The Great Awakening Influence

During the first half of the eighteenth century, there was a spiritual awakening in the American colonies, especially New England. This would be known as The Great Awakening, it would prove to have great influence over the religious and cultural lives of Americans. In earlier generations, the youth that were coming of age, relied on the guidance of others to tell them what to do and how to live their lives. The clergy was some of the people depended on for this. During the first half of the eighteenth century though, the people that usually would be sought out for advice were too self-interested to help. These people were usually That meant they had to figure things out on their own. This lead to a spiritual hunger, and they were looking for answers. The people started to break away from the usual ways of worship. They adopted an approach that was described as having great enthusiasm and emotion in prayer. This was the beginning of the Great Awakening. …show more content…
The Old Light Presbyterians created competing divisions of the religion in 1741. These divisions would not reunify until 1758, when the revivalists arose triumphant. The Anglican church lost many of its members to the New Light Congregations. The Great Awakening also stimulated the establishing of new colleges. Both the Old Light and the New Light people sought education free of influences from one another’s influences. The Great Awakening had important influences on the American people. Colleges that are still in use today were started in this period. The religions that people had been thriving are now suffering from people splintering off to the new revivalists. Things changed greatly during this time and people had to adjust to it and some joined in. These new revivalists seemed to be home to poor, women, even slaves and Native Americans. They were all welcome and even were even aloud to preach

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