---
title: "Protestant Evangelicalism — APUSH Definition & Exam Guide"
description: "Protestant evangelicalism stressed personal conversion and biblical authority, spread via the First Great Awakening, and helped Anglicize the colonies in APUSH Unit 2."
canonical: "https://fiveable.me/apush/key-terms/protestant-evangelicalism"
type: "key-term"
subject: "AP US History"
unit: "Unit 2"
---

# Protestant Evangelicalism — APUSH Definition & Exam Guide

## Definition

Protestant evangelicalism is a form of Protestant Christianity emphasizing personal conversion, biblical authority, and active preaching that spread through the British colonies during the First Great Awakening, helping Anglicize colonial culture while also fostering religious independence (KC-2.2.I.B).

## What It Is

Protestant evangelicalism is a style of Protestant [Christianity](/apush/unit-1/european-exploration-americas/study-guide/4Xo0Z9vsVo97AfHCtNzM "fv-autolink") built around three things: a personal conversion experience (being "born again"), the Bible as the final authority, and an urgent push to spread the faith through preaching and missionary work. In the colonial era, this wasn't quiet pew-sitting religion. Itinerant preachers like [George Whitefield](/apush/key-terms/george-whitefield "fv-autolink") traveled town to town delivering emotionally charged sermons designed to make ordinary people feel their own sinfulness and choose Christ for themselves.

In [APUSH](/apush "fv-autolink") terms, the CED treats Protestant evangelicalism as one of the forces that knit the colonies together. KC-2.2.I.B lists it alongside intercolonial trade and transatlantic print culture as a driver of **Anglicization**, the process by which the colonies became more English over time. Here's the twist worth remembering: the same movement that connected colonists to a shared British religious world also taught them to question established authority. If you can judge your own minister against the Bible, you can eventually judge your own king against your rights.

## Why It Matters

This term lives in **Topic 2.7, Colonial Society and Culture ([Unit 2](/apush/unit-2 "fv-autolink"): Colonial Development, 1607-1754)** and supports learning objective **APUSH 2.7.A**, which asks you to explain how the movement of people and ideas across the Atlantic shaped [American culture](/apush/key-terms/american-culture "fv-autolink"). The CED names Protestant evangelicalism directly in KC-2.2.I.B as a force of Anglicization, and KC-2.2.I.A pairs it with the First Great Awakening and Enlightenment ideas as fuel for colonial pluralism and intellectual exchange. It also sets up **APUSH 2.7.B**, because KC-2.2.I.D says colonial resistance to imperial control drew on "greater religious independence and diversity." That makes evangelicalism a two-way concept on the exam. It explains both why the colonies grew more British AND why they later felt confident defying Britain. That kind of double-edged evidence is exactly what continuity-and-change and causation prompts reward.

## Connections

### [Anglicization (Unit 2)](/apush/key-terms/anglicization)

The CED literally lists Protestant evangelicalism as one of the engines of [Anglicization](/apush/key-terms/anglicization "fv-autolink"), along with intercolonial trade and transatlantic print culture. Shared revivals, shared preachers, and shared hymns made scattered colonies feel like one British religious community.

### [First Great Awakening (Unit 2)](/apush/key-terms/first-great-awakening)

The Awakening of the 1730s-1740s is the event; evangelicalism is the religious style it spread. Revivalists like Whitefield and [Jonathan Edwards](/apush/key-terms/jonathan-edwards "fv-autolink") carried conversion-centered preaching from colony to colony, creating one of the first truly intercolonial experiences.

### [Benjamin Franklin (Unit 2)](/apush/key-terms/benjamin-franklin)

Franklin, the colonies' most famous [Enlightenment](/apush/key-terms/enlightenment "fv-autolink") figure, printed Whitefield's sermons and helped them go viral through transatlantic print culture. It's a perfect example of religious and Enlightenment ideas traveling the same channels, which is exactly what KC-2.2.I.A describes.

### Resistance to imperial control (Unit 3)

KC-2.2.I.D says colonial resistance drew on greater religious independence and diversity. Once colonists got used to challenging established clergy and choosing their own faith, challenging Parliament's authority felt like a smaller leap. Evangelicalism is great long-term causation evidence for the Revolution.

## On the AP Exam

Expect Protestant evangelicalism mostly in Unit 2 multiple-choice questions. A classic stem describes an itinerant preacher delivering emotional sermons urging personal conversion and asks you to name the movement, or asks what role evangelicalism played in colonial society. It also shows up indirectly in questions about Anglicization, where evangelicalism is one of the listed causes alongside colonial assemblies and English common law, and in questions about transatlantic exchange of religious and philosophical ideas through print. No released FRQ has used the term verbatim, but it's strong evidence for short-answer and essay prompts about colonial culture, the causes of Anglicization, or the intellectual roots of the Revolution. The move that earns points is connecting it both directions, showing it tied colonists to Britain culturally while seeding habits of religious independence that later fed resistance.

## Protestant evangelicalism vs First Great Awakening

These overlap but aren't identical. The First Great Awakening was a specific revival movement of the 1730s-1740s, a datable event in colonial history. Protestant evangelicalism is the broader religious style (conversion, biblical authority, active preaching) that the Awakening spread and that outlived it. Think of the Awakening as the wave and evangelicalism as the water. If an MCQ describes a traveling preacher in the 1740s, "First Great Awakening" is usually the answer; if it asks about the long-term religious culture that Anglicized the colonies, "Protestant evangelicalism" fits better.

## Key Takeaways

- Protestant evangelicalism emphasized personal conversion, biblical authority, and active preaching, and it spread through the British colonies during the First Great Awakening.
- The CED (KC-2.2.I.B) names Protestant evangelicalism as one of the forces driving Anglicization, alongside intercolonial trade and transatlantic print culture.
- Itinerant preachers like George Whitefield gave colonists from different regions a shared religious experience, helping create an intercolonial identity.
- Evangelicalism cut both ways. It made the colonies more culturally British, but it also fostered the religious independence that KC-2.2.I.D links to later resistance against imperial control.
- Evangelical and Enlightenment ideas spread through the same transatlantic print networks, which is why the CED pairs them as sources of colonial pluralism and intellectual exchange.

## FAQs

### What is Protestant evangelicalism in APUSH?

It's a form of Protestant Christianity stressing personal conversion, biblical authority, and active missionary preaching. In APUSH Unit 2 (Topic 2.7), it spread during the First Great Awakening and helped Anglicize colonial society.

### Is Protestant evangelicalism the same as the First Great Awakening?

Not quite. The First Great Awakening was the specific revival movement of the 1730s-1740s, while Protestant evangelicalism is the broader conversion-centered religious style the Awakening spread. The Awakening is the event; evangelicalism is the lasting culture.

### Did Protestant evangelicalism make the colonies more or less loyal to Britain?

Both, and that's the exam-worthy answer. KC-2.2.I.B credits it with Anglicizing the colonies, but KC-2.2.I.D says the religious independence it encouraged later fed colonial resistance to imperial control.

### How did Protestant evangelicalism contribute to Anglicization?

Revivals, traveling preachers like George Whitefield, and printed sermons connected colonists to a shared British Protestant culture. The CED lists evangelicalism alongside intercolonial commercial ties and transatlantic print culture as a driver of Anglicization.

### Is Protestant evangelicalism on the AP exam?

Yes, it appears in the CED's essential knowledge for Topic 2.7 (KC-2.2.I.B). It shows up in multiple-choice stems about itinerant preachers and Anglicization, and it works as evidence in essays about colonial culture or the long-term causes of the Revolution.

## Related Study Guides

- [2.7 Colonial Society and Culture](/apush/unit-2/colonial-society-culture/study-guide/Lko98iWbbumC8ceFevkv)

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