their own churches, it is not difficult to see that they might be capable of governing themselves politically as well.  

The First Great Awakening, which swept across New England in the 1730s and 1740s, sought to renew a sense of religious fervor in people. A new type of ecstatic preacher, called "New Lights," preached on the frontier (which was then along the Connecticut River) and introduced audiences to an intense and personal form of religion that they had not experienced before. As a result, the power of the established Puritan church in Boston, comprised of preachers referred to as "Old Lights," diminished to some degree. In addition, the movement strengthened religions that were new to America, such as Methodism and Baptism. In the south, slaves who were swept up into the movement became converts to Christianity. The social and political impact of the movement was that it weakened the established churches and gave rise to what some historians believe was a more democratic form of religion in which each adherent could have a sense of personal salvation and connection with God. 

The main social impact of the Great Awakening was, not surprisingly, related to religion.  The Great Awakening brought about splits in many of the major religious denominations in the American colonies.  Denominations ended up splitting between the “old lights” who held to the traditional religious ways, and the “new lights” who wanted to follow the ideas of the Great Awakening.  The Old Lights wanted highly educated preachers who taught their flocks to believe in the “correct” ideas from the Bible.  By contrast, the New Lights wanted preachers who could connect with people on an emotional level and who were not necessarily educated in the niceties of theology.  Thus, the Great Awakening created splits between newer, more evangelical and older, more hierarchical wings of the various denominations.

Politically, the Great Awakening is usually credited with helping (in the long run) to bring about the American Revolution.  The Great Awakening, historians say, helped make the colonies more democratic.  The New Light preachers were, in essence, preaching a democratic message.  Any person, they said, could understand what God wanted.  The word of God was not known only to the educated elites.  Instead, it was something that everyone could understand.  People did not need religious hierarchies, headed by the elites, to guide them.  This idea, we are told, carried over to political life.  Since colonists believed that they were capable of determining their own religious beliefs, they also started to believe that they were capable of guiding their own political destinies.  The Great Awakening, in other words, made people believe that they could and should have a democratic government in addition to a more democratic religion.

The Great Awakening was significant in American history for at least two main reasons.  One of these reasons was religious and the other was more political.

In terms of religion, the Great Awakening changed American religion, making it more charismatic and emotional.  The American religious scene had previously been dominated by “high churches.”  These were churches that tended to be somewhat hierarchical and which relied on ritual.  The Great Awakening changed both of these things.  It brought about churches that had less hierarchy.  It also brought about the idea that religious experience should be mainly emotional.  It brought about the idea of a personal connection or relationship with God.

In political terms, the Great Awakening helped to make the American colonies more democratic.  The Great Awakening reduced the emphasis on the idea that religion and society should be dominated by learned elites.  Instead, it introduced the idea that anyone could be a religious leader.  This idea helped to bring about the idea that anyone could be a political leader as well.

In these ways, the Great Awakening had major political and religious impacts on the American colonies.

The Great Awakening, sometimes called the First Great Awakening, occurred in the American colonies between the 1720s and 1740s, though some historians define it in broader terms and choose not to limit it to those decades. It was geographically widespread. Though influenced by the Pietism that swept across Europe in preceding years, the popular religious movement had its own American roots, context, and outcomes.

Often seen as a reaction against rationalism and formalism, the Great Awakening provided spontaneity, vigor, and the assertion of the validity and centrality of personal or individual religious experience. The revival and many of the popular preachers who spearheaded it (e.g. George Whitefield) crossed denominational lines and thus blurred the distinctions between Christian denominations; it also had an element of anti-authoritarianism. One could productively trace the importance of these religious and cultural shifts in the colonies with an eye toward the roots of the American Revolution.

The Great Awakening could have contributed to the American Revolution in another way: the crowds that came together to listen to popular preachers during this time gathered in fields and other open spaces, ostensibly because the local church buildings could not accommodate them. Could these open-air meetings have established a pattern or blueprint for revolutionary meetings and gatherings during the era of the American Revolution? Some historians believe that they did.

The spontaneous, personal, cross-denominational, anti-authoritarian, and communal elements of the First Great Awakening can be productively explored in connection with the context and roots of the American Revolution: the historical literature on the topic is vast.

Arguably the most important long-term effect of the Great Awakening was that it acted as a catalyst for the movement toward American independence. This great religious revival took place without the express endorsement of the established church, and led to the breakaway of many new independent sects and congregations. In turn, this weakened the hold of Great Britain over the American colonies as the Church of England was a vital component in the colonial power structure.

Once it became apparent that it was possible to go your own way in religious matters, it soon became clear that the same could equally apply to government. Thanks to the Great Awakening more and more Americans started asking themselves the question: if we can establish our own churches, then why can't we do the same with our government?