Question

How did the ideas associated with the Great Awakening and the Enlightenment (including republicanism and liberalism) challenge traditional religious, social, and political life in the British colonies?

Answer 1

Answer:

The set of ideological premises of the War of Independence is very heterogeneous. For many years, traditionally the central place has been given to the Enlightenment by analogy with the usual view of the Enlightenment as the ideological basis of the French Revolution. However, in recent years, increasingly more attention of researchers has been attracted by changes in the mass consciousness of the colonists and the radicalization of religious life as a result of the first Great Awakening that swept all British colonies in North America in the 30-50s of the 18th century. and proceeding in parallel with the Enlightenment movement. For the first time, the inhabitants of the colonies, professing various religious views, experienced a general spiritual upsurge, a severe emotional shock. The liberating effect of religious renewal was experienced by both the top and the lower classes of colonial society, for whom “wild” exaltation meant a temporary release from everyday routine of hard work and gaining a vital core, confidence. The colonies had not seen anything like the Great Awakening in its scale and degree of influence on society.

It became the first movement in American history to be truly intercolonial in nature, contributing to the formation of a single religious and partly ideological space in British America. Awareness of the community of religious experiences gradually turned into an awareness of the community of interests. Becoming the first joint spiritual experience, the Great Awakening marked the beginning of the process of forming a community of colonists - the future American nation.

Explanation: