US History 1492-1865

Based on the readings from “Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God” and the excerpt from the “Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin” documents, The First Great Awakening sometimes referred to as the Great Awakening was the religious movement that was sweeping the English colonies. America was getting divided, and this is what ked to the rise of the Awakening or the new light, with its preachers setting up their own schools and churches throughout the colonies in England and one of the schools set up by the Awakening preachers was the Princeton University. Different dominations such as the old light refused to join and accept the new style of worship introduced by the Great Awakening movement, and despite the conflict, there still existed a greater religious toleration. So many dominations were set up, and by then it was clear that no religion would reign over the other.

The main inspiration for the Great Awakening was in the reaction against the Enlightenment, and as well it was a long term cause of the Revolution. Before the Great Awakening movement, the ministers represented the upper class, but after the movement, the ministers were not always ordained, breaking down the respect for betters. The introduction of the new faiths led to a more democratic religion due to their approach. The overall message for the new faiths was that of greater equality. The Great Awakening Movement was also a national occurrence, and it was the first major events that could be shared by all colonies in England, and this helped in breaking down the differences between the colonies and this led to the political consequences.

The Great Awakening challenges the social and political norms and helped changed the perspective of the colonists in regard to the larger British empire as it advocated for equality and democracy for all and at the same time in their preaching advocated for the sinners to recognize that God will judge them and that the judgement would be more fearful and painful than anyone could comprehend including the colonizers. It is through this that the Great Awakening was able to spread so rapidly in the colonies as they advocated for the greater equality and no oppression.