Justin Black, Armanne Burns, Evan Tochydlowski

Religious Tolerations flourished in the Americas due to the wide diversity of religious practices. The colonies Virginia, Maryland, New York, The Carolinas, and Georgia all had the official faith of The Church of England. Even though The Church of England was the official faith of these colonies it was largely ignored. It was very hard to establish an official religion in the colonies because of the diversity.

 The Great Awakening began in the 1730’s. and reached it’s climax in the 1740’s.  The Great Awakening was when people of the colonies wanted to break away from family and start a new life.  George Whitefield And John Wesley we both major forces in promoting religious revivalism.  The Great Awakening lead to divisions of existing congregation.

 The Enlightenment was due to scientists enlightenment thinkers saying that people had a moral sense of right and wrong and didn’t need to rely on God, because of this people began to rely more on themselves and began to break away from God.  The Enlightenment began to undermine traditional authority similar to the Great Awakening.

 Even before The Enlightenment colonist placed a high value on education.  In 1647, Massachusetts required a law that every town must support a public school.  Quakers established and operated church schooling for their children.  In some of the colonies widows or unmarried woman had “Dame Schools” by having private schooling in their homes.  Going to school also had to do with being a certain ethnic background.

 The Enlightenment in America increased scientific knowledge.  In 1752 Benjamin Franklin discovered that lightning and electricity are the same thing.  Experiments with smallpox also occurred, scientist Cotton Mather tried to increase the resistant to the deadly disease of smallpox.

 People believed that they were recreating the new world like the old but in some cases created something different.  English trained lawyers didn’t exists in the colonies until all the way after the 1700’s.  For crimes punishments were cruel and unusual like hanging, whipping, and branding.  For gossiping women they would punish them with the ducking stool.  Most communities governed themselves.