I would modify the argument replacing "drastically altered" with "helped create". The idea of freedom was unexistent int he colonies prior to these events. They gradually formed the idea in the colonies residents that freedom from Great Britain was in the best of interests for them.
The First Great Awakening marked the origins of American Christianity as of predominant influence over the Protestant churches of the United States. This meant the first step in marking the distance from one of the institutions of Great Britain. In this case, it's church.
The Enlightenment and its philosophy, which was highly skeptical of monarchies. Took place in North America in the early 18th century. This movement would become a driving force in what would later become the American Revolution.
The events between 1754 and 1776 that would lead up to the Independence of the United States during that last year are the effects of this transformation in the way of thinking of residents of the colonies towards freedom.