The Great Awakening or the great awakening

Butler describes the local autonomy and simultaneous dependence on bodies of ordained ministers of New England colonial churches in his article, “Enthusiasm Described and Decried”. In Stout’s article, it is asserted that “…the Awakening was the most momentous intercolonial popular movement before the Revolution.” In the Goff article, it is uncovered that there were “essentially two religious parties” in colonial America, though those were broken down into many sects. These two religious parties were “Calvinists and Liberals”. Lambert sets up the “Great Awakening” as nothing more than a fabrication by the people who would benefit by religious revivals and were threatened by the opponents of revival, but also sets it up as a “second reformation”.

What’s all of this have to do with The Revolution? What is it about this movement - whether or not it was The Great Awakening or a great awakening - that could have been the sparks of the democracy of the late 18th century that became the framework to our governing system? 

Colonial churches of the 1740’s (and, more broadly, the 1730’s through the 1750’s) were perhaps the blueprint used to build America’s early political system that led to the Constitution and the “checks and balances” between states and the nation, as well as between the branches of government. The intercolonial nature of the religious revival in America assisted in building a spirit of camaraderie that was necessary during The Revolution and the first years as an independent nation. The dichotomized religious parties were somehow united during the awakening. This unification is just one tool that would help to shape the unity and sense of brotherhood that was so crucial to The Revolution and the post-Revolution birth of a new nation, but it is an important one. I don’t think you can separate the long-reaching effects of the awakening, if it was great or if it was small, on American history. Its’ echo is still heard even today. If the awakening wasn’t great to begin with, history has certainly made its’ shadow great. And while we may not be sure how to define it, both in pinpointing its' timeline and in giving it a realistic definition, and while it's debatable whether or not to capitalize it; the awakening set something in motion that perhaps only hindsight could truly see.