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| | == 1730-1740: The Great Awakening == | | == 1730-1740: The Great Awakening == |
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| − | In the 1700s, the colonies grew in size. The colonies grew to 2M in population, much more than the French settlements of only 100,000. The colonies were not just the English. Germans came here, African slaves came here involuntarily, Scotch-Irish immigrated here and settled in Appalachia. William Penn was advertising for immigrants to come to Pennsylvania. Colonists also began to migrate to Ohio, and conflicted with French fur trade with Indians. The French constructed forts in Ohio, and the governor of Virginia sent a 21-year-old named George Washington to check out what was going on in 1754. In Western Pennsylvania, at Fort Necessity, French defeated and captured him and his troops. They made him sign a statement in French (which George Washington did not understand) that his men had assassinated some Frenchmen. Then they released George Washington. He remembered that lesson and in the Revolutionary War made sure he had an aide who could understand French. That aide would be Alexander Hamilton. | + | In the 1700s, the colonies grew in size. The colonies grew to 2 million in population, much more than the French settlements of only 100,000. |
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| | + | The colonies were not just the English. Germans came here, African slaves came here involuntarily, and Scotch-Irish immigrated here and settled in Appalachia. William Penn even ''advertised'' for immigrants to come to Pennsylvania. |
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| | + | In the 1730s and 1740s, there was a spiritual revival known as the "Great Awakening." A glorious [[Christian]] fervor spread throughout the colonies, helping to bring them closer together in terms of beliefs, customs and practices. Led Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield, this was called "New Light" revivalism to distinguish it from the spiritualism of the 1600s. |
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| | + | Jonathan Edwards was brilliant man who graduated at a young age from [[Yale University]], and then taught there. (Yale, like all colonial colleges, was religious then, in sharp contrast with its atheism today). Edwards developed a sermon entitled "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God." It was so powerful that it moved listeners to tearfully repent simply upon hearing it. |
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| | + | George Whitefield was an even better preacher, perhaps the best ever in the English-speaking world. Known as the "Great Itinerant," he drew enormous crowds for his sermons as he did seven tours on the continent from 1740 to 1770. He would simply arrive at a public place, like the Boston Commons, and many thousands would show to hear his sermon. They did not leave disappointed. |
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| | + | == Migration, and Conflict == |
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| | + | As the population and confidence grew in the mid-1700s, colonists began to migrate to Ohio. There they conflicted with French fur trade with Indians. The French constructed forts in Ohio, and the governor of Virginia sent a 21-year-old named George Washington to check out what was going on in 1754. In Western Pennsylvania, at Fort Necessity, French defeated and captured him and his troops. They made him sign a statement in French (which George Washington did not understand) that his men had assassinated some Frenchmen. Then they released George Washington. He remembered that lesson and in the Revolutionary War made sure he had an aide who could understand French. That aide would be Alexander Hamilton. |
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| | George Washington is the most honored person in all of American history. Why was he so great? Was he so great? He was not a brilliant man. He was not a great military general. In terms of military strategy, he was not particularly good. He was inept during the French and Indian War, for example. He did not write anything of value. | | George Washington is the most honored person in all of American history. Why was he so great? Was he so great? He was not a brilliant man. He was not a great military general. In terms of military strategy, he was not particularly good. He was inept during the French and Indian War, for example. He did not write anything of value. |