The Great Awakening was a spiritual renewal that swept the American Colonies,

particularly New England, during the first half of the 18th Century. It began in England before catching fire across the Atlantic.

Unlike the somber, largely Puritan spirituality of the early 1700s, the revivalism ushered in by the Awakening brought people back to "spiritual life" as they felt a greater

intimacy with God.

The Great Awakening

• Began in Mass. with Jonathan Edwards (regarded as greatest American theologian)

– Rejected salvation by works, affirmed need for complete dependence on grace of God (“Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”)

• Orator George Whitefield followed, touring colonies, led revivals, countless conversions, inspired imitators

George Whitefield

Jonathan Edwards

Background

Great Awakening

NewDenominations

Political & socialimplications

• Puritan ministers lost authority (Visible Saints)• Decay of family (Halfway Covenant)• Deism, God existed/created the world, but

afterwards left it to run by natural laws. Denied God communicated to man or in any way influenced his life…get to heaven if you are good. (Old Lights)

• 1740s, Puritanism declined by the 1730s and people were upset about the decline in religious piety. (devotion to God)

• “New Lights”: Heaven by salvation by grace through Jesus Christ. Formed: Baptist, Methodists

• Led to founding of colleges

• Crossed class barriers; emphasized equality of all• Unified Americans as a single people• Missionaries for Blacks and Indians

Half-Way CovenantHalf-Way Covenant• 1st generation’s Puritan zeal diluted over

time• Problem of declining church membership• 1662: Half-Way Covenant – partial

membership to those not yet converted (usually children/ grandchildren of members)

• Eventually all welcomed to church, erased distinction of “elect”

Harvard, 1636—First colonial college; trained candidates for ministry

College of William and Mary, 1694 (Anglican) Yale, 1701 (Congregational) Great Awakening influences creation of 5 new

colleges in mid-1700s College of New Jersey (Princeton), 1746 (Presbyterian) King’s College (Columbia), 1754 (Anglican) Rhode Island College (Brown), 1764 (Baptist) Queens College (Rutgers), 1766 (Dutch Reformed) Dartmouth College, 1769, (Congregational)

Higher Education

Higher Education

New colleges founded after the Great

Awakening.

New colleges founded after the Great

Awakening.

The Awakening's biggest significance was the way it prepared America for its

War of Independence. In the decades before the war,

revivalism taught people that they could be bold when confronting religious authority, and that when churches weren't living up to the believers'

expectations, the people could break off and form new ones.

Through the Awakening, the Colonists realized that religious power resided in

their own hands, rather than in the hands of the Church of England, or any other

religious authority. After a generation or two passed with this kind of mindset, the Colonists came

to realize that political power did not reside in the hands of the English

monarch, but in their own will for self-governance

F/I War 1750

English-French

rivalry worldwide

would erupt into a world war.

War begins over land disputes in the Ohio Valley

England and the 13 Colonies

fight together to defend their

empire.

British want part of fur trade and the 2 openings

into North America

FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR OR SEVEN

YEARS OF WAR

FOUGHT FOR THE CONTROL OF

NORTH AMERICA

FOUGHT FOR THE CONTROL OF

NORTH AMERICA

Against the French, Indian

allies and Spanish

George Washington

starts this war

• Ohio Valley river systems important to England and France….

• Both countries claimed these areas which were

disputed….•Both countries built forts

to defend their land claims….

F/I W ar O h io

•Along the way, Washington builds Fort Necessity. The fort falls to the French in a skirmish that will lead to the French and

Indian War.

• A British statesman later wrote about Washington’s first skirmish: “The volley fired by a young Virginian in the

backwoods of America set the world on fire.”

•Along the way, Washington builds Fort Necessity. The fort falls to the French in a skirmish that will lead to the French and

Indian War.

• A British statesman later wrote about Washington’s first skirmish: “The volley fired by a young Virginian in the

backwoods of America set the world on fire.”

• British concerned about French forts in Virginia territory.

• Send Washington, a major in the Virginia militia, to the Allegheny River

Valley. • Washington leads 300 men against the French at Fort Duquesne and kills over a

100 French.

• British concerned about French forts in Virginia territory.

• Send Washington, a major in the Virginia militia, to the Allegheny River

Valley. • Washington leads 300 men against the French at Fort Duquesne and kills over a

100 French.

• 1754: Albany Congress – convened by British, led by Franklin ~ 1st attempt at colonial unity ~ only 7 of 13 colonies there

• Purpose: keep Iroquois loyal, bolster defense against France through colonial unity• Franklin sponsored plan for colonial home rule, unanimously adopted by delegates

• Colonies rejected: not enough independence• London rejected: too much independence

Albany Plan

Seven Years of War

Gen. Edward Braddock --> evict the French from the OH Valley & Canada (Newfoundland & Nova Scotia)

Attacks OH Valley, Mohawk Valley, & Acadia. Killed 10 mi. from Ft. Duquesne by 1500 French and Indian forces.Only Br. Success --> expelled

France from Louisiana.

1755 Br. Decides to Eliminate Fr.

Presence in No. Amer.

1755 Br. Decides to Eliminate Fr.

Presence in No. Amer.

British

• March in formation or bayonet charge.

• Br. officers wanted to control colonials.

• Prima Donna Br. officers with servants & tea settings.

• Drills & tough discipline.

• Colonists should pay for own defense.

• Indian-style guerilla tactics.

• Col. militias served under own captains.

• No mil. deference or protocols observed.

• Resistance to rising taxes.

• Casual, non-professionals.

Methods ofFighting:

MilitaryOrganization:

MilitaryDiscipline:

Finances:

Demeanor:

British-American Colonial TensionsBritish-American Colonial Tensions

Colonials

French lose war and all land in North America

English inherit vast new land

holdings in North America

Colonists realize British are not invincible seek independence.

England sees responsibility to defend empire in

North America

King George and Parliament

tax the Colonies

FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR OR SEVEN

YEARS OF WAR

FOUGHT FOR THE CONTROL OF

NORTH AMERICA

FOUGHT FOR THE CONTROL OF

NORTH AMERICA

Great Britain accumulates

huge war debts

France --> lost her Canadian possessions, most of her empire in India, and claims to lands east of the Mississippi River.

Spain --> got all French lands west of the Mississippi River, New Orleans, but lost Florida to England.

England --> got all French lands in Canada, exclusive rights to Caribbean slave trade, and commercial dominance in India.

1763 Treaty of Paris

1763 Treaty of Paris

F/I War 1763Treaty of Paris 1763• England gains French land from

Canada to Florida and Appalachians to the Mississippi

River.• England gains Florida from

Spain.

1. It increased her colonial empire in the Americas.

2. It greatly enlarged England’s debt.

3. Britain’s contempt for the colonials created bitter feelings.

Therefore, England felt that amajor reorganization of her

American Empire was necessary!

Effects of the War on Britain?

Effects of the War on Britain?

1. It united them against a common enemy for the first time.

2. It created a socializing experience for all the colonials who participated.

3. It created bitter feelings

towards the British that would only intensify.

Effects of the War on the American

Colonials

Effects of the War on the American

Colonials