“In 1739 arrived among us from Ireland the Reverend Mr. [George] Whitefield, who had
made himself remarkable there as an itinerant preacher. He was at first permitted to preach in
some of our churches; but the clergy, taking a dislike to him, soon refused him their pulpits,
and he was obliged to preach in the fields. The multitudes of all sects and denominations
that attended his sermons were enormous. . . . It was wonderful to see the change soon made
in the manners of our inhabitants. From being thoughtless or indifferent about religion, it
seemed 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.”
Benjamin Franklin, The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
1. Whitefield’s impact suggests that religious culture among British North American
colonists in the 1700s was most directly shaped by
(A) Roman Catholic influences
(B) interest in commerce and business
(C) trans-Atlantic exchanges
(D) reliance on agriculture
2. Whitefield’s open-air preaching contributed most directly to which of the following trends?
(A) The growth of the ideology of republican motherhood
(B) Greater independence and diversity of thought
(C) Movement of settlers to the backcountry
(D) The pursuit of social reform
3. The preaching described in the excerpt is an example of which of the following
developments in the 1700s?
(A) The emergence of an idea of republican self-government
(B) The beginning of calls for the abolition of slavery
(C) The increased influence of the Enlightenment
(D) The expansion of Protestant evangelism