U.S. history concepts · AP U.S. History
First Great Awakening
First Great Awakening: A wave of religious revivals in the British colonies in the 1730s and 1740s that emphasized personal faith and challenged established church authority.
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What it means
Preachers such as Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield drew large crowds with emotional sermons stressing personal conversion. The revivals divided congregations, encouraged new denominations and gave ordinary colonists experience questioning traditional authority.
Historians often connect the Awakening to a broader culture of independent thought that later shaped revolutionary ideas, though the strength of that link is debated.
Example
Whitefield's preaching tours drew thousands across the colonies, creating one of the first shared experiences among colonists from different regions.
On the exam
The Great Awakening appears in Period 2 questions about colonial society and is often paired with the Enlightenment as an intellectual influence.