who as a young lawyer had defended some early Baptist preachers.
, which took place soon after. Heimert (1966) argues that Calvinism and Jonathan Edwards provided pre-Revolutionary America with a radical and democratic social and political ideology and that evangelical religion embodied and inspired a thrust toward American nationalism. Colonial Calvinism was the basis for the American Great Awakening and that in turn lay at the basis of the American Revolution. Heimert thus sees a major impact as the Great Awakening provided the radical American nationalism that prompted the Revolution. Awakening preachers sought to review God's covenant with America and to repudiate the materialistic, acquisitive, corrupt world of an affluent colonial society. The source of this corruption lay in England, and a severance of the ties with the mother country would result in a rededication of America to the making of God's Kingdom. However, Heimert has been criticized for not recognizing the differences between educated and uneducated evangelists, and for not recognizing the significance of Separate-Baptists and Methodists.
Some historians, in particular, Gary Nash in The Urban Crucible (1986), have seen the First Great Awakening as a means by which humbler colonial Americans were able to challenge their 'social betters'. Harry Stout (1986) has even suggested that the first Great Awakening radically democratized mass communication in the colonies, setting the stage for new popular politics later in the revolutionary decades that followed.
Christine Leigh Heyrman (1984) and Christopher Jedrey (1979) and others have been highly critical of Heimart's interpretation, arguing instead that The First Great Awakening was an essentially conservative movement and a continuation of other, earlier religious traditions.
British America
For American people of British descent, see British American.British America is the anachronistic term used to refer to the territories under the control of the Crown or Parliament in present day North America , Central America, the Caribbean, and Guyana...
, and especially the American colonies in the 1730s and 1740s, leaving a permanent impact on American religion. It resulted from powerful preaching that gave listeners a sense of personal revelation of their need of salvation by Jesus Christ. Pulling away from ritual and ceremony, the Great Awakening made Christianity intensely personal to the average person by fostering a deep sense of spiritual conviction and redemption, and by encouraging introspection and a commitment to a new standard of personal morality.
It brought Christianity to African slaves and was a monumental event in New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
that challenged established authority. It incited rancor and division between old traditionalists
Traditionalism (religion)
Traditionalism in religious contexts can refer to traditional, orthodox doctrines.In the Roman Catholic Church, traditionalism is the doctrine that Sacred Tradition holds equal authority to Holy Scripture. In the Orthodox Church, scripture is considered to be the core constituent of a larger...
who insisted on the continuing importance of ritual and doctrine, and the new revival
Christian revival
Christian revival is a term that generally refers to a specific period of increased spiritual interest or renewal in the life of a church congregation or many churches, either regionally or globally...
ists, who encouraged emotional involvement and personal commitment. It had a major impact in reshaping the Congregational church
Congregational church
Congregational churches are Protestant Christian churches practicing Congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its own affairs....
, the Presbyterian church
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
The Presbyterian Church , or PC, is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination in the United States. Part of the Reformed tradition, it is the largest Presbyterian denomination in the U.S...
, the Dutch Reformed Church
Reformed Church in America
The Reformed Church in America is a mainline Reformed Protestant denomination in Canada and the United States. It has about 170,000 members, with the total declining in recent decades. From its beginning in 1628 until 1819, it was the North American branch of the Dutch Reformed Church. In 1819, it...
, and the German Reformed denomination, and strengthened the small Baptist
Baptist
Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...
and Methodist denominations. It had little impact on Anglicans and Quakers.
Unlike the Second Great Awakening
Second Great Awakening
The Second Great Awakening was a Christian revival movement during the early 19th century in the United States. The movement began around 1800, had begun to gain momentum by 1820, and was in decline by 1870. The Second Great Awakening expressed Arminian theology, by which every person could be...
, that began about 1800 and which reached out to the unchurched
Unchurched
"Unchurched" means, in the broad sense, people who are not connected with a church. In research on religious participation, it refers more specifically to people who do not attend worship services...
, the First Great Awakening focused on people who were already church members. It changed their rituals, their piety and their self awareness. To the evangelical imperatives of Reformation Protestantism, 18th- century American Christians added emphases on divine outpourings of the Holy Spirit and conversions that implanted within new believers an intense love for God. Revivals encapsulated those hallmarks and forwarded the newly created evangelicalism into the early republic.
International dimension
The evangelical revival was international in scope, affecting predominantly Protestant countries of Europe. The emotional response of churchgoers in Bristol and London in 1737, and of the Kingswood colliers with white gutters on their cheeks caused by tears in 1769 under the preaching of George WhitefieldGeorge Whitefield
George Whitefield , also known as George Whitfield, was an English Anglican priest who helped spread the Great Awakening in Britain, and especially in the British North American colonies. He was one of the founders of Methodism and of the evangelical movement generally...
, marked the start of the English awakening. Historian Sydney E. Ahlstrom
Sydney E. Ahlstrom
Sydney Eckman Ahlstrom was an American historian. He was a Yale University professor and a specialist in the religious history of the United States....
sees it as part of a "great international Protestant upheaval" that also created Pietism
Pietism
Pietism was a movement within Lutheranism, lasting from the late 17th century to the mid-18th century and later. It proved to be very influential throughout Protestantism and Anabaptism, inspiring not only Anglican priest John Wesley to begin the Methodist movement, but also Alexander Mack to...
in Germany, the Evangelical Revival
Evangelicalism
Evangelicalism is a Protestant Christian movement which began in Great Britain in the 1730s and gained popularity in the United States during the series of Great Awakenings of the 18th and 19th century.Its key commitments are:...
and Methodism
Methodism
Methodism is a movement of Protestant Christianity represented by a number of denominations and organizations, claiming a total of approximately seventy million adherents worldwide. The movement traces its roots to John Wesley's evangelistic revival movement within Anglicanism. His younger brother...
in England. Revivalism
Christian revival
Christian revival is a term that generally refers to a specific period of increased spiritual interest or renewal in the life of a church congregation or many churches, either regionally or globally...
, a critical component of the Great Awakening, actually began in the 1620s in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
among Presbyterians
Presbyterianism
Presbyterianism refers to a number of Christian churches adhering to the Calvinist theological tradition within Protestantism, which are organized according to a characteristic Presbyterian polity. Presbyterian theology typically emphasizes the sovereignty of God, the authority of the Scriptures,...
, and featured itinerant preachers.
American colonies
Although the idea of a "great awakening" has been contested by Butler (1982) as vague and exaggerated, it is clear that the period was a time of increased religious activity, particularly in New England. The First Great Awakening led to changes in Americans' understanding of God, themselves, and the world around them. In the Middle and Southern colonies, especially in the "back country" regions, the Awakening was influential among PresbyteriansPresbyterianism
Presbyterianism refers to a number of Christian churches adhering to the Calvinist theological tradition within Protestantism, which are organized according to a characteristic Presbyterian polity. Presbyterian theology typically emphasizes the sovereignty of God, the authority of the Scriptures,...
. In the southern Tidewater and Low Country, northern Baptist
Baptist
Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...
and Methodist preachers converted both whites and blacks, enslaved and free. The Baptists especially welcomed blacks into active roles in congregations, including as preachers. Before the American Revolution
American Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
, the first black Baptist churches were founded in the South in Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
, South Carolina
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
and Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
; in Petersburg, Virginia
Petersburg, Virginia
Petersburg is an independent city in Virginia, United States located on the Appomattox River and south of the state capital city of Richmond. The city's population was 32,420 as of 2010, predominantly of African-American ethnicity...
, two black Baptist churches were founded.
Jonathan Edwards
The revival began with Jonathan Edwards (1703–1758), the leading American theologian of the colonial era and a Congregationalist minister in Northampton, MassachusettsNorthampton, Massachusetts
The city of Northampton is the county seat of Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population of Northampton's central neighborhoods, was 28,549...
. Edwards came from Puritan
Puritan
The Puritans were a significant grouping of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries. Puritanism in this sense was founded by some Marian exiles from the clergy shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I of England in 1558, as an activist movement within the Church of England...
, Calvinist roots, but emphasized the importance and power of immediate, personal religious experience. Edwards was said to be 'solemn, with a distinct and careful enunciation, and a slow cadence.' Nevertheless, his sermons were powerful and attracted a large following. "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God
Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God
"Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" is a sermon written by American Christian theologian Jonathan Edwards, preached on July 8, 1741 in Enfield, Connecticut. Like Edwards' other sermons and writings, it combines vivid imagery of Hell with observations of the world and citations of scripture...
," is his most famous sermon. The Anglican preacher George Whitefield
George Whitefield
George Whitefield , also known as George Whitfield, was an English Anglican priest who helped spread the Great Awakening in Britain, and especially in the British North American colonies. He was one of the founders of Methodism and of the evangelical movement generally...
, visiting from England, continued the movement, traveling across the colonies and preaching in a more dramatic and emotional style, accepting everyone into his audiences.
Winiarski (2005) examines Edwards's preaching in 1741, especially his famous sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God
Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God
"Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" is a sermon written by American Christian theologian Jonathan Edwards, preached on July 8, 1741 in Enfield, Connecticut. Like Edwards' other sermons and writings, it combines vivid imagery of Hell with observations of the world and citations of scripture...
." At this point, Edwards countenanced the "noise" of the Great Awakening, but his approach to revivalism became more moderate and critical in the years immediately following.
George Whitefield
The arrival of the young Anglican preacher George WhitefieldGeorge Whitefield
George Whitefield , also known as George Whitfield, was an English Anglican priest who helped spread the Great Awakening in Britain, and especially in the British North American colonies. He was one of the founders of Methodism and of the evangelical movement generally...
probably sparked the religious conflagration. Whitefield, whose reputation as a great pulpit and open-air orator had preceded his visit, traveled through the colonies in 1739 and 1740. Everywhere he attracted large and emotional crowds, eliciting countless conversions as well as considerable controversy.The English minister George Whitefield who declared the whole world his "parish" sparked the Great Awakening. God, Whitefield proclaimed, was merciful. Rather than being predestined for damnation, men and women could save themselves by repenting of their sins. Whitefield appealed to the passions of his listeners, powerfully sketching the boundless joy of salvation and the horrors of damnation. Critics condemned his "enthusiasm", his censoriousness, and his extemporaneous and itinerant preaching. A famous literary example of the new style of preaching can be found in Jonathan Edwards' sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God
Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God
"Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" is a sermon written by American Christian theologian Jonathan Edwards, preached on July 8, 1741 in Enfield, Connecticut. Like Edwards' other sermons and writings, it combines vivid imagery of Hell with observations of the world and citations of scripture...
". His techniques were copied by numerous imitators both lay and clerical. They became itinerant preachers themselves, spreading the Great Awakening from New England to Georgia, among rich and poor, educated and illiterate, and in the back-country as well as in seaboard towns and cities. The first new Congregational church
Congregational church
Congregational churches are Protestant Christian churches practicing Congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its own affairs....
worship building in Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
in the Great Awakening period of 1730–1760, was at the newly incorporated town of Uxbridge
Uxbridge, Massachusetts
Uxbridge is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, in the United States. It was first settled in 1662, incorporated in 1727 at Suffolk County, and named for the Earl of Uxbridge. Uxbridge is south-southeast of Worcester, north-northwest of Providence, and southwest of Boston. It is part of...
. It was pastored by the newly called Pastor Rev. Nathan Webb
Nathan Webb
Nathan Webb, an early American Congregational Church minister, was born on April 9, 1705, at Braintree, Norfolk County, Massachusetts. He died on March 17, 1772 at Uxbridge, Worcester County, Massachusetts-Early life:...
, a native of Braintree
Braintree, Massachusetts
The Town of Braintree is a suburban city in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. Although officially known as a town, Braintree adopted a municipal charter, effective 2008, with a mayor-council form of government and is considered a city under Massachusetts law. The population was 35,744...
, who remained in the ministry here for the next 41 years. His student, Samuel Spring
Samuel Spring
Samuel Spring was an early American Revolutionary War chaplain and Congregationalist minister.-Early life and education:Spring was born in Uxbridge in the Massachusetts Colony on February 27, 1746....
, served as an American Revolution
American Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
ary war chaplain , and started the Andover Seminary and the Massachusetts Missionary Society.
Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin
Dr. Benjamin Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A noted polymath, Franklin was a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, musician, inventor, satirist, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat...
became an enthusiastic supporter of Whitefield. Franklin, a Deist
Deism
Deism in religious philosophy is the belief that reason and observation of the natural world, without the need for organized religion, can determine that the universe is the product of an all-powerful creator. According to deists, the creator does not intervene in human affairs or suspend the...
who rarely attended church, did not subscribe to Whitefield’s theology, but he admired Whitefield for exhorting people to worship God through good works. Franklin printed Whitefield’s sermons on the front page of his Gazette, devoting 45 issues to Whitefield's activities. Franklin used the power of his press to spread Whitefield's fame by publishing all of Whitefield’s sermons and journals. Much of Franklin’s publications between 1739-1741 contained information about Whitefield's work, and helped promote the evangelical movement in America. Franklin was a lifelong friend and supporter of Whitefield, until Whitefield's death in 1770.
Impact on individuals
The new style of sermons and the way people practiced their faith breathed new life into religion in AmericaReligion in the United States
Religion in the United States is characterized by both a wide diversity in religious beliefs and practices, and by a high adherence level. According to recent surveys, 83 percent of Americans claim to belong to a religious denomination, 40 percent claim to attend services nearly every week or...
. Participants became passionately and emotionally involved in their religion, rather than passively listening to intellectual discourse in a detached manner. Ministers who used this new style of preaching were generally called "new lights", while the preachers who remained unemotional were referred to as "old lights". People affected by the revival began to study the Bible at home. This effectively decentralized the means of informing the public on religious manners and was akin to the individualistic trends present in Europe during the Protestant Reformation. The Awakening played a major role in the lives of women, especially, though rarely were they allowed to preach or take public roles.
Schisms and Conflict
The CalvinistCalvinism
Calvinism is a Protestant theological system and an approach to the Christian life...
denominations were especially affected. For example, Congregational churches in New England experienced 98 schisms, which in Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
also had impact on which group would be considered “official” for tax purposes. These splits were between the New Lights (those who were influenced by the Great Awakening) and the Old Lights (those who were more traditional). It is estimated in New England that in the churches there were about 1/3 each of New Lights, Old Lights, and those who saw both sides as valid.
The First Great Awakening and the American Revolution
The evangelical movement of the 1740s played a key role in the development of democratic concepts in the period of the American Revolution. The EnlightenmentAge of Enlightenment
The Age of Enlightenment was an elite cultural movement of intellectuals in 18th century Europe that sought to mobilize the power of reason in order to reform society and advance knowledge. It promoted intellectual interchange and opposed intolerance and abuses in church and state...
period taught an ideal based on ancient Rome of republican government based on hierarchical social orders of king, aristocracy and commoners. It was widely believed by secular Enlightenment writers that English liberties relied on the balance of power divided between king, elite and commoners, and that social stability required hierarchical deference to the privileged class. "Puritanism … and the epidemic of evangelism of the mid-eighteenth century, had created challenges to the traditional notions of social stratification” by preaching that the Bible taught that all men are equal, that the true value of a man lies in his moral behavior, not his class, and that all men can be saved. Franklin, who grew up a Puritan and became an enthusiastic supporter of the evangelical movement, rejected the salvation dogma, but embraced the radical notion of egalitarian democracy. The evangelical revivalists, especially Whitefield, were the greatest advocates of religious freedom, “claiming liberty of conscience to be an ‘inalienable right of every rational creature.’” Whitefield’s supporters in Philadelphia erected a large, new hall, that could be used as a pulpit by anyone of any belief.
In Virginia, the existence of Baptist preachers challenged the established Anglican Church. Young Baptist preachers were arrested and tried in Fredericksburg
Fredericksburg, Virginia
Fredericksburg is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia located south of Washington, D.C., and north of Richmond. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 24,286...
before the Revolution. The issue of religious freedom was incorporated into the new constitution by James Madison
James Madison
James Madison, Jr. was an American statesman and political theorist. He was the fourth President of the United States and is hailed as the “Father of the Constitution” for being the primary author of the United States Constitution and at first an opponent of, and then a key author of the United...
, who as a young lawyer had defended some early Baptist preachers.
Impact on American Revolution
Historians have debated whether the Awakening had a political impact on the American RevolutionAmerican Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
, which took place soon after. Heimert (1966) argues that Calvinism and Jonathan Edwards provided pre-Revolutionary America with a radical and democratic social and political ideology and that evangelical religion embodied and inspired a thrust toward American nationalism. Colonial Calvinism was the basis for the American Great Awakening and that in turn lay at the basis of the American Revolution. Heimert thus sees a major impact as the Great Awakening provided the radical American nationalism that prompted the Revolution. Awakening preachers sought to review God's covenant with America and to repudiate the materialistic, acquisitive, corrupt world of an affluent colonial society. The source of this corruption lay in England, and a severance of the ties with the mother country would result in a rededication of America to the making of God's Kingdom. However, Heimert has been criticized for not recognizing the differences between educated and uneducated evangelists, and for not recognizing the significance of Separate-Baptists and Methodists.
Some historians, in particular, Gary Nash in The Urban Crucible (1986), have seen the First Great Awakening as a means by which humbler colonial Americans were able to challenge their 'social betters'. Harry Stout (1986) has even suggested that the first Great Awakening radically democratized mass communication in the colonies, setting the stage for new popular politics later in the revolutionary decades that followed.
Christine Leigh Heyrman (1984) and Christopher Jedrey (1979) and others have been highly critical of Heimart's interpretation, arguing instead that The First Great Awakening was an essentially conservative movement and a continuation of other, earlier religious traditions.
Scholarly studies
- Ahlstrom, Sydney E. A Religious History of the American People (1972) (ISBN 0-385-11164-9)
- Bonomi, Patricia U. Under the Cope of Heaven: Religion, Society, and Politics in Colonial America Oxford University Press, 1988
- Bumsted, J. M. "What Must I Do to Be Saved?": The Great Awakening in Colonial America 1976, Thomson Publishing, ISBN 0-03-086651-0.
- Butler, Jon. Awash in a Sea of Faith: Christianizing the American People. 1990.
- Conforti, Joseph A. Jonathan Edwards, Religious Tradition and American Culture University of North Carolina Press. 1995.
- Gaustad, Edwin S. The Great Awakening in New England (1957)
- Gaustad, Edwin S. "The Theological Effects of the Great Awakening in New England," The Mississippi Valley Historical Review, Vol. 40, No. 4. (Mar., 1954), pp. 681–706. in JSTOR
- Goen, C. C. Revivalism and Separatism in New England, 1740-1800: Strict Congregationalists and Separate Baptists in the Great Awakening 1987, Wesleyan University Press, ISBN 0-8195-6133-9.
- Hatch, Nathan O. The Democratization of American Christianity 1989.
- Heimert, Alan. Religion and the American Mind: From the Great Awakening to the Revolution (1966)
- Isaac, Rhys. The Transformation of Virginia, 1740-1790 1982, emphasis on Baptists
- Kidd, Thomas S. The Great Awakening: The Roots of Evangelical Christianity in Colonial America (2009) ISBN 0300158467.
- Lambert, Frank. Pedlar in Divinity: George Whitefield and the Transatlantic Revivals; (1994)
- Lambert, Frank. "The First Great Awakening: Whose interpretive fiction?" The New England Quarterly, vol.68, no.4, pp. 650, 1995
- Lambert, Frank. Inventing the "Great Awakening" (1999).
- McLoughlin, William G. Revivals, Awakenings, and Reform: An Essay on Religion and Social Change in America, 1607-1977 (1978).
- Schmidt, Leigh Eric. Holy Fairs: Scotland and the Making of American Revivalism (2001)
- Schmotter, James W. "The Irony of Clerical Professionalism: New England's Congregational Ministers and the Great Awakening", American Quarterly, 31 (1979), a statistical study in JSTOR
- Stout, Harry. The Divine Dramatist: George Whitefield and the Rise of Modern Evangelicalism (1991)
Historiography
- Butler, Jon. "Enthusiasm Described and Decried: The Great Awakening as Interpretative Fiction." Journal of American History 69 (1982): 305-25. in JSTOR
- Goff, Philip. "Revivals and Revolution: Historiographic Turns since Alan Heimert's Religion and the American Mind." Church History 1998 67(4): 695-721. Issn: 0009-6407 full text online
- McLaughlin, William G. "Essay Review: the American Revolution as a Religious Revival: 'The Millennium in One Country.'" New England Quarterly 1967 40(1): 99-110. Jstor
Primary sources
- Jonathan Edwards, (C. Goen, editor) The Great-Awakening: A Faithful Narrative Collected contemporary comments and letters; 1972, Yale University Press, ISBN 0-300-01437-6.
- Alan Heimert and Perry Miller ed.; The Great Awakening: Documents Illustrating the Crisis and Its Consequences 1967
- Davies, Samuel. Sermons on Important Subjects. Edited by Albert Barnes. 3 vols. 1845. reprint 1967
- Gillies, John. Memoirs of Rev. George Whitefield. New Haven, CN: Whitmore and Buckingham, and H. Mansfield, 1834.
- Jarratt, Devereux. The Life of the Reverend Devereux Jarratt. Religion in America, ed. Edwin S. Gaustad. New York, Arno, 1969.
- Whitefield, George. George Whitefield's Journals. Edited by Iain Murray. London: Banner of Truth Trust, 1960.
- Whitefield, George. Letters of George Whitefield. Edited by S. M. Houghton. Edinburgh, UK: Banner of Truth Trust, 1976.
External links
- Lesson plan on First Great Awakening
- The Great Awakening Comes to Weathersfield, Connecticut: Nathan Cole's Spiritual Travels
- "I Believe It Is Because I Am a Poor Indian": Samsom Occom's Life as an Indian Minister
- "The Joseph Bellamy House: The Great Awakening in Puritan New England", a National Park Service Teaching with Historic Places (TwHP) lesson plan
- Edwards, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" text