APUSH The (1st) Great Awakening (1730s-1740s) Notes

● Religious revival movement ● Evangelicalism -"new birth" considered the ultimate religious experience ● Follower accepted that they were sinners, asked for salvation, and spread the Christian message Before the Great Awakening ● Before the 1630s, most colonies had two established religions

○ Congregationalism -largest religion in New England (included Puritans and reformed Churches who broke away from the Church of England) ○ Anglicanism -Largest religion in New York and the Southern colonies (same as the Church of England) Old Lights vs. New Lights ● "New Lights" = New denominations that grew as a result of the Great Awakening ○ Ex

Evangelicalism

“new birth” considered the ultimate religious experience

Congregationalism

largest religion in New England (included Puritans and reformed Churches who broke away from the Church of England)

Anglicanism

Largest religion in New York and the Southern colonies (same as the Church of England)

New Lights

New denominations that grew as a result of the Great Awakening

Old Lights

Congregationalists and Anglicans

The Great Awakening

Challenged authority & hierarchy of old light churches
Said anybody could be converted and born again
Argued there was no need for traditional church leadership to decide whether or not you belong

John Edwards

New England Congregationalist Reverend famous for sermons which argued God was angry at human sinfulness

George Whitefield

attracted huge crowds throughout the colonies delivering sermons in places like fields, barons, and tents

Religious

Ministers lost some of their former authority
Creation of new denominations within the Protestant faith (more evangelical branches like Baptists & Methodists)

Political

Call for separation of church and state
Challenge to religious authority paves way for challenge to political authority
30 years later → challenge to Royal authority