The American colonies had fallen into spiritual apathy, and they desperately needed to be stirred up again. God answered this need with the First Great Awakening. George Whitefield was a university student who came to know God in a powerful way and then set out to help others know Him too. After helping bring revival to England, Whitefield felt God calling him to preach in the colonies. There, he found the fields ready for harvest because God had already been working through other church leaders. The first such church leader was Theodorus Frelinghuysen.

Although the first generation of colonists burned with intensity in their relationship with God, the second and third generations let that fire die. They were so blessed by God that they grew complacent. They needed something to happen to rouse them from their slumbers.

Through Whitefield's preaching, particularly through his "Father Abraham" sermon, God united the thirteen colonies. Despite division caused by geography and denominationalism, when the colonists were affected by revival, their divisions became inconsequential and they became aware that they were all equal before God and that they were a nation chosen by God for a specific purpose.