12 - Major Events in the Colonies: The Enlightenment

•Exordium: Is freedom from tradition always a good thing?
•Recall narratives of Edwards, Whitefield, and Wesley.
•The Enlightenment was an intellectual movement that began in Europe during the 1600s and 1700s, spreading to the American colonies through books, letters, and education. It emphasized reason, science, and individual rights as the best ways to understand the world and improve society. Its influence led people to rethink human nature, morality, and truth itself, fostering a worldview that trusted reason as the path to understanding and progress.