Awakenings & Enlightenments

Awakenings & Enlightenments pp. 91-98

Pattern of Religions Variety in colonial America Difficult to impose any one religion on any large area Church of England in VA, MD, NY, NC, SC, GA Increased variety in Christian denominations Catholics & Jews remained religious minorities & suffered persecution

The Great Awakening Concerns about declining piety (reverence for God) & increased secularism Began with increased religious fervor, 1730s-1740s Esp. appealed to women & younger sons Reflected desire to break away from families and start a new life

Great Awakening • Evangelists • John & Charles Wesley-Methodism • George Whitefield-see link • Jonathan Edwards-Puritan • Led to divisions between “New Light” revivalists & “Old Light” traditionalists • Some revivalists said book learning was a “hindrance to salvation” • G.A. caused a great upheaval in the culture of colonies

Enlightenment • Result of scientific & intellectual discoveries • In competition with the Great Awakening • Natural laws regulated workings of nature • Francis Bacon, John Locke older ideas • Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine, James Madison were newer thinkers • Human reason • Created progress & advanced knowledge

Enlightenment Increased emphasis on the importance of education, politics, & government Encouraged one to look at oneself, rather than look to God for guidance

Education • Emphasis on education in colonies, but work often interfered • MA law in 1647 required every town to have a school • Quakers set up church schools • Apprentices learned from craftsmen in cities: evening schools • Few children went beyond primary school years • Literacy rates in colonies were higher than in Europe • Over ½ of white men could read and write

Education • Males had more educational opportunities, but females had primary home schooling and higher literacy rates • African slaves had few chances at schooling • Literacy discouraged, so there was no questioning of status • Most Natives preferred to educate their children in their own way • Due to increased literacy, almanacs were published and circulated (p. 94-95)

First Colleges • Tied to religion & training of preachers but had wide-ranging curricula— • Logic, ethics, physics, geometry, astronomy, Latin, Greek, etc. • Harvard, 1636, MA • William & Mary, 1693, VA • Yale, 1701, CT • College of New Jersey (Princeton), 1746 • King’s College (Columbia), 1754, NY • Academy of College of Philadelphia (Penn, Ben Fr.) • Offered mechanics, chem., agri., gov’t., commerce, languages, 1st medical school

The Spread of Science • Increased interest in scientific knowledge • At colleges • By amateurs & scientific societies • Ben Franklin—Kite experiment proved that lightning & electricity were the same; invented the lightning rod • Cotton Mather—Inoculation against small pox

Concepts of Law & Politics • In comparison to England court procedures were simpler & punishments were different • Stocks, branding irons, whipping posts, ducking stools • Royal government was far away, so colonies had a large measure of self-rule • Voted for colonial assemblies • Royal governors had limited powers • Colonies largely were independent of Parliament

Awakenings & Enlightenments