What were the effects of the Great Awakening?

Answer 1

there are actually four distinct religious movements that are termed Great Awakenings, each of which caused a number of different changes in American socio-intellectual and religious thought. as a whole the four Great Awakenings were responsible for a general spread in the popularity of religion in America and a rapid growth of new religious sects and denominations. some more specific effects of each of the Great Awakenings are as follows:

First Great Awakening (mid 18th century)- mostly remembered for Jonathan Edwards the dynamic "father" of this revival, it is sometimes considered a pre-cursor to the American Revolution.

Second Great Awakening (early 19th century)- this revival brought about the "camp-meeting" style revival and sparked a wave of missionary activity to the (pioneer) west and social activism in the east.

Third (later half of 19th century)- sparked a major push for the prohibition of alcohol and marked a continuation of American and foreign mission activity.

Fourth (1960's and 70's)- this "awakening" is not widely accepted as are the other ones, but is marked by a general rise to political power by a number of religious denominations and an increase in religious population.

Answer 2

Here are some sites to help you:

http://www.longmeadow.org/hist_soc/awakening.htm
http://www.wfu.edu/~matthetl/perspectives/four.html
http://www.nhc.rtp.nc.us/tserve/eighteen/ekeyinfo/grawaken.htm
http://www.nhinet.org/ccs/docs/awaken.htm
http://grove.ship.edu/ubf/leaders/whitfild.htm