2.7

• Enlightenment


  Movement in Europe that emphasized rational thinking over against tradition and religious revelation
• The Enlightenment took firm root in the colonies because of a robust transatlantic print culture which spread the Enlightenment thinkers' ideas to British Americans</b>
• Natural rights


  The idea that human beings simply by virtue of existing had rights to life, liberty, and property that were given to them not by a monarch but by a creator
• Enlightenment thinkers who influenced the colonists

  • John Locke
  • Rousseau
  • Voltaire
  • Emanuel Kant
• Social contract


  The power to govern was in the hands of the people and they willingly gave over some of that power to a government who would in turn vow to protect the people's natural rights
• Enlightenment thinkers emphasized that what is knowable in this world comes to us through our senses and therefore scientific inquiry is where our authority lies, in contrast to the Bible's claim that what is knowable starts with God and our authority comes through revelation by God
• New light clergy


  Preachers who lamented the loss of faith in biblical revelation due to the strong influence of the Enlightenment
• German pietism


  Emphasized the heart over the head with reference to spiritual matters
• Great Awakening


  A massive religious revival that swept through all the colonies and generated an intense Christian devotion and enthusiasm
• Jonathan Edwards


  • A New England minister and scholar who preached sermons that combined Enlightenment ideas with intense religious fervor
  • More concerned with the joy of God and the derivative joy of other human beings than any other early preacher
• George Whitfield


  • Traveled to America from England where he'd been part of the Methodist revival there, and took the message of God's salvation by grace and Jesus Christ to all the colonies
  • A magnificent preacher who could make people weep just by pronouncing the word "Mesopotamia"
• The new light preachers emphasized the democratic tendencies in the Bible, especially the New Testament, and made sure the common people knew that the lack of wealth did not diminish God's favor upon them
• The Great Awakening environment led to lasting changes in the colonists' attitude towards colonial authority, as they formed self-governing structures like participatory town meetings that were tasked with electing members to their colonial legislature
• The colonies were experiencing a gradual Anglicanization, becoming more British-like in their political communities, but they also began to grow frustrated with the British and resist threats to democracy
• Impressment


  The practice of seizing men, usually against their will, and forcing them to serve in the royal navy
• Britain ordered a general impressment of men from America to fight in King George's War


  Americans rioted for three days in response
• The colonists were becoming more and more aware of violations to their natural rights thanks to John Locke, and they were increasingly rebelling against such violations