APUSH - Great Awakening and the Enlightenment

Major Enlightenment Ideas

- YES freedom of speech - YES education for all - YES government freely elected - NO slavery (because slavery meant competition in economy) - NO religious prejudice - NO divine right theory - NO unequal distribution of property

Enlightenment and the Economy

- "Laissez-faire": "let it be" allow business to operate with NO government interference - free trade - opposed tariffs

Jonathan Edwards

- Congregationalist minister who helped bring Great Awakening - preached damnation in his famous sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" - believed salvation wasn't predestined, but determined by behavior - believed those not born again would suffer a terrible fate

George Whitefield

- Methodist preacher who entered colonies in 1739-1741 - English where Enlightenment occurred - preached Christianity based on emotionalism and spirituality, which is today shown in southern Evangelism

Impact of the Great Awakening

- challenged religious thought - opposition to Awakening heightened in 1740's when Congregationalists splintered (Methodists and Baptists) - splintering led to more religious toleration - prepared America for its war of independence - revivalism taught you can challenge religious authority and break away from church

New Sides/Lights

- favored revivalism - people realized disobedience to authority didn't guarantee damnation

Major Ideas of Englightenment

- people are good and environment influences them - science and reason can answer life's mysteries and man's questions about government and himself - reason can solve most problems in society - government created to keep society orderly - separation of powers best way to protect human liberties - all men created free and equal - free market should be allowed to regulate trade

View of Religion

- people think differently about religion - Europeans began to take control of their own faith and religion - Deism

The Enlightenment

- period making contrasting ideas of intellectual reasoning - origins: late 1600's and 1700's Europeans believed human reason and science could be applied to society and laws of nature - Western Europe and New World changed their view of life from God-centered to man-centered - Scientific Revolution led to the Enlightenment - successful: planetary movements, chemistry, vaccine for small pox, etc.

Deism

- philosophy that resulted from Enlightenment - many future founding fathers were Deists (Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin) - belief: there's a God but he did not do anything after placing natural laws, let universe function on its own

Great Awakening

- reaction to religion becoming boring - new spiritualism/revivalism meant Christians could believe from hearts during worship - reject predestination, individual experiences of salvation - less intellectualizing, ministers preached more about damnation and salvation - factions in churches develop

Social Contract

- theory that typically addresses the questions of the origin of society and the legitimacy of the authority of the state over the individual - most important people: Thomas Hobbes and John Locke

Egalitarian

Equal

Old Sides/Lights

Traditional

Thomas Hobbes

said: - humans are cruel, greedy, and selfish - enter social contract to escape brutish life - only powerful government and absolute monarchy can ensure orderly society

John Locke

said: - humans are reasonable, moral, and good - humans have natural rights: life, liberty, and property - people from government work to protect these natural rights - best form of government has limited power - people can overthrow government if it violate their rights