What Philosophical Forces Developing in Colonial America wea

It had created within the common man a new feeling of self-worth. The meeting house was both the church and the political center of the town, the location for society meetings. The “Old Lights” opposed the Awakening and the reactions it produced whereas the “New Lights” favored its stimulating effects on the churches. The average individual was on their own and depended on himself for survival. Because the Church dominated all aspects of colonial life, the formation of separate churches posed a tremendous threat to the established order of the colony. The “Old Lights” sought rationalism in theology. Authority was met by great resistance.

The Great Awakening terrified some colonists whereas it comforted others.

The Great Awakening had brought about a change of values that effected religion, politics and daily life. The movement itself was sending the message to the ordinary person that religions and all classes of people were equal, an unheard of idea to many at the time and one unpopular to the established church. People assumed new responsibilities in religious affairs and became skeptical of authority. Regardless of whether or not they attended the Church, colonists paid mandatory property taxes to the Church to fund both the minister's salary and the construction of the meetinghouse. As the emotional excesses of the Awakening became more pronounced the “New Light” split into two groups the moderates and the radicals. These attitudes were the beginnings of a sense of independence and equality that would set the stage for the American Revolution.