In the mid–18th century a religious movement known as the Great Awakening swept across parts of colonial America. Protestant Christian preachers traveled throughout the countryside. They taught that good behavior and individual faith were more important than book learning and Bible reading. The Great Awakening had a big influence on colonial and U.S. religion, culture, and politics.

Background

The ideas behind the Great Awakening came to British America with Protestant immigrants. German immigrant Theodorus Jacobus Frelinghuysen was a minister of the Dutch Reformed Church in New Jersey. He attracted people with his emotional sermons. Gilbert Tennent, an immigrant from Ireland, was a Presbyterian minister in Pennsylvania. A friend of Frelinghuysen's, Tennent was also a powerful preacher. Neither preacher thought that he needed to follow the formal rules of the church. They both thought that emotion, more than Bible study, was a powerful way of expressing faith. These men and others helped to start the Great Awakening.

Spread

Traveling preachers spread the movement among Protestant Christians in the American colonies. They inspired many colonists who had lost their enthusiasm for religion. One of those preachers was an Englishman named George Whitefield. Beginning in 1738 Whitefield made several trips from Great Britain to the colonies. Whitefield argued that only faith in Jesus Christ could save people. He had to preach in open fields because no church building could hold the large crowds he attracted.

Jonathan Edwards, a Congregational minister in Massachusetts, also spread the ideas of the Great Awakening. He preached that people could be saved by faith alone, not by their good deeds. He converted many people with his stirring sermons.

Beliefs

Followers of the Great Awakening had very emotional church services. They believed that people showed their faith through their emotions. Faith was more important than doctrine, or official church teachings. Lay people, or those who were not pastors, could know just as much about God as church officials.

The Great Awakening challenged the ideas of the Enlightenment. The Enlightenment was a movement in the 18th century that emphasized human reason and the power of science. Preachers of the Great Awakening disagreed with these ideas. They believed that only God, not reason, could save people.

Opposition

Some church members rejected the Great Awakening. The new beliefs angered many older and respected ministers. In New England bitter disputes broke out between supporters (“New Lights”) and opponents (“Old Lights”) of the new ideas. Old Lights disliked the screaming and fainting in the new-style church services. They were also upset that traveling preachers spoke to church members without the official minister's permission.

Impact

The Great Awakening revived Protestant Christianity in the American colonies. Traditional churches lost influence to newer groups. The movement also resulted in a burst of missionary activity among Native Americans. In addition, it led to the founding of several major colleges and universities, including Princeton, Brown, Rutgers, and Dartmouth.

The Great Awakening was also one of the first important movements against slavery. The English preacher George Whitefield criticized brutal slaveholders. He shocked many whites by saying that slaves had souls. He welcomed African Americans at church services.

Some historians believe that the Great Awakening even helped to cause the American Revolution. First, the movement encouraged democracy because everyone could participate in it. Second, American colonists began to question taxes that benefited only one official church, the Church of England. (Taxes were one of the American revolutionaries' biggest complaints against the British.) Third, because their own beliefs were strong, colonists learned to challenge the authority of ministers. They might also have lost respect for powerful people—such as their British rulers—in general.