The First Great Awakening: Religious Revival and Cultural Transformation in Colonial America

Religious Landscape of Colonial America

Prior to the First Great Awakening, the American colonies possessed a diverse array of religious denominations, largely shaped by geographical settlement patterns:

• Anglican (Church of England): Served as the official church of the British colonies; dominant across the Southern colonies (Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia) as well as parts of New York.
• Congregational: Evolved directly out of the English Puritan tradition; maintained official dominance in the New New England colonies (Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Hampshire).
• Lutheran: Concentrated primarily within Middle colony settlements in Pennsylvania and New York.
• Presbyterian: Widely established throughout the Middle colonies and expanding frontier communities.
• Baptist: Strong presence in Rhode Island, extending into the Middle and Southern colonies.
• Methodist: An emerging revivalist movement stemming from Anglican roots.
• Quaker (Society of Friends): Concentrated in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
• Moravian: Evangelical Pietist groups located mainly in Pennsylvania and North Carolina.
• Roman Catholic: Primarily concentrated in Maryland and small regions of Pennsylvania.
• Jewish: Small urban congregations located in port cities such as Newport, New York, Charleston, and Savannah.
• Muslim: Practiced covertly by a small population of enslaved Africans transported across the transatlantic slave trade.
• Reformed Churches: Included distinct Dutch Reformed, German Reformed, and French Reformed congregations.

Dynamics of the First Great Awakening (1730s–1740s)

The First Great Awakening was a major spiritual revival movement that swept through all thirteen American colonies during the 1730s and 1740s.

• Core Characteristics:
  • Characterized by intense emotional preaching, open-air revival meetings, and massive outdoor assemblies drawing thousands of listeners.
  • Emphasized a direct, personal, and transformative relationship and encounter with God.
  • Challenged the strict Calvinist theology of traditional Puritanism, which held that salvation was strictly reserved for "God's elect."
  • Itinerant (traveling) evangelists called all individuals to confess their sins, repent, and receive God's divine forgiveness, love, and mercy.
  • Popularized the doctrine of spiritual rebirth ("born again") through the direct work of the Holy Spirit.
• Socio-Religious Innovations:
  • Initiated a widespread "democratization of religion" by proclaiming that salvation was universally accessible to anyone through personal faith.
  • Promoted religious individualism, laying groundwork for broader religious freedom and freedom of conscience across colonial society.

Key Figures of the Awakening ("New Lights")

The Great Awakening created a division between "New Lights" (revivalist ministers advocating emotional conversion and spiritual renewal) and "Old Lights" (traditional orthodox clergy who criticized open-air preaching, emotionalism, and unordained itinerant preaching).

George Whitefield (1714–1770)

• Background and Travels:
  • An English Anglican priest and itinerant revivalist who arrived in the colonies in 1739, undertaking extensive preaching tours throughout the colonies, including major stops in Charleston and Savannah.
• Preaching Style:
  • Renowned for his extraordinary eloquence, dramatic theatrical flair, booming vocal projection, and deep emotional appeal.
• Public Reception and Colonial Leadership:
  • Admired across diverse social strata; formed a close 30-year friendship with Benjamin Franklin.
  • Benjamin Franklin printed news of Whitefield's tours and published his sermons for distribution across the colonies, despite holding rationalist beliefs and rejecting Whitefield's theology.
  • Franklin noted Whitefield's persistent attempts to convert him:
  • "He [the Rev. Mr. Whitefield] used, indeed, sometimes to pray for my conversion, but never had the satisfaction of believing that his prayers were heard."
• Core Teachings and Quotes:
  • On religious gathering: "Among the many reasons assignable for the sad decay of true Christianity, perhaps the neglecting to assemble ourselves together, in religious societies, may not be one of the least."
  • On spiritual urgency: "I love those that thunder out the Word, … the Christian world is in a deep sleep. Nothing but a loud voice can awaken them out of it."
  • Universal call to salvation: "And now let me address all of you, high and low, rich and poor, one with another, to accept of mercy and grace while it is offered to you; Now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation; and will you not accept it, now it is offered unto you?"
• Opposition and Satire:
  • Attacked by Old Light critics and satirists who labeled him "Dr. Squintum" (referencing his strabismus) and published visual satires accusing revivalists of hypocrisy, financial greed, and inciting mob enthusiasm.

Jonathan Edwards (1703–1758)

• Background and Education:
  • Scholarly New England Congregationalist pastor and theologian from Northampton, Massachusetts; educated at Yale College.
• Theological Stance:
  • Deeply read in Enlightenment philosophy, yet remained steadfast in traditional Calvinist theology regarding divine sovereignty, human depravity, and the conversion of God's elect.
  • Preached the absolute necessity of sincere repentance before a holy and sovereign God to achieve spiritual regeneration ("new life in Christ").
• Famous Sermon: "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" (1741):
  • Delivered at Enfield, Connecticut, on July 8, 1741, during a period of intense revival.
  • Published with the epigraph from Amos 9:2–3: "Though they dig into Hell, thence shall mine Hand take them; though they climb up to Heaven, thence will I bring them down. And though they hide themselves in the Top of Carmel, I will search and take them out thence; and though they be hid from my Sight in the Bottom of the Sea, thence I will command the Serpent, and he shall bite them."
  • Infamous imagery: "The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider… abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked: his wrath towards you burns like fire; he looks upon you as worthy of nothing else, but to be cast into the fire."
  • Direct interrogation: "How can you expect to dwell with God forever, if you so neglect and forsake him here?"
• Later Career and Death:
  • Appointed President of the College of New Jersey (later Princeton University); died in 1758 due to complications from a smallpox inoculation.

John Wesley (1703–1791)

• Background and Founding of Methodism:
  • Oxford-educated Anglican priest and founder of the Methodist movement within the Church of England.
• American Parish in Georgia (1736–1737):
  • Served as religious leader in the Georgia colony from February 6, 1736 to December 2, 1737.
  • Conducted an inclusive ministry aiming to reach both British colonists and Native Americans.
  • In 1976, the site was recognized by the United Methodist Church as a National Historic Landmark encompassing six historic sites:
  1. Landing site at Cockspur Island on U.S. 80 E.
  2. Site of his first sermon at Bull St. and Bay Lane.
  3. The Wesley monument on Reynolds Square.
  4. Site of his parsonage and garden at Congress and Abercorn.
  5. Site of Wesley's first permanent worship place at York & Whitaker.
  6. Trinity Church on Telfair Square ("The Mother Church of Savannah Methodism," designated 1995).
• Theological Viewpoints:
  • Strongly rejected Calvinist predestination and the idea of a restricted "elect", maintaining that God's grace and salvation are freely offered to all.
  • Championed the abolition of slavery and encouraged active participation and public leadership roles for women within church communities.
  • Promoted freedom of thought in Advice to a People Called Methodist: "Condemn no man for not thinking as you think: let every one enjoy the full and free liberty of thinking for himself. Let every man use his own judgment since every man must give an account of himself to God."
  • Described his conversion experience: "I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation, and an assurance was given me that he had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death."
• Reconciliation with George Whitefield:
  • Despite sharp disputes over predestination and Christian perfection, Whitefield and Wesley agreed to disagree and reconciled.
  • Established a pact where Whitefield agreed not to build Calvinist Methodist chapels in areas with established Methodist societies, and Wesley agreed to the same.
• Institutional Legacy:
  • Influenced the founding of Methodist higher education institutions, such as Duke University (founded 1838), whose crest features the Latin motto Eruditio et Religio ("Knowledge and Faith").

Phillis Wheatley and Religious Intellectual Culture

• Biography:
  • An enslaved woman brought from West Africa to Boston, serving as a servant to Mr. John Wheatley.
  • Achieved international fame as a prodigy poet, publishing Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral in London in 1773.
• Poetic Analysis: "On Being Brought from Africa to America" (1773):
  • Full text:     > "'Twas mercy brought me from my Pagan land,     > Taught my benighted soul to understand     > That there's a God, that there's a Saviour too:     > Once I redemption neither sought nor knew.     > Some view our sable race with scornful eye,     > 'Their colour is a diabolic die.'     > Remember, Christians, Negroes, black as Cain,     > May be refin'd, and join th' angelic train."
• Correspondence with General George Washington:
  • Letter from Phillis Wheatley to George Washington (October 26, 1775):
  • Written from Providence, enclosing a poem dedicated to Washington upon his appointment by the Continental Congress as Generalissimo of North American armies.
  • Expressions: "SIR, I Have taken the freedom to address your Excellency in the enclosed poem, and entreat your acceptance… Wishing your Excellency all possible success in the great cause you are so generously engaged in. I am, Your Excellency's most obedient humble servant, PHILLIS WHEATLEY."
  • Reply from George Washington to Phillis Wheatley (February 28, 1776):
  • Apologized for delay due to military duties and praised her literary genius: "I thank you most sincerely for your polite notice of me, in the elegant Lines you enclosed; and however undeserving I may be of such encomium and panegyric, the style and manner exhibit a striking proof of your great poetical Talents."
  • Expressed hesitation to publish it publicly to avoid accusations of personal vanity, adding: "If you should ever come to Cambridge, or near Headquarters, I shall be happy to see a person so favourd by the Muses, and to whom nature has been so liberal and beneficent in her dispensations."

Long-Term Impacts and Historical Significance

• Religious Transformation:
  • Salvation transcended traditional denominational barriers, emphasizing that anyone could be called by God.
  • Weakened rigid Calvinism and established state churches, spurring rapid growth among Baptist and Methodist denominations, particularly in the South and along the frontier.
  • Fostered religious pluralism, diversity, and individual spiritual self-determination.
• Social and Democratic Legacy:
  • Challenged established social hierarchies by proclaiming spiritual equality for all individuals, explicitly including women and enslaved people.
  • The "democratization of religion" cultivated anti-authoritarian values and shared colonial identity, laying critical social and cultural foundations for democratic movement and reform prior to the American Revolution.
  • Directly challenged Enlightenment Rationalism and Deism's notion of a remote, distant "clockmaker" God by emphasizing an intimate, active, and accessible God.