Noelle Maes Karl G. Maeser Preparatory Academy [email protected] Driven2Teach Lesson Plan A Revolutionary Revival: The First Great Awakening Objectives/Enduring Understanding: • Students will understand the history and events surrounding the First Great Awakening and its undeniable connection with the American Revolution. • Students will be able to evaluate the Great Awakening’s affect on colonists and their feelings toward the Church of England, in particular, and toward authority, in general. • Students will be able to identify George Whitefield and will grasp his influence on 18th Century American colonists. • Students will be able to analyze multiple primary source accounts/documents about George Whitefield and use sourcing, contextualization, and corroboration to better understand those documents and Whitefield, himself. Anticipatory Set Bell Write Question projected on board: “What do all of these pictures have in common?”

Display images on the board of someone experiencing physical revival (i.e. giving rescue breaths, CPR, using a defibrillator, etc.) as well as images of religious revival (i.e. baptisms, outdoor congregations, etc.)

Give students 1-3 minutes to puzzle out an answer in their bell write journals before asking for student answers. If needed, guide students with hints. Revival Explanation Explain the meaning of the word “Revival” (To restore to life or consciousness OR to give new strength or energy to something or someone) and its connection to the First Great Awakening. (It might help some students to connect with their background knowledge of the 2nd Great Awakening, as some may remember from their 7th grade Utah History course). Short Discussion- 5-7 minutes Then ask the students some of the following questions: Why would a revival matter? Why would we talk about a revival in history class? Is it even allowed? It’s religion, isn’t it? Allow students to explore their ideas. If someone mentions the Great Awakening’s connection with the Revolutionary War, compliment them—“That’s exactly right.” If not, be sure to conclude with that idea so that students know what the lesson is about. (Perhaps write on the Board the words “Great Awakening” and connect them with an arrow other symbol with “American Revolution”)

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Great Awakening Reading Assignment and Graphic Organizer (p. 3-4) Have students work with on their own or with a partner, reading the assignment and filling out the graphic organizer as best they can for 2-5 minutes. If appropriate, offer a prize to any group that can correctly answer all of the questions on the graphic organizer. When the time has elapsed, go over the reading assignment and the graphic organizer as a class, allowing students to fill in any information they may have overlooked.* *Be sure that students star names in the “Who” section that you want them to remember later (i.e. George Whitefield).

Now introduce the class to George Whitefield. Provide a brief biographical sketch about the preacher, while displaying images you may use the materials on page… * The students will now analyze primary source accounts concerning George Whitefield to see what they can learn about him and his followers/critics. Primary Source Analysis- George Whitefield Divide the class up into four groups. Each group should have a scribe and a spokesperson. Group 1 will read Nathan Cole’s account. Group 2 will read Equiano and Gowan Pamphlet’s Accounts. Group 3 will read Benjamin Franklin’s account. Group 4 will read selected poetry about George Whitefield. Each primary source document will have questions that accompany it. Have the students answer the questions found at the bottom of the backside of their Great Awaking Graphic Organizer. Each group’s scribe should record these answers in the space provided. Remind students about the difference between observations and inferences to help them with #2 (this should just be a review). Give examples, if necessary. Give the groups 7-10 minutes to read the documents and answer the questions. Be sure to help groups with difficult vocabulary and to answer or find answers to questions. Have the spokesperson from each group come and present briefly about their document. (Who wrote it, how did the person view George Whitefield, why might they seem him in that way, etc.?) Whole Class Discussion Once students have gone through all four documents, ask the question again, “Why are we talking about George Whitefield (a cross-eyed preacher) and the Great Awakening? Why does it matter?” In addition to the cultural changes, the religious persecution (and resultant religious freedom, thanks to James Madison & Thomas Jefferson), be sure that the students include Whitefield and the revival’s connection with the Revolutionary War. Then ask the question, “HOW?” or “WHY?” (“How are they connected?” or “Why do so many historians believe that the seeds of the American Revolution were planted during this time period?”) Answer will vary, something to the effect of the following:

By having preachers boldly denounce the Church of England and its leaders (including the King and his appointees) American colonists were far more prepared to consider political separation in the coming years. Optional Primary and Secondary Source DocumentsAs a class, read aloud two more documents, a secondary, historical fiction document (see the G.A. Henty Letter) and a primary document (see the John Hughes letter). Ask students, “What connection do you see between these documents today’s lesson?” (Guide students to see the “dissenting clergymen” and “Presbyterians” as religious leaders who were the result of the Great Awakening.) Optional- Extended Discussion Again ask the students, “So what? Does this affect our lives today? If so, how?” Talk about subsequent Great Awakenings (of the 19th Century, of the 1950s). Ask the question, “Do you think America could use another Great Awakening?” “Why or why not?” Students’ answers may vary. Discuss in full, asking students for specific current or historical examples. (You could also ask this as an exit ticket question.) 2    

The First Great Awakening Graphic Organizer The Great Awakening was the most significant cultural upheaval in colonial America. The term refers to religious revivals that began early in the 18th Century and led, eventually, to the disestablishment of the Church of England as the official church during the American Revolution (1775–1783). Triggered by the preaching of the Anglican itinerant [traveling preacher] George Whitefield, the Great Awakening began in New England and the Middle Colonies, where thousands converted to an evangelical faith centered on the experience of the "new birth" of salvation. It also featured intense, emotional scenes of penitential sinners and new converts being filled, as they saw it, with the Holy Spirit, with associated outcries, visions, dreams, and spirit journeys. The Great Awakening's effects in Virginia [and the South] developed slowly, beginning early in the 1740s. By the 1760s, evangelical Presbyterians & Baptists were making major inroads among Virginians, & challenging the established [Anglican] church in the colony…

What happened?

A small group of evangelical Anglican laypeople began meeting privately… about 1740, inspired by the news of George Whitefield's revivals. The group's leader…often simply read Whitefield's sermons at these meetings, to great emotional effect. The growing religious awakening attracted the attention of Virginia's Anglican authorities, who wished to know why [these people] had stopped attending…Anglican services. Despite growing Who did it affect? pressure against them, [the] group…continued meeting, and began receiving visits from Presbyterian evangelical preachers…who carried with them the zeal of the revivals in the northern colonies. By 1745, Virginia’s lieutenant governor had begun to call for the suppression of illicit [illegal] "ministers under the pretended influence of new light, extraordinary impulse, and such like fanatical and enthusiastic knowledge." They were a threat to the stability When & Where? of the colony, he believed, and might lead common people into wild delusions.

Who was involved?  

Did everyone like it?

Why/

why not?

How did it spread?

Anglican parsons often reacted badly to the evangelical interlopers. [Some, such as Patrick Henry—the Uncle of the now famous Patrick Henry] deplored the preachers' behavior, writing that they screamed at their So What? (Why do we care?) congregations that their “[souls] are in hell, though they are alive on earth, Lumps of hellfire, incarnate Devils, 1000 times worse than Devils etc. and all the while the Preacher exalts his voice, puts himself into a violent agitation, stamping & beating his Desk unmercifully." The revivals divided the Henry family. Despite the fact that her husband, John Henry, was an Anglican vestryman, young Patrick [Henry']s mother, Sarah Henry, took [him] to the evangelical Presbyterian meetings…of Pastor Samuel Davies, whom her son reportedly later described as the greatest orator he had ever heard…Davies was moderate in both style and theology, despite Anglicans' accusations that he was a fanatic. Davies made his case to the Virginia colonial authorities, as well as officials in London, arguing that the Act of Toleration (1689) in England applied to the colonies' religious dissenters, who should not be forced to attend Anglican services. Davies gave special attention to slaves within his circuit of Presbyterian congregations. By 1755 he had baptized about a hundred of them, and three hundred or so regularly attended his meetings. He sought to introduce them to the Christian gospel, which slaves had largely resisted because of Christianity's association with the masters. Many slave owners were also reluctant to teach African Americans about Christianity, for they feared that it might give slaves radical ideas about equality and freedom. Davies did not criticize slavery per se—to the contrary, he himself owned slaves—but he certainly believed in integrating African Americans into the life of his churches. He reported that a group of slaves would gather at his house and sing hymns late into the night, and "sometimes, when I have awaked about two or three a-clock in the morning, a torrent of sacred harmony poured into my chamber, and carried my mind away to Heaven." Baptists While the Anglican authorities often perceived the Presbyterians as damaging to church & society, the Presbyterians' attempts to portray themselves as moderate, serious Christians worked well, & by late in the 1750s the Presbyterians had become a grudgingly accepted presence... Colonial officials did not look so kindly, however, on the second wave of evangelicals to hit the colony: the radical & contentious Baptists. Baptists had existed in the colonies since the early settlement of New England, but the Great Awakening effectively spawned a new Baptist

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movement broke away from the established…churches of New England. Some of these Separates began to ask whether the widespread Christian practice of infant baptism was really biblical. Some decided to reserve baptism only for those old enough to experience conversion personally. Some Separate Baptists in New England became interested in spreading their gospel to the South. They began in 1755 and a Separate Baptist congregation was founded in 1760…in Virginia. By late in the 1760s the Baptists had begun to expand throughout the colony. The quick growth of the Baptists, their challenge to the Anglican establishment, and their unwillingness to seek official licenses to preach, brought down the wrath of Virginia authorities, leading to an intense season of persecution early in the 1770s. In 1771 an Anglican minister disrupted a Baptist service by beating the preacher at the pulpit and dragging him outside, where the sheriff of Caroline County gave him 20 lashes with a bullwhip. About 34 Baptist preachers were jailed for disturbing the peace and for holding unlawful assemblies. But this seemed only to steel their resolve. Pastor James Ireland was imprisoned in Culpeper, yet he continued to preach to followers through a grate. Ruffians harassed Ireland, however, and some even urinated on him as he attempted to address the crowd. One of the reasons that the Baptists generated so much controversy was their…handling of…race and gender. They always included African Americans in their congregations, and some…actually spoke out against slavery... African American and Virginia Indian men occasionally served as exhorters, deacons, and even elders (the highest office of leadership among Baptists) in mixed-race congregations. Gowan Pamphlet, for example, was the first ordained African American preacher in the Baptist church. Women, too, found new positions of authority among the Baptists as "deaconesses," & often received opportunities to testify about their experiences with God. …Anglican opponents…saw them as violating the traditional social order. The Virginia Gazette expressed the fears of many, "Wives are drawn from their Husbands, Children from their Parents, & Slaves from the Obedience of their Masters. Thus the very Heartstrings of those little Societies which form the greater are torn in sunder, & all their Peace destroyed." Many women faced the unpleasant prospect of going against their husbands' wishes to attend Baptist meetings, and…slaves could not [legally] join any congregation without permission from their masters. …The conditions of religious pluralism [multiple religions], and the persecutions of the early 1770s, helped to galvanize [stir up] the movement for religious liberty in Virginia. James Madison and Patrick Henry helped to draft the sixteenth article of the Virginia Declaration of Rights in 1776, which assured dissenters…the right to free exercise of religion. And during the Revolution, the Virginia government stopped funding the Anglican Church…This would lead to the passage of Jefferson’s Bill Establishing Religious Freedom, 10 years later in 1786...1 The Great Awakening also had countless indirect outcomes. According to many historians, America as we know it today was not solely the product of our traditional Founding Fathers of the 1760s and 1770s, but is also largely a product of the preachers of the 1740s—the Great Awakening! Preachers like George Whitefield, Gowan Pamphlet and Samuel Davies challenged authority—the specific authority of the Church of England, and authority, in general—and spiritual liberty from oppression. This planted the seed for authors like Thomas Paine and others to question not only the Church of England, but the monarchy and political systems of England, as well. As one historian put it, “America may have been born in 1776, but she was conceived several decades earlier. Long before men named Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Hancock and Franklin became…influential, a few preachers meteorically blazed across the colonial sky.” 2

Group Work- Primary Source Document Activity-George Whitefield 1. Sourcing: Who wrote this document? Describe the author/s and his/her/their possible motives.

2. Does/do the author/s like Whitefield? How can you tell? (Use the observation/inference chart!) Observation Inference

3. What is George Whitefield like, according to the document? (Include appearance, personality, etc.)

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http://encyclopediavirginia.org/Great_Awakening_in_Virginia_The#start_entry   http://dailycaller.com/2011/07/03/the-american-revolution-and-the-dna-of-faith/#ixzz35xtPjD1n  

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Document 1- Primary Source Introduction It is not hyperbole [exaggeration] to describe George Whitefield, the English clergyman who riveted colonists with his dramatic evangelical preaching, as a star celebrity. In our day he would have appeared on the covers of People and Time and been interviewed on 60 Minutes and Good Morning, America. He was the “Grand Itinerant,” the traveling preacher with no home church…who toured the colonies seven times from the 1730s to the 1760s, delivering open-air sermons that left his huge audiences spellbound, penitent, & with souls “awakened” (thus the term “Great Awakening”).

Document George Whitefield Preaches at Middletown, Connecticut* Nathan Cole, a farmer and carpenter residing near Middletown, Connecticut, left the following account of George Whitefield's appearance there in 1740. Cole's narrative conveys the excitement aroused throughout the colonies by Whitefield's preaching. …I longed to see and hear [Whitefield] and wished he would come this way… And then one morning…there came a messenger and said Mr. Whitfeld…is to preach at Middletown this morning at 10 o clock. I was in my field at work [and] I dropt my tool rotten boroughs rotten boroughs…and run home…and bade my wife to get ready quick to goo and hear Mr. Whitfeld. I brought my hors home and soon mounted and took my wife up and went forward as fast as I thought the hors could bear… We improved every moment to get along as if we was fleeing for our lives, all this while fearing we should be too late to hear the Sarmon, for we had twelve miles to ride double in littel more than an hour. …I saw before me a Cloud or fog rising -- I first thought -- off from the great river. But as I came nearer the road I heard a noise, something like a low rumbling thunder, and I presently found it was the rumbling of horses feet coming down the road and this Cloud was a Cloud of dust made by the running of horses feet… And when I came nearer it was like a stedy streem of horses and their riders…Every hors semed to go with all his might to carry his rider to hear the news from heaven for the saving of their Souls. It made me trembel to see the Sight -- how the world was in a strugle! I herd no man speak a word all the way…but evry one presing forward in great haste. And when we gat down to the old meating house, thare was a great multitude. It was said to be 3 or 4000 people assembled together…I turned and looked toward the great river and saw the fery boats running swift… bringing over loads of people… Everything -- men, horses and boats -- all seamed to be struglin for life. The land and the banks over the river looked black with people and horse all along the 12 miles. I see no man at work in his field, but all seamed to be gone. When I see Mr. Whitfeld…he looked almost angellical -- a young, slim, slender youth before some thousands of people, and with a bold, undaunted countenance. And my hearing how God was with him everywhere as he came along, it solomnized my mind, and put me in a trembling fear before he began to preach, for he looked as if he was Cloathed with authority from the great God…and my hearing him preach gave me a heart wound, by god's blessing. My old foundation was broken up and I saw that my righteousness would not save me. Then I was convinced of the doctrine of Election…because all that I could do would not save me, and he [God] had decreed from Eternity who should be saved and who not…. From G. L. Walker, Some Aspects of the Religious Life of New England (1897).

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Document 22A- Excerpt from Olaudah Equiano’s autobiography, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano-

Equiano was a slave who eventually purchased his freedom and became a prominent abolitionist (he fought to abolish slavery)

One Sunday morning while I was here, as I was going to church, I chanced to pass a meeting-house. The doors being open, and the house full of people, it excited my curiosity to go in. When I entered the house, to my great surprise, I saw a very tall woman standing in the midst of them, speaking in an audible voice something which I could not understand. Having never seen anything of this kind before, I stood and stared about me for some time, wondering at this odd scene. As soon as it was over I took an opportunity to make inquiry about the place and people, when I was informed they were called Quakers. I particularly asked what that woman I saw in the midst of them had said, but none of them were pleased to satisfy me; so I quitted them, and soon after,as I was returning, I came to a church crowded with people; the church-yard was full likewise, and a number of people were even mounted on ladders, looking in at the windows. I thought this a strange fight, as I had never seen churches, either in England or the West Indies, crowded in this manner before. I therefore made bold to ask some people the meaning of all this, and they told me the Rev. Mr. George Whitfield was preaching. I had often heard of this gentleman, and had wished to see and hear him; but I had never before had an opportunity. I now therefore resolved to gratify myself with the fight, and I pressed in amidst the multitude. When I got into the church I saw this pious man exhorting the people with the greatest fervour and earnestness, and sweating as much as I ever did while in slavery on Montserrat beach. I was very much struck and impressed with this; I thought it strange I had never seen divines exert themselves in this manner before, and I was no longer at a loss to account for the thin congregations they preached to.

http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/equiano2/equiano2.html

2B- Excerpt from Script about Gowan Pamphlet, slave preacher (Secondary Source) Script Transcript from Colonial Williamsburg, written by James Ingram, February 19, 2007 (Base the document as though Gowan was the author- not James Ingram)

Gowan Pamphlet: Gowan Pamphlet was a slave to Jane Vobe at King’s Arms Tavern. We believe that he was born there in 1748. He grew up as a tavern slave, which is quite interesting. Tavern slaves [hear] a lot of conversation: between burgesses [Virginia congressmen in the Colonial Era] and delegates, people from the frontier, from the North, from the South, from overseas, and Germany, and France, and Italy, and also England, Ireland, Scotland. You have a lot of traveler…and they’re coming into…the taverns for refreshment. And so, just being where he is in that tavern, and listening to all of this conversation between people, and musicians, and scholars, and lecturers – that’s a learning institution for him. And so, I think this is sort of what shaped his world. Also, we’re believing that Gowan was born at the right time. This was the beginning of the Great Awakening, and the Great Awakening started about 17 and 40 in Massachusetts, led by the great Reverend George Whitefield. And by the time it reached Virginia, it really set Virginia on fire. But what the Great Awakening did for slaves and free blacks here was to give them a human face, because the New Light dissenting preachers were saying to slaves that they were children of God, and not just property – cow, horse, and chair – but they were human beings. So this is the beginning, here, of Gowan’s experience in Williamsburg, and realizing that he has not only a part in this great kingdom, but of course, a mission now, which would be taken on later -- as a slave preacher. Now, in Virginia at that time, Anglicanism wasn’t only the accepted religion, it was the only religion. The Church of England dominated in Virginia, also in North Carolina, South Carolina, and in Georgia. [This is, at least, partly because] the Church of England condoned slavery to a certain extent… And remember, Williamsburg has over 900 slaves here at any given point, and almost 50 percent of the population, sometimes 52 percent of the population… But when George Whitefield came through –and I always say I never understood why George Whitefield was of the Church of England, because he preached like a Baptist – thousands of people would be in his flock – black, white, Indian, rich or poor. It really didn’t matter, your status in society. They are listening to his powerful words, and it’s bringing on a new life for them. When that ushered in, the Great Awakening, ushered in by George Whitefield, right behind them came the Presbyterians. The Presbyterians came with a word of, “In the eyes of God, we’re all equal.” And that really set sort of a tone here. Now, they weren’t tolerated much by the Church of England because [they were considered] a false denomination. And Reverend Samuel Davies, one of the first Presbyterian preachers to come into Williamsburg, he really kind of set this place on fire with his whole demeanor. He was a quiet man, tall, small, suffered under consumption. But the words were very powerful that he brought for the enslaved and for the Indian here. And that word was, “In the eyes of God, you are equal, and that when we all die and go to heaven we’re all going to be on the same level.” Those words were threatening, somewhat, to Virginia laws, as far as slaves were concerned. ...But, what happened when the Great Awakening moved through, it really changed folks. Because the phenomenon of that whole spiritual movement was, I mean, out in George Whitefield’s crowd – you had 5,000 here, 10,000 in Philadelphia, 20,000 out in Boston Commons – and all of a sudden waves of people were starting, just being slayed out in the spirit. Some would be yawping, and, like, barking, jerking. All of these different sort of ironies were happening to them, to the crowd. And they knew it was something very, very different.

http://www.history.org/media/podcasts_transcripts/GowanPamphlet.cfm 6    

Document 3- Primary Source Excerpt from Benjamin Franklin’s The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, [circa 1771-1790 in Phildelphia, Pennsylvania] Seen by some as the “first American,” Benjamin Franklin was a famous author, politician, scientist, inventor, and printer. He was very much affected by the scientific focus of the Enlightenment but also appreciated the work of reformers during the Great Awakening. While he never joined them, he printed countless sermons of George Whitefield and unquestionably approved of the Great Awakening’s overall defiance of authority and tyranny. In 1739 arrived among us from Ireland the Reverend Mr. Whitefield, who had made himself remarkable there as an itinerant [traveling] preacher. He was at first permitted to preach in some of our churches; but the clergy, taking a dislike to him, soon refus'd him their pulpits, & he was oblig'd to preach in the fields. The multitudes of all sects & denominations that attended his sermons were enormous, & it was matter of speculation to me, who was one of the number, to observe the extraordinary influence of his oratory on his hearers, and how much they admir'd and respected him, notwithstanding his common abuse of them, by assuring them that they were naturally half beasts and half devils. It was wonderful to see the change soon made in the manners of our inhabitants. From being…indifferent about religion, it seem'd as if all the world were growing religious, so that one could not walk thro' the town in an evening without hearing psalms sung in different families of every street. And it being found inconvenient to assemble in the open air, subject to its inclemencies [storms], the building of a house to meet in was no sooner propos'd, and persons appointed to receive contributions, but sufficient sums were soon receiv'd to procure the ground and erect the building…and the work was carried on with such spirit as to be finished in a much shorter time than could have been expected. Both house and ground were…expressly for the use of any preacher of any religious persuasion who might desire to say something to the people at Philadelphia; the design in building not being to accommodate any particular sect, but the inhabitants in general… Mr. Whitefield, in leaving us, went preaching all the way thro' the colonies to Georgia...[an area with many broken families and orphans]…The sight of their miserable situation inspir'd [his] benevolent heart…with the idea of building an Orphan House there, in which they might be supported & educated. Returning northward, he preach'd up this charity, & made large collections, for his eloquence had a wonderful power over the hearts and purses of his hearers, of which I myself was an instance. I did not disapprove of the design, but, as Georgia was then destitute of materials and workmen, and it was proposed to send them from Philadelphia at a great expense, I thought it would have been better to have built the house here, and brought the children to it. This I advis'd; but he was resolute in his first project, rejected my counsel, and I therefore refus'd to contribute. I happened soon after to attend one of his sermons, in the course of which I perceived he intended to finish with a collection, and I silently resolved he should get nothing from me…As he proceeded I began to soften, and concluded to give [my] coppers. Another stroke of his oratory made me asham'd of that, and determin'd me to give the silver; and he finish'd so admirably, that I empty'd my pocket wholly into the collector's dish, gold and all… Some of Mr. Whitefield's enemies affected [pretended]…that he [kept] these collections…but I who was intimately acquainted with him (being employed in printing his Sermons and Journals, etc.), never had the least suspicion of his integrity, but am… decidedly of opinion that he was…a perfectly honest man; and methinks my testimony in his favour ought to have the more weight, as we had no religious connection. He us'd, indeed, sometimes to pray for my conversion, but never had the satisfaction of believing that his prayers were heard. Ours was a mere civil friendship, sincere on both sides, and lasted to his death. The following instance will show something of the terms on which we stood. Upon one of his arrivals from England at Boston, he wrote to me that he should come soon to Philadelphia, but knew not where he could lodge...My answer was, "You know my house; if you can make shift with its scanty accommodations, you will be most heartily welcome." …He had a loud & clear voice, & articulated his words & sentences so perfectly, that he might be heard & understood at a great distance, especially as his auditories, however numerous, observ'd the most exact silence. He preach'd one evening from the top of the Courthouse steps, which are in the middle of Marketstreet, & on the west side of Second-street, which crosses it at right angles. Both streets were fill'd with his hearers to a considerable distance. Being among the hindmost in Market-street, I had the curiosity to learn how far he could be heard, by retiring backwards down the street towards the river; and I found his voice distinct till I came near Front-street, when some noise in that street obscur'd it. Imagining then a semi-circle, of which my distance should be the radius, and that it were fill'd with auditors, to each of whom I allow'd two square feet, I computed that he might well be heard by more than 30,000. This reconcil'd me to the newspaper accounts of his having preach'd to 25,000 people in the fields, and to the ancient histories of generals haranguing [lecturing] whole armies, of which I had sometimes doubted. His writing and printing from time to time gave great advantage to his enemies; unguarded expressions, and even erroneous opinions, delivered in preaching, might have been afterwards explain'd... [But]Critics attack'd his writings violently, and with so much appearance of reason as to diminish the number of his votaries [followers] and prevent their encrease; so that I am of opinion if he had never

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written any thing, he would have left behind him a much more numerous and important sect, and his reputation might in that case have been still growing, even after his death…

Document 4- Primary Sources

Laymen often fashioned their responses to public events as poems, to be read in literary clubs, sent to newspapers, or published as pamphlets. Presented here are two published poems on George Whitefield⎯ one published anonymously during his first American tour and the second written after his death in 1770.

4A- ‘’Juventus” [anonymous poet], New-York Weekly Journal, 26 November 17393 WHITEFIELD! That Great, that pleasing Name Has all my Soul possessest: For sure some Seraph from above Inspires his Godlike Breast. He comes commission’d from on High, The Gospel to proclaim; And thro’ the wide extended World To spread the Saviour’s Name. See! See! He comes, the Heav’nly Sound Flows from his charming Tongue’ Rebellious Men are seiz’d with Fear, With deep Conviction stung. List’ning we stand with vast Surprize, While Rapture chains our powers,

Charm’d with the Musick of his Voice; Not know the passing Hours, Blasphemers hear the dreadful Sound, Inspir’d with trembling Awe; While he declares their crimson Guilt, And loud proclaims the Law. While, WHITEFIELD, to thy sacred Strain, Surpriz’d we listen still, Immortal heights we seem to reach, Celestial Transports feel. Approach ye Mortals here below, And flock around the Song; With Pleasure hear the Saviour’s Name Sound from a Mortal Tongue.

4B- “An Elegaic Poem on the Death of that Celebrated Divine, and Eminent Servant of Jesus Christ, the late Reverend and Pious George Whitefield. . . By PHILLIS WHEATLEY, A Servant Girl of Seventeen Years of Age, belonging to Mr. J. 4 WHEATLEY of Boston: She has been but Nine Years in this country from Africa,” 1771 HAIL, happy Saint, on thine immortal throne! He urg’d the need of HIM to every one; To thee complaints of grievance are unknown; It was no less than GOD’s co-equal SON! We hear no more the music of thy tongue, Take HIM ye wretched for your only good; Thy wonted auditories cease to throng. Take HIM ye starving souls to be your food. Thy lessons in unequal’d accents flow’d! Ye thirsty, come to this life giving stream: While emulation in each bosom glow’d; Ye Preachers, take him for your joyful theme: Thou didst, in strains of eloquence refin’d, Take HIM, “my dear AMERICANS,” he said, Inflame the soul, and captivate the mind. Be your complaints in his kind bosom laid: Unhappy we, the setting Sun deplore! Take HIM ye Africans, he longs for you; Which once was splendid, but it shines no more; Impartial SAVIOUR, is his title due; He leaves this earth for Heaven’s unmeasur’d height; If you will chuse to walk in grace’s road, And worlds unknown, receive him from our sight. You shall be sons, and kings, and priests to GOD. There WHITEFIELD wings, with rapid course his way, Great COUNTESS!* And sails to Zion, through vast seas of day. we Americans revere Thy name, and thus condole thy grief sincere: When his AMERICANS were burden’d sore, We mourn with thee, that TOMB obscurely plac’d, When streets were crimson’d with their guiltless gore! In which thy Chaplain undisturb’d doth rest. Unrival’d friendship in his breast now strove: New-England sure, doth feel the ORPHAN’s smart; The fruit thereof was charity and love Reveals the true sensations of his heart: Since this fair Sun, withdraws his golden rays, Towards America ⎯⎯ couldst thou do more No more to brighten these distressful days! Than leave thy native home, the British shore, His lonely Tabernacle, sees no more To cross the great Atlantic’s wat’ry road, A WHITEFIELD landing on the British shore: To see America’s distress’d abode? Then let us view him in yon azure skies: Thy prayers, great Saint, and thy incessant cries, Let every mind with this lov’d object rise. Have pierc’d the bosom of thy native skies! No more can he exert his lab’ring breath, Thou moon hast seen, and ye bright stars of light Seiz’d by the cruel messenger of death. Have witness been of his requests by night! What can his dear AMERICA return? He pray’d that grace in every heart might dwell: But drop a tear upon his happy urn, He long’d to see America excell; Thou tomb, shalt safe retain thy sacred trust, He charg’d its youth to let the grace divine

                                                                                                                        3  National Humanities Center, 2009: nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/. (1) “Juventus” in David A. Copeland, Debating the Issues in Colonial Newspapers (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2000), p. 103; permission pending. (2) Wheatley, “An Elegaic Poem,” digital image of broadside, Library Company of Philadelphia; permission pending. Complete image credits at nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/becomingamer/imagecredits.htm.   4  http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/becomingamer/ideas/text2/poemsevangelists.pdf  

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Arise, and in their future actions shine; He offer’d THAT he did himself receive, A greater gift not GOD himself can give:

Till life divine re-animate his dust. *  The Countess of Huntingdon was a family friend of the Wheatleys who mourned Whitefield because he had been her personal chaplain in England.

Optional Documents Primary SourceJohn Hughes Letter-

Secondary Source Excerpt from G.A. Henty’s True to the Old Flag –(Historical Fiction written in 1885), Chapter 1 “A Frontier Farm” Concord, March 1, 1774. "MY DEAR COUSIN… "Massachusetts is in a ferment…and the people talk openly of armed resistance against the Government. My husband, being of English birth and having served in the king's army, cannot brook [abide/stand]what he calls the rebellious talk which is common among his neighbors, and is already on bad terms with many around us. I myself am, as it were, a neutral. As an American woman, it seems to me that the colonists have been dealt with somewhat hardly by the English Parliament, and that the measures of the latter have been high-handed and arbitrary. Upon the other hand, I naturally incline toward my husband's views. He maintains that, as the king's army has driven out the French, and gives protection to the colony, it is only fair that the colonists should contribute to its expenses. The English ask for no contributions toward the expense of their own country, but demand that, at least, the expenses of the protection of the colony shall not be charged upon the heavily taxed people at home [in Britain]. ..my husband says that… …the people here… should not grumble at paying this small tax to the mother country. However it be, I fear that troubles will come, and, this place being the head and focus of the party hostile to England, my husband, feeling himself out of accord with all his neighbors, saying a few loyal gentlemen like himself, is thinking much and seriously of selling our estate here and of moving away into the new countries of the West... The dissenting [rebel/nonconformist]clergy are…the fomenters [agitators] of this discontent. There are many busybodies who pass their time in stirring up the people by violent harangues and seditious writings; therefore everyone takes one side or the other, and there is neither peace nor comfort in life… "Your Affectionate Cousin, 9    

"MARY WILSON."

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