American Colonies Democratic society

Topics: New York City, Colonialism, John Peter Zenger Pages: 2 (551 words) Published: September 23, 2013
The American Colonies, in the eighteenth century, were just beginning to become a more democratic society. With immigrants coming from all over Europe seeking religious refuge and economic profits, the Great Awakening, and the Zenger case, the colonies were becoming more and more democratic with each passing year.

The population in the American Colonies had a tenfold increase between 1701 and 1775. More than one million people had come across the ocean to join the other colonists. Newcomers did not just come from Great Britain. They came from western and central Europe as well. Some came seeking economic opportunities in farming new land or becoming a merchant in a colonial town. Others came to escape wars and religious persecution. With all these newcomers, they brought their culture to the colonies. Some of these cultures were completely new to the colonists. These new cultures and religions and ways of life made the colonists begin to question their own culture that they had become so accustomed to. Without this push towards new ways the colonists may not have realized that they might be able to make their own political decisions.

Along with the new colonists came the Great Awakening. Jonathan Edwards initiated the Great Awakening with a series of sermons about his belief that each individual who expressed deep penitence could be saved by God’s grace, but the souls who paid no heed to god’s commandments would suffer eternal damnation. George Whitefield, who immigrated to the colonies in 1739, traveled from one end of colonial America to the other infighting the Great Awakening with his rousing sermons on the hellish torments of the damned. Thousands and thousands of people would come to hear his sermon. He stressed that god would only save those who expressed their belief in Jesus Christ openly. Whitefield also taught that regular people who had faith could understand the Christian gospels without needing a minister to lead them. This made the colonist...
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