Compare And Contrast The Enlightenment And The Great Awakening

The eighteenth century saw a host of social, religious, and intellectual changes across the British Empire. While the Great Awakening promoted and emphasized emotional religiosity, the Enlightenment promoted the power of reason and scientific observation. Both of these movements had a lasting impact on the colonies (Schultz, 2014). These movements had an impact on the American lifestyle that still exists today.

Enlightenment and Great Awakening In America, as the society aged, it was influenced by two cultural phenomena. One was based on intellectual while the other was religion. As the 1700s advanced, American treasure improved, the wealthy spend their money on books. They were exposed to new ideas coming from Europe. On the other hand, the Great Awakening appealed to the less wealthy because it was for people’s emotions.

The age of reason and enlightenment was a period where people were trapped and confined to one way of life, one way of living or job. An example of this is in a fascist society where you bow down to one person and one person only. John Locke, Mary Wollenstone, Voltaire, Adam Smith were all philosophers in the Age of Enlightenment. John Locke wrote in 1690 The Second Treatise on Civil Government this showed what his opinion on government is. Voltaire’s Letters Concerning The English Nation says that if many religions in a government that allows it. The people will be at peace and not concerned with each other. The philosophers during the enlightenment period who were looking for one thing the natural laws of philosophy, human thinking. Just like Isaac Newton found what gravity is. They strived to find how the human mind thought of the world and politics. The ideas that the philosopher said in their documents are; economic rights, religious

The Enlightenment and the Great Awakening periods in American history contributed not only to the Revolutionary War, but also shaping America into its present day self. The Enlightenment period brought a sense of self-awareness; science was now applied to all aspects of life (religion, politics, trade, and life itself). Intellectuals began questioning what gives or allows a person the right to govern - as illustrated in Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s book The Social Contract (1762). Rousseau’s contention was that individuals had “natural rights” to life, liberty, and property that rulers could not deny (Schultz, 2013 p. 69). The Enlightenment also spurred a reformation in education; the days of religious based curricula were being challenged, philosophy and the concept of reasoning were introduced. The institution of the Press was reformed as well. Newspapers and magazines began circulating and reporting on the goings on of the day - people were becoming informed. People were thinking for themselves and questioning the authority of positional power and religion.

In conclusion, the Enlightenment was vital to the American Revolution and the creation of American Government. The Enlightenment beliefs that influenced the American Revolution were natural rights, the social contract, and the right to overthrow the government if the social contract was violated. The Enlightenment beliefs that aided to the creation of the American government were separation of powers, checks and balances, and limited government. As stated before, without the Enlightenment there would not have been a revolution, resulting in no American Government. The Enlightenment’s influence on the creation of America is irrefutable. Although there are more beliefs and ideas that came from the Enlightenment that have influenced America, the

The Enlightenment was a period of time that stressed the importance of reason and individual ideas. Many philosophers published works criticizing a country’s monarch or divulging the flaws they saw in a system within the government, such as the justice system. The Enlightenment also stressed the importance of education, and as a result of this, literacy rates experienced a major upward trend. Now able to read the philosopher’s works, a larger sum of people now were educated on the corruptions within their government. This caused a questioning of traditional practices, and people began to believe they could revise their government. These new ideas played as a catalyst to acts of resistance, or in a broader retrospect, the French Revolution.

With this awakening came as a better understanding for people to choose how they have a relationship with their god. Instead of having an all-powerful church that would most always require some sort of membership, they allowed the people to choose their own church and join at free will. This gave the people the right to maintain the relationship with god in however the pleased. The leaders of the colonies were still very religious but used these influential views from The Enlightenment to establish a free will of religion instead of being tied down to one religious authority. It’s a known fact that the key figures in helping shape the United States such as Thomas Jefferson were greatly influenced by the ideas and concepts of The Enlightenment.

Abigail Shelton October 8, 2015 Miraya 4B The Enlightenment Response During the Enlightenment, scientists began to challenge the ways of the Old World. People began to advocate for separation of powers to keep one person from holding too much. Ministers started to focus on similarities between churches.

The Enlightenment was a movement that shunned superstition and was more in favor with a scientific explanation of the world. The Enlightenment was also known as the Age of Reason or Age of Enlightenment. It started in Europe and America around the 17th and 18th centuries. The Enlightenment was about people who used their critical thinking skills to argue knowledge, education, politics, religion, and art. The enlightenment produced an increased number of inventions, books, scientific findings, political laws, and revolutions.

The eighteenth century America saw may changes in terms of reformation. People like Sir Isaac Newton, Thomas Hobbes and John Locke were the pioneers of this intellectual era who established scientific and rational understanding. The era showed the revolution in literature and people's understanding of mankind. The Enlightenment and the Great Awakening helped in religious revival and help in establish sense of morality. The era argued against the medieval scholasticism and brought people from rural culture into communal identity. The Society of Friends, or Quakers flourished and implemented their theories of equality and tolerance. Unlike puritans, they were pacifists and brought equality among every members of society.

This act, proposed by the British Parliament, made colonists pay for the debt that Britain obtained from the French and Indian war. Colonists were not happy with this act because they did not have a say in the creation of it. The Stamp Act of 1765 only furthered the wish of colonist to be free from monarchy rule. Most importantly, being free would create a opportunity for

The Enlightenment was a movement between the 17th and 18th century that focused more on an individual view with reason, rather than simply a traditional view. Most of the views of the Enlightenment focused on the goodness of human rationality, and is believed to be the illuminated view that contrast views of the dark Middle Ages. This period of time brought on a religion of its own known as Deism. Most men of the Enlightenment quickly took onto Deism. Men like John Locke, Voltaire, Montesquieu, and many others.

The Stamp Act, a British law passed by the Parliament of Great Britain. The Stamp Act was passed on February 17, 1765, it took effect on November 1, 1765. It was created to raise revenue from the American Colonies by duty (tax) in the form of a stamp required on all newspapers and legal or commercial documents. The stamp Act was also a first direct tax to be levied on the American colonies. It was the first serious attempt to assert governmental authority over 13 colonies.

The Stamp Act was a British tax that came directly from the colonies and it was not popular. A stamp had to be put on all the printed material produced in the colonies, due to needing money to finance the empire and putting British troops in North America. The colonists did not want a British army staying in America and were upset that the Stamp Act was imposed without the consent of the colony. People were so unhappy that the Stamp Act led to a riot in 1765 which then opened the door to 50 years of protest and political unrest throughout the Western world. It sparked the fight for liberty (for which the colonists felt violated), and various battles to increase liberty throughout

The Stamp Act declared that all printed material had to carry a special stamp, and American colonists had to pay for it. The Act mostly affected people who used a lot of paper, like newspaper printers and lawyers, influential people who can persuade and rally people against the British. The colonists were very angry and felt that the British were robbing them of their hard earing by making them pay unreasonable taxes on things like tea and postage. Furthermore, they did not even have any representation in the British Parliament. The colonists citing “no taxation without representation” and they completely stopped paying taxes.