Re: http://www.cbn.com/CBNNews/CWN/073004plymouth.asp
Article says, "Marshall said, "Well, one of the major landmarks, of course, would be [the year] 1800. Because you've got the First Great Awakening that swept through all of the 13 colonies on the Atlantic seaboard. [During it] people came to Christ by the hundreds of thousands, and it actually created the War for Independence.'"
A Christian revival started the American Revolution? Hate to offend those that think alcohol is the devil's juice and that the patriots were good church-attending Baptists or Methodists tea-totalers but...
McCullough's biography of John Adams show letters that indicate Adams' concern over America's reprobate attitude, not repentant behavior. Deists in the government were not as concerned. BTW John Adams loved his hard cider. His cousin Samuel was known for beer. Revival in the Revolution, where? Jefferson was living with his slaves openly in public, and Franklin was boinking so many French women in Paris that he was the defining Father of the Country. I see no revival in the Revolution. I know there was one in 1830s to 1840s, but that's over 1/2 century later.
Also if one reads material connected to the Revolution you'll find slarge doses of alcoholic beverages (a different type of spirits) involved in the American Revolution. Glorious songs of patriotism such as Star Spangled Banner were set to drunken English pub songs. Many of the major meetings of the founding fathers took place in the smokey backrooms of pubs. Even the Pilgrims HAD TO LAND at Plymouth because they ran out of beer! They may have been looking for New Jerusalem but they were earnest in finding water to fill the still and barrels of some quick ale. Later, the idea that water in America was healthier than European swill water slowly eroded the need for fermentation to render the liquid potable.
Now, if we are to say that Christ sought the company of wine-bibbers, then perhaps the idea that there was a connection between a country-wide church revival and warfare with the British Empire is correct.