The Great Awakening

• Jonathan Edwards and George Whitfield

•1730’s and 1740’s Religious Movement in the English colonies

•Revival where ministers emphasized religious feelings and emotion and equality in God’s eyes

•Effect: People began to question the church… and other authority

The Economy

• Cheap Farmland and natural resources help you to prosper or make money.• Land ownership gave you political rights and social

position•Women-essential to colonial life. They worked various

jobs, bartering, and limited rights (no voting)• Children-large families, expected to work Apprenticeships

began at 11 (learn a trade or craft)

•Domestic System- economic system where all products are made in the home

Education•Education was highly valued and leads to a high

literacy rate.•Kids were taught to read the bible•Education ended by age 7 unless you were wealthy•Books emphasized religion and its impact on daily

life.•Boys and men education first-exception was African

slaves (southerners impose the slave codes)•By mid-1700’s there are 80 newspapers being

published in the colonies, as well as, books, poetry, autobiographies, and narratives are being published.

The Enlightenment

•Movement in Europe during the 1600s and 1700s that emphasized the use of reason and scientific method to obtain knowledge

• Effect- Many began to question government/authority

John Locke

•Natural Rights or Inalienable Rights… life, liberty, and property

•Social Contract- if gov’t fails to protect individual rights, citizens have the right to overthrow it

Ben Franklin

• Enlightenment thinker-Albany Plan

• Committee to Draft Declaration of Independence

• Poor Richard’s Almanac• Invented Bi-focals

Baron (Charles) de Montesquieu- Enlightenment thinker

- Credited with idea for Separation of Power- 3 branches of government

William Penn

• Established Pennsylvania for the Quakers

• Insisted on fair dealings with the natives, welcomed immigrants, and promised religious tolerance

William Blackstone

• Influenced rights in England

• Believed in protecting private property from seizure by the government

• Believed in Due Process of Law (individual protection