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The First Great Awakening, (referred to by some historians as the Great Awakening) was a period of heightened religious activity, primarily in Great Britain and its North American colonies in the 1730s and 1740s. In New England, the Great Awakening was influential among many Congregationalists; while in the Middle and Southern colonies (especially in the "Backcountry" regions of those colonies) the Awakening was influential among Presbyterians. Although the idea of a "great awakening" is contested, it is clear that the period was, particularly in New England, a time of increased religious activity. The arrival of the young Anglican preacher George Whitefield probably sparked the religious conflagration. Whitefield, whose reputation as a great pulpit and open-air orator had preceded his visit, traveled through the colonies in 1739 and 1740. Everywhere he attracted large and emotional crowds, eliciting countless conversions as well as considerable controversy. Critics condemned his "enthusiasm," his censoriousness, and his extemporaneous and itinerant preaching, but his techniques were copied by numerous imitators both lay and clerical. They became itinerant preachers themselves, spreading the Great Awakening from New England to Georgia, among rich and poor, educated and illiterate, and in the back-country as well as in seaboard towns and cities. The first new Congregational church in Massachusetts in the Great Awakening period of 1730–1740, was at the newly incorporated town of Uxbridge[1] and was pastored by the Rev. Nathan Webb, a native of Braintree. Before The Great Awakening in New England, people were in the pursuit of wealth, leaving religion out. To increase interest, the church congregation adopted rules that allowed church membership without evidence of a conversion experience. In addition, it favored wealthy families by allowing them to seat in the prominent pews, front and center. [2] The “River gods” (the wealthy landowners of the Connecticut valley) impoverished young people who were forced to postpone marriages because the land which they wanted to set up a farm household was becoming expensive. In addition, these young people were discouraged to attend church meetings, but Reverend Jonathan Edwards focused on them. He preached to them in a manner that appealed to their emotions. The meetinghouse was full of passion of Puritan religion, increasing religious fervor through the community. Church membership grew instantly. Considered before as an adult affair, church attendance immediately increased among young people.[2] The colonists were not unprepared for the Great Awakening. Prior to 1739, there had been indications of a religious quickening among several denominations. In the 1720s the Dutch Reformed Church in New Jersey experienced a series of revivals led by Theodore Frelinghuysen, a native of Germany who had been influenced by the pietistic movement within the Lutheran Church. In the mid-1730s, a "refreshing" occurred among the Presbyterians of New Jersey and Pennsylvania as a result of the preaching of a group of Scotch-Irish ministers led by William Tennent and trained at his Log College. The revivals continued throughout the 1730s, coinciding with the "subscription controversy" within American Presbyterianism. New England was also the scene of religious excitement before 1739. The "harvests" of Solomon Stoddard, known as the "pope" of the Connecticut Valley, and the Northampton revival of 1734-1735, led by his grandson Jonathan Edwards, foreshadowed the later, more general awakening. Thus Whitefield's tour provided the catalyst, not the cause, of the Great Awakening, which represented the culmination of impulses that were already beginning to transform colonial Protestantism.
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