September 23, 2008

Ideas of the Enlightenment

• Enlightenment- new ideas, challenged old ways of thinking
• rejected idea that god is vengeful
• able to use your senses to figure things out such as how the world worked
• attacked superstitions
• men in the enlightenment: Isaac Newton-Science and John Locke- Political theory
• shifted thinking
• led to establishment of Yale University
• Increased standing of the legal professions
• didnt like lawyers but the enlightenment caused veiws change and it is realized of the importance of lawyers and other legal workers
• Slavery accepted everywhere
• Daily hard liquor(whiskey)
• smuggled rum into colonies
• 1750-52-- establishers of georgia give up on colony, let laws drop, held their own gov. elections.

Ideas of the Great Awakening

• The Great Awakening
• some ways as important as revolution
• late 1600s and early 1700s dramatic changes
• new science challenging old ways of thinking
• european countries having commercial revolution
• countries have established merkanterism
• enlightenment
• causes people to question long held tradition
• Sir Isaac Newton-published law of Gravity
• God can step back
• John Locke- people have natural god given rights for property, life, liberty
• gradually deminishes direct role of god in everyday situations
• colonist worried/scared
• small pox coming back- wrath from god?
• New England economy failing
• Children not going to be as well off.
• NO predestination set by god
• Redefining concepts of God
• God was no longer an Angry god
• 1740 hardcare purist turning away form calvanism
• puritan ministers changing their thinking and teaching
• Dead dogs- boring, blan sermans given by ministers.
• Ministers set out to inspire hoping for a return to the church
• put more emotion into sermons
• Johnathan Edwards continued preching with scholarly sermons but put emotion into it so the congregation would listen and go back to old church.
• George Whitefeild advertised his sermons
• thousands of people came to here him preach
• the great awakening was the first spontaneous mass movement in america