The Great Awakening

1. The Great Awakening US AP Info from :Feldmeth, Greg D. "America's Great Awakening," U.S. History Resourceshttp://home.earthlink.net/~gfeldmeth/USHistory.html (Revised 24 June 2004).

2. Mass Migrations • Conquest by cradle • Between 1700 and 1750 population increase by more than 2 million • Average age is 16 • 3:1 ration between colonist and English subjects • People continuing to move westward • Other groups of people coming over • 5% of population are French Huguenots, Dutch, Welsh, Danish, Swedes, Jews, Irish, Swiss, and Scottish Highlanders. • African slaves account for nearly 20% of the population, mostly in the south where there is the most racial diversity (the least being in New England) • Middle colonies (Pennsylvania) have the most diverse group of white settlers

3. Populations Germans: feeling religious persecution. Mostly settle in Pennsylvania and make up about 1/3 of PA’s population Continue speaking German Scotch-Irish: by 1775 make up 7% of total population -Most good land is taken in PA so move in Maryland and Virginia- -Make good frontiersman, they are used to fighting with the Irish, settle into Appalachia

4. Triangle Trade -trade benefitting the colonies -Triangle trade was the exchange of goods between the U.S. colonies, Africa, and continental Europe -it also includes trade between the colonies, Africa, and the West Indies Goods exchanged were alcohol, slaves, furs, molasses, lumber, tobacco, fish, rice

5. Education Ministry the most important profession. Doctors were unreliable and lawyers were considered windbags. Colleges begin emerging to educate ministers: Yale, Harvard, William and Mary,

8. The Great Awakening1730s and 1740s - -Religious Revivalism, preachers gave sermons to large groups, highly emotional: weeping, fainting -Transition from the service being a discussion on theology to an emotional experience. -Pastors want to illicit an emotional response and have the parishioner leaving service thinking about their soul -Salvation comes from prayer, not rituals -All can have religious experiences -Lessened significance of denominations Challenges religious authority -Arminianism: free will not not predestination determine a person’s fate

9. Message • Salvation is achieved through prayer • The individual is the best judge of one’s own religious behavior, which is based on the individual's personal understanding of God • Personal Piety-starting fresh • Resulted in decreased card playing, gambling, drunkenness, more people attend church services • Individual Revival-People beginning to think with the heart rather than the head (rejection of cold Puritan beliefs

10. The Great Awakening Founder of Revivalist movement, Northampton, MA From puritan/ Calvinist roots BUT…stressed the importance of immediate and personal religious experiences. Powerful sermons and he spoke “solemn, with a distinct and careful enunciation, and a slow cadence.” Most famous sermon: “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” Fire and Brimstone Jonathan Edwards

11. The Great Awakening George Whitfield "Come poor, lost, undone sinner, come just as you are to Christ.” From England, moves to the colonies Known as a great orator Message: God was merciful, people can save themselves. Not predestined for damnation Espoused the wonder of salvation and the evils of hell Ben Franklin was a fan: not a believer in his words, but was glad he promoted good deeds as the worship of God Promotes slavery in Georgia. He claimed the area would never be prosperous without it. In 1751 when Georgia reviewed legislation, his words helped legalize slavery. He promptly bought slaves to run his orphanage. To raise money for the orphanage he employed slaves at a plantation

12. Impact of the Great Awakening • Creation of new Colleges to train new types of ministers: Princeton, Brown, and Rutgers • Divisions in denominations” “the old way” and “the new way” • Questioning religious authority leads to questioning political authority