century was followed by the arrival and prosperity of Methodism, particu-larly on the western frontier, and the appearance of a less dramatic form of evangelical religion in the eastern states. As the evangelical movement devel-oped and changed from 1730 to 1850 the leadership of women changed as well. In the earlier decades women led small prayer groups and, in some com-munities, served on lay committees directing congregational affairs. During the early decades of the nineteenth century a few women, including several especially gifted African-Americans, followed the Spirit’s call and built repu-tations as lay preachers and exhorters. Although socially and politically subordinate, they experienced the immediate power of the Holy Spirit and discovered in it their own charismatic authority. Beginning in the 1720s and continuing until interrupted by Revolutionary fervour in the 1760s, a Great Awakening swept British America. The first stir-rings appeared in the mid-Atlantic colonies with the new immigrants and itinerant preachers. From there the spiritual vitality spread north and south. Communal rituals of intense, emotional revivalism, with their animated, frightening preachers and shrieking, weeping, fainting participants appeared everywhere. Throughout the colonies clergymen took sides for or against the Awakening. Its supporters, the New Lights, saw the essence of true faith as holy love – a religion of the heart. They believed the revivals to be the work of the Holy Spirit and understood the extreme physical manifestations as nat-ural outcomes of an enlightened soul responding to the real threat of damnation. The culture of the Great Awakening represented the first appearance of the evangelicalism that came to shape Protestantism in the United States. This culture grew out of two roots, blossoming into a single harvest. From the puritan and Congregationalist side came the emphasis upon the spiritual journey and conversion of the individual and the deeply emotional, some-times passionate, but always personal, connection with God. Through the Scots-Irish Presbyterians were added communal rituals, understandings and language that facilitated those individual journeys. The intensity of the believer’s personal relationship with God was acted out at a group level so that all could witness and appreciate (or decry) the excessive tribulations and joy experienced by the truly saved.

DOI link for century was followed by the arrival and prosperity of Methodism, particu-larly on the western frontier, and the appearance of a less dramatic form of evangelical religion in the eastern states. As the evangelical movement devel-oped and changed from 1730 to 1850 the leadership of women changed as well. In the earlier decades women led small prayer groups and, in some com-munities, served on lay committees directing congregational affairs. During the early decades of the nineteenth century a few women, including several especially gifted African-Americans, followed the Spirit’s call and built repu-tations as lay preachers and exhorters. Although socially and politically subordinate, they experienced the immediate power of the Holy Spirit and discovered in it their own charismatic authority. Beginning in the 1720s and continuing until interrupted by Revolutionary fervour in the 1760s, a Great Awakening swept British America. The first stir-rings appeared in the mid-Atlantic colonies with the new immigrants and itinerant preachers. From there the spiritual vitality spread north and south. Communal rituals of intense, emotional revivalism, with their animated, frightening preachers and shrieking, weeping, fainting participants appeared everywhere. Throughout the colonies clergymen took sides for or against the Awakening. Its supporters, the New Lights, saw the essence of true faith as holy love – a religion of the heart. They believed the revivals to be the work of the Holy Spirit and understood the extreme physical manifestations as nat-ural outcomes of an enlightened soul responding to the real threat of damnation. The culture of the Great Awakening represented the first appearance of the evangelicalism that came to shape Protestantism in the United States. This culture grew out of two roots, blossoming into a single harvest. From the puritan and Congregationalist side came the emphasis upon the spiritual journey and conversion of the individual and the deeply emotional, some-times passionate, but always personal, connection with God. Through the Scots-Irish Presbyterians were added communal rituals, understandings and language that facilitated those individual journeys. The intensity of the believer’s personal relationship with God was acted out at a group level so that all could witness and appreciate (or decry) the excessive tribulations and joy experienced by the truly saved.

century was followed by the arrival and prosperity of Methodism, particu-larly on the western frontier, and the appearance of a less dramatic form of evangelical religion in the eastern states. As the evangelical movement devel-oped and changed from 1730 to 1850 the leadership of women changed as well. In the earlier decades women led small prayer groups and, in some com-munities, served on lay committees directing congregational affairs. During the early decades of the nineteenth century a few women, including several especially gifted African-Americans, followed the Spirit’s call and built repu-tations as lay preachers and exhorters. Although socially and politically subordinate, they experienced the immediate power of the Holy Spirit and discovered in it their own charismatic authority. Beginning in the 1720s and continuing until interrupted by Revolutionary fervour in the 1760s, a Great Awakening swept British America. The first stir-rings appeared in the mid-Atlantic colonies with the new immigrants and itinerant preachers. From there the spiritual vitality spread north and south. Communal rituals of intense, emotional revivalism, with their animated, frightening preachers and shrieking, weeping, fainting participants appeared everywhere. Throughout the colonies clergymen took sides for or against the Awakening. Its supporters, the New Lights, saw the essence of true faith as holy love – a religion of the heart. They believed the revivals to be the work of the Holy Spirit and understood the extreme physical manifestations as nat-ural outcomes of an enlightened soul responding to the real threat of damnation. The culture of the Great Awakening represented the first appearance of the evangelicalism that came to shape Protestantism in the United States. This culture grew out of two roots, blossoming into a single harvest. From the puritan and Congregationalist side came the emphasis upon the spiritual journey and conversion of the individual and the deeply emotional, some-times passionate, but always personal, connection with God. Through the Scots-Irish Presbyterians were added communal rituals, understandings and language that facilitated those individual journeys. The intensity of the believer’s personal relationship with God was acted out at a group level so that all could witness and appreciate (or decry) the excessive tribulations and joy experienced by the truly saved.