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The Great Awakening And Enlightenment

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The ages of Great Awakening and Enlightenment were two of the earliest movements in the early colonies. These movements proved that people can be influenced in many different ways in relation to politics and religion. The Great Awakening called for the revival of the evangelical movement, while the age of Enlightenment took the focus off of the traditional church and dared colonists to apply individualistic views of religion, thus birthing many new religious denominations that challenged traditional religious doctrine. Both ages influenced the colonists to help shape our country. It is evident that the Enlightenment movement had a more profound effect on foundation upon which the United States was built; this young nation prospered under this new found form of religious freedom.
The Great Awakening was a period of great revivalism that spread throughout the colonies in the early to mid-seventeen hundred’s. It de-emphasized the importance of church doctrine and instead put a greater prominence on the individual and their spiritual experience. Jonathan Edwards who was an American revivalist during the Great Awakening he preached for nearly ten years in New England. He emphasized a personal approach to religion. He preached the people were "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God," in 1741. He told his congregation that salvation was a direct result from God and could not be achieved by human works as the Puritans had preached.
The Enlightenment stressed that the power of human

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