Clio Wired (History 696)

By definition, the Puritans in early colonial America, were dissenters who “vote with their feet” when they disagreed with church doctrine, policy, or politics. The Puritan/dissenters who left the Massachusetts Bay Colony and landed in Connecticut showed their propensity towards leaving one church community and establishing their own church early on. Strong opinions about the way to live a Godly life prevailed in colonial America. Judgmental attitudes and actions about this proper way of living guided the colonists throughout the seventeenth century. In particular, the Puritans had a difficult time reconciling their attitudes towards Godly gain in the form of wealth and social status against the sins of pride and avarice. The original colonists were able to resolve the doctrine of the elect within their community, thus forming an acceptable spiritual hierarchy. For future generations, the way of the Godly was not as clear to the children and grandchildren of the original saints. Controversy arose when they stood for baptism. The tension between the saints’ desire to accept their offspring into the Kingdom of Heaven, and the less than strict behavior of those offspring simmered in the colonies for decades.

The Great Awakening, in the first half of the eighteenth century, shook the norms created by the Puritan doctrine. Richard L. Bushman examines the effect of the Awakening in the colony of Connecticut in his book, From Puritan to Yankee. Early in 1721, an extraordinary number of conversions occurred in Windsor, Windham, and Norwich. Religious fervor spread across the Connecticut Valley eastward from the river throughout the towns and back country. Ministers like Jonathan Edwards, the Tennent brothers, and George Whitefield saw people flocking to hear their message of faith and the path to salvation. The Awakening affected people of all classes and all walks of life. Not everyone was pleased with the religious fervor stirred in their communities. Some towns banned the itinerant preachers, and local pastors sought to maintain the status quo.

In the process, the Awakening divided the religious community and caused schisms in congregations throughout the colonies. The American religious community permanently split into two camps: the evangelical “New Lights” known for their new access to divine truth through a conversion experience; and the orthodox “Old Lights” clinging to their inherited doctrines of election. The Connecticut Valley was particularly affected by the controversy, and many congregations engaged in debate and eventually split apart.

My web project proposes to combine my interest in religious history with my commitment to provide secondary level educators with the resources to teach interesting and engaging history. The future of new media may be open to debate, but the use of the Internet in secondary classrooms needs to be expanded right now. I propose to create a website as a resource to teach about the ripple effects of the Great Awakening on individual communities. I plan on designing a micro-history site about the Connecticut town of Norwich, and the effect of the revivals on the congregation and community. The website and its links will further the argument that the Great Awakening brought about church schisms and community unrest in the late colonial period.

The website will examine Norwich over the time period of the revivals. A series of interactive maps of the town will show the churches, the town hall, and residences of preachers, government officials, and leading citizens. Available church records, town records, published sermons, and census information will be displayed to show the brewing controversy caused by the revivals and itinerant preachers. The pro-revival and anti-revival factions will be mapped, and any changes in church congregations and church buildings will be noted on the maps. A database of people in the form of the Corporate Board Table at theyrule.net will show the relationship between church members and kinship networks. The website will be snapshots of Norwich before, during, and after the revivals swept through their community.