By the middle of the 18th century, the colonies developed characteristics that can best be described as Americanism. These characteristics came from the concept of Enlightenment. Enlightenment means the acquisition of new wisdom or understanding enabling clarity of perception. It was basically a transition from a religious look on life to a scientific look on life. The actual era of enlightenment lasted from about the late 1600s to the late 1700s. A man by the name of John Locke took the idea of enlightenment and applied it to humans; it was called the Social Contract. From this era of reason came five Americanisms from the colonists. They were Belief /Existence of Actual Representative Government, Religion, Social Mobility, Superiority of American Education, and Embracement of the Enlightenment. When the Americans learned of the Enlightenment they were exposed to what is called the Great Awakening.
In the early 1600s America had a severe lack of visual government. The colonists......
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