After watching The Great Awakening, I dusted off my old history teacher hat and took a fresh look at a familiar story. We all know about the Constitutional Convention and the Founding Fathers, but what shaped the people who shaped the nation?

In this Morning Brew, we go back before 1787…before 1776…to a time when a preacher named George Whitefield was drawing massive crowds in open fields, and a printer named Benjamin Franklin was helping spread ideas that stirred hearts and minds across the colonies.

This isn’t a deep dive into dates and documents—it’s a look at the culture, beliefs, and conversations that helped prepare a people for independence.

Along the way, we’ll connect those early influences to our lives today and ask a simple question: where do big ideas really begin?