Sermons of Raw Emotion:
The Great Awakening
Reasons for The Great Awakening
Sermons of Raw Emotion
The Out Comes of The Awakening
The Great Awakening 1730-1740 gave
colonists a shared national religious
experience
Reasons for The Great
Awakening
 People felt that religion was
dry, dull and distant
 Preachers felt that people
needed to be concerned
with inner emotions as
opposed to outward
religious behavior
 People in New England can
read and interrupt the Bible
on their own
George Whitefield
 Puritan Minster who
used raw emotional
sermons to reach all
classes of colonists
 Preached that “good
works” and “godly lives”
would bring you
salvation
 Forced to give sermons
in open areas (revivals)
Jonathan Edwards a Puritan Minster terrified
listeners with his sermon “Sinners in the
Hands of an Angry God”
Outcomes of the Great
Awakening
 Birth of deep religious
convictions in the
colonies
 New churches built to
accommodate new
members
 Colleges founded
found to train new
ministers
Outcomes of the Great
Awakening
 Encouraged ideas of
equality and right to
challenge authority
 Birth of charity and
charitable
organizations
The Trial of John Peter
Zenger (August 4, 1735)
http://www.courts.state.ny.us/history/im
ages/zenger_tryal_illustration.jpg
Background to Case
 Zenger was a
German printer who
worked for the New
York Weekly Journal
 He wrote articles that
criticized NY
governor, William
Cosby
 Cosby had Zenger
arrested for “seditious
libel”
http://www.webster.edu/fatc/zengpic2.jpg
http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/zen
ger/freespeech.htm
Arguments of Case
 Prosecution argued that
Zenger “wickedly and
maliciously” printed articles
against the governor and his
ministers
 Zenger legally couldn’t defend
himself by trying to prove that
he published the truth
 Zenger’s lawyer, Andrew
Hamilton, argued that the
truth should determine if the
articles were libelous or not
http://www.lib.umd.edu/RARE/IMG/Mdprinting
/zenger.gif
Verdict of Case
 The jury only took a
“short time” to rule not
guilty in favor of
Zenger
 Jury initiated the
practice of jury
nullification
 The case opened the
turn for the freedom
of press rights found
in Bill of Rights (1789)
http://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/graphics/zenger
trial.jpg
Issues/Discussion Questions
 Is it dangerous for a
jury to use jury
nullification?
 What reaction did the
verdict have with gov’t
officials? Common
people?
 Is it fair for the gov’t to
limit free speech in
times of “national
security”?
http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/scales/ze
nger.gif
Work Cited
 http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/proje
cts/ftrials/zenger/zenger.html
 Great source for selected primary
sources, summary, images,
 Dershowitz, Alan M. America on Trial.
Warner Books: New York, 2004.
 Discusses briefly details of case and
the significance of Zenger case to
modern America
 http://www.uark.edu/depts/comminfo/c
ambridge/zenger.html
 Complete court record of Alexander
Hamilton’s defense of John Peter
Zenger
 http://www.law.uh.edu/teacher/zenger/
 Brief summary of Zenger case
http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/scales/z
enger2.gif