Direct Result Of The Great Awakening example essay topic

The Great Awakening The Great Awakening was a religious movement during the 1730's and 1740's in which itinerant ministers presented powerful messages of salvation and which provided early Americans with a greater sense of nationality. This religious movement also had a lasting effect upon the manner in which the people in the American colonies viewed themselves, their relationships with each other, and their faith. This movement caused a separation between church and state, acceptance and diversity, and the founding of new, more secular colleges. Toward mid-century the country experienced its first major religious revival. The Great Awakening swept the English-speaking world, as religious energy vibrated between England, Wales, Scotland and the American colonies in the 1730's and 1740's. In America, the Awakening signaled the advent of an encompassing evangelicalism, the belief that the essence of religious experience was the "new birth", inspired by the preaching of the Word.

It invigorated even as it divided churches. The supporters of the Awakening and its evangelical thrust -- Presbyterians, Baptists and Methodists, became the largest American Protestant denominations by the first decades of the nineteenth century. Opponents of the Awakening or those split by it; Anglicans, Quakers, and Congregationalists, were left behind. The Great Awakening also resulted in an outburst of missionary activity among Native Americans by such men as David Brainerd, Eleazar Wheelock, and Samuel Kirkland; in the first movement of importance against slavery; and in various other humanitarian undertakings. It served to build up interests that were inter colonial in character, to increase opposition to the Anglican Church and the royal officials who supported it, and to encourage a democratic spirit in religion. The Great Awakening that revived the churches in America, it extended from the Northeast through the Middle Colonies and into the South.

It brought changes not only to Christianity in America, but also affected communications, politics, and social barriers within American society. Denominational barriers broke down as Christians of all persuasions worked together in the cause of the gospel. There was a renewed concern with missions, and work among the Indians increased. As more young men prepared for service as Christian ministers, a concern for higher education grew. Princeton, Rutgers, Brown, and Dartmouth universities were all established as a direct result of the Great Awakening. Some have even seen a connection between the Great Awakening and the American Revolution, Christians enjoying spiritual liberty in Christ would come to crave political liberty.

The Great Awakening has come through and touched just about every ones lives in the 1730's and 1740's. In some form or fashion it effected everyone in the America. Because the Americans were so involved now, the colonies rapidly matured. Transatlantic commerce linked the colonies to Africa and Europe. While schools, towns, and churches appeared on a receding frontier. The Era of Revolution was rapidly approaching the American people.

The Great Awakening not only revived the American church, but reinvigorated American society as well.