how did the great awakening affect the colonies?

Answer 1

There have actually been multiple “Awakenings.”
Great Awakenings have been marked by the rise of a multitude of new denominations, sects, or even entirely new religions. In addition to completely new belief systems, existing belief systems gain new popularity. Since, by its nature, religion is traditional and hard to change, many new beliefs attempt to do an end-run around tradition by appealing to even more ancient (and sometimes fabricated, or at least distorted) tradition, dismissing current beliefs as either innovations or having lost or corrupted some elements over time.
Although Great Awakenings influence and are influenced by religious thought from throughout the world, the cycle of Great Awakenings appears unique to the United States. This could be because the United States is home to many different denominations and sects, while remaining largely Protestant, which is known for its relative freedom in terms of expression of belief as opposed to Catholicism. The lack of a single clue faith or state-sanctioned religion means new ideas can be spread without having to slowly reform existing institutions from within, or allowing pressures to build up until the existing institutions are violently overthrown. On the other hand, the established sects have enough prestige and inertia that the pressure for new ideas builds into a regular cycle of bloodless revolution.
Since religion has often been used to dictate or justify morality, the Great Awakenings have exerted influence on the politics of the United States. Joseph Tracy, the minister and historian who gave this religious phenomenon its name in his influential (and still, to many, definitive) 1842 book The Great Awakening, saw the First Great Awakening as a precursor to the War of Independence. For another example, the abolition movement, part of the wider Second Great Awakening, eventually contributed to the crisis over slavery, which led to the American Civil War.

Answer 2

more people went back to church. it helped spread democratic ideas