Notes on Enlightenment in America
III. The Enlightenment and the Great Awakening, 1720–1765
A. The Enlightenment in America
1. Many early Americans believed in folk wisdom, while others relied on a religion that believed the earth was the center of the universe and that God intervened directly and continuously in all kinds of human affairs.
2. philosophers of the European Enlightenment used empirical research and scientific reasoning to study all aspects of life, including social institutions and human behavior.
3. Enlightenment thinkers advanced four fundamental principles:
4. John Locke proposed that human lives were not fixed but, :
5. In Locke’s Two Treatises on Government, he advanced the theory that political authority was not divinely ordained but rather sprang from social compacts people made to preserve their natural rights to life, liberty, and property.
6. European Enlightenment ideas began to affect colonists’ beliefs about science, religion, and politics.
7. Benjamin Franklin and deism?
8. The Enlightenment added a secular dimension to colonial intellectual life.
B. American Pietism and the Great Awakening
1. While educated Americans turned to deism, other colonists turned to Pietism; sparked a religious revival.
2. Pietism emphasized:
3. Dutch minister Theodore Jacob Frelinghuysen & Jonathan Edwards
4. Beginning in 1739, the compelling George Whitefield & the “Great Awakening.”
C. Religious Upheaval in the North
1. “New Light”
2. Conservative, or “Old Light,”
3. Some farmers, women, and artisans condemned the Old Lights as “unconverted” sinners.
4. The Awakening undermined support of traditional churches and challenged their tax-supported status; “separatist” churches were founded that favored the separation of church and state.
5. The Awakening gave a new sense of religious authority to many colonists through its challenge to the authority of ministers, and reaffirmed communal values as it questioned the pursuit of wealth.
6. One lasting
A. The Enlightenment in America
1. Many early Americans believed in folk wisdom, while others relied on a religion that believed the earth was the center of the universe and that God intervened directly and continuously in all kinds of human affairs.
2. philosophers of the European Enlightenment used empirical research and scientific reasoning to study all aspects of life, including social institutions and human behavior.
3. Enlightenment thinkers advanced four fundamental principles:
4. John Locke proposed that human lives were not fixed but, :
5. In Locke’s Two Treatises on Government, he advanced the theory that political authority was not divinely ordained but rather sprang from social compacts people made to preserve their natural rights to life, liberty, and property.
6. European Enlightenment ideas began to affect colonists’ beliefs about science, religion, and politics.
7. Benjamin Franklin and deism?
8. The Enlightenment added a secular dimension to colonial intellectual life.
B. American Pietism and the Great Awakening
1. While educated Americans turned to deism, other colonists turned to Pietism; sparked a religious revival.
2. Pietism emphasized:
3. Dutch minister Theodore Jacob Frelinghuysen & Jonathan Edwards
4. Beginning in 1739, the compelling George Whitefield & the “Great Awakening.”
C. Religious Upheaval in the North
1. “New Light”
2. Conservative, or “Old Light,”
3. Some farmers, women, and artisans condemned the Old Lights as “unconverted” sinners.
4. The Awakening undermined support of traditional churches and challenged their tax-supported status; “separatist” churches were founded that favored the separation of church and state.
5. The Awakening gave a new sense of religious authority to many colonists through its challenge to the authority of ministers, and reaffirmed communal values as it questioned the pursuit of wealth.
6. One lasting