1. Lesson 5.1 “Early American Culture”

2. Essential Question
How did the Great Awakening and the Enlightenment influence the colonists’ desire for independence?

3. Vocabulary
1. Enlightenment – a movement which emphasized using reason and science as the path to knowledge
2. Benjamin Franklin – A famous American Enlightenment figure
3. John Locke – Enlightenment English philosopher who argued that people have natural rights to life liberty and property

4. Vocabulary
4. apprentice – a beginner who learns a trade or craft from a master
5. Great Awakening – a rebirth of religious feeling in the American colonies during the 1730’s – 1740’s
6. John Edwards – Great Awakening preacher who terrified listeners with images of God’s anger
7. George Whitefield – Great Awakening preacher encouraged colonists to help others and opened an orphanage.

5. Lesson 5.1 Cornell Note Questions
1. Explain the colonial social ranks. (see page 136)
What caused the Great Awakening ?
3. What was the Great Awakening best described
as?
4. How were Great Awakening ministers Jonathan
Edwards and George Whitefield different in their
approach?

6. Lesson 5.1 Cornell Note Questions
How did the Great Awakening change colonial culture?
6. In what way did the Great Awakening contribute
to the Revolutionary War?
7. What was the Enlightenment?
8. What three ideas did John Locke argue in favor
of?
9. What Enlightenment ideas led the colonies to
break away from England?

7. Where We Are American Revolution 1775 Mayflower 1620 Jamestown 1607
Great Awakening
1730
110 45
1600
1650
1700
1750
1800

8. What We Already Know
Beginning with the Mayflower, in 1620, many of the first colonists who settled in North America were very religious and came here seeking the freedom to worship God as they chose.

9. What We Already Know
When Pilgrim settlers arrived off Cape Cod, Massachusetts in 1620, they decided to sign an agreement called the Mayflower Compact. It assumed that
people could govern themselves, thus it established the idea of self-government rather than government by a monarchy (king).

10. Land Rights and Wealth
In the colonies, land was plentiful (once Native Americans were forced to give up their claims).
Land ownership gave colonists political rights.
Land ownership also helped determine colonists’ social position.
People were divided into high, middle, and low ranks. Large landowners were in the high rank, small farmers were in the middle rank (most colonists were here). Servants, slaves and hired workers were in the low ranks.

11. Women and the Economy Colonial women held the same
rank as their husbands.
Although women were not land
owners, their work was still
essential to the economy of the colonies.
Most white women were farm wives who cooked, churned butter, made soap and candles, spun fiber wove cloth, sewed and knitted clothes, raised children, tended a garden, and looked after farm animals.

12. Young People at Work
Children’s work also supported the colonial economy. Families were large because more children meant more workers.
At age 6, boys were “breeched” meaning they no longer wore the clothes of young children, but were given a pair of pants!
They helped their fathers at work. Sons of farmers worked all day with their fathers.
At age 11, many boys left their fathers to become apprentices and learn a trade from an experienced craftsman.

13. Young People at Work
As an apprentice, a boy worked for free for four to seven years, until his contract was fulfilled. Then he could work for wages or start his own business.
Girls, unlike the boys, were
educated at home by their mothers.
They learned sewing and other
household skills. In New England
Colonies, girls of 13 or 14 were
sent to other households to learn
specialized skills like weaving or
cheese making.

14. Colonial Schooling Most children were taught to read
so that they could understand the Bible.
Only children from wealthy families
went beyond reading to learn writing
and math.
Poorer children learned to read
from their mothers or were sent
to “dame schools”.
At a dame school, children were taught the alphabet and the Bible until the age of 7.

15. What We Already Know
By the early 1700s,ideas from the Renaissance and the Scientific Revolution were changing the way people saw the world, themselves, and their governments.
Mayflower Compact = self rule

16. The Great Awakening
In the early 1700’s many colonists feared they had lost the religious passion that had inspired their ancestors. Religion seemed distant, even to regular churchgoers.

17. The Great Awakening
In the 1730’s – 1740’s a religious movement called the Great Awakening swept through the colonies.
Traveling ministers preached
that inner religious
emotion was more
important than
outward religious
behavior.

18. The Great Awakening
Prior to the Great Awakening, being truly religious meant trusting the heart. Religious belief valued feelings more than logic and reason. People relied upon biblical revelation rather than human reason.

19. ideas of equality and the right to challenge authority.
The Great Awakening
With the coming of the
Great Awakening, came
ideas of equality and the
right to challenge
authority.
When churches weren’t
living up to the expectations
of the people in their congregation,
the people felt they had the right
to break away and form new
denominations.

20. Major Figures of the Great Awakening
Jonathan Edwards became widely known for his fiery sermons. He believed:
1. People were neglecting their personal relationships with God.
2. Too many colonists seemed to have lost their religious passion.

21. Major Figures of the Great Awakening
George Whitefield was a well-known preacher.
He encouraged colonists to help others.
He raised thousands of dollars for an orphanage in Georgia.

22. Impact of the Great Awakening on the Colonies
Congregations began to argue over religious practices, and people left their old churches to join other Protestant groups such as the Baptists.
Some groups welcomed women, African Americans, and Native Americans.
To train ministers colleges like Princeton and Brown were formed . Above all else, people began to question authority.

23. The Great Awakening
Colonists came to realize that political power, like religious freedom, did not reside in the hands of the English but in their own hands.
Thus, the Great Awakening influenced the
colonists that
the American
Revolution was
possible.

24. The Enlightenment
The Enlightenment was an intellectual movement that emphasized reason and science, unlike the Great Awakening which emphasized religion.
It was based on the belief in natural laws that controlled how the universe worked.

25. The Enlightenment It emphasized two very important points:
1. individuals have
natural rights.
2. natural laws
should be the
basis of all
government.

26. Major Figures of the Enlightenment
Perhaps the most important figure of the Enlightenment was the English philosopher John Locke.
Locke argued that
1. people have natural rights to life, liberty, and property. People should create governments to protect their natural rights.

27. Major Figures of the Enlightenment
2. A government should get its power from the people and without the people, the government should have no power.
3. If a government fails in this duty, people have the right to change it. Locke’s ideas challenged the belief that kings had a God-given right to rule (Divine Right to Rule).

28. Major Figures of the Enlightenment
Benjamin Franklin was a famous American inventor, statesman, ambassador and political thinker.
He played a very important role in America’s fight for independence.

29. Impact of the Enlightenment on the Colonies
The colonists began to view the British government differently.
They began to believe that the government should be protecting their natural rights.
Many started to challenge the authority of the British government which was so far away.