Final answer:
Ideas like Republicanism, liberalism, and the Great Awakening challenged existing authority by promoting popular sovereignty, individual rights, and personal spirituality over traditional monarchy, government authoritarianism, and established churches, respectively, laying the groundwork for the American Revolution.
Step-by-step explanation:
The ideas of Republicanism, liberalism, and the Great Awakening each challenged established authority in different yet interconnected ways. Republicanism, inspired by the Enlightenment and figures like John Locke, advocated for a political system where the people rather than a monarchy had sovereignty, thereby challenging the divine right of kings and the traditional monarchical structures. Liberalism prioritized individual natural rights and freedoms, promoting ideals that often conflicted with existing government practices that were authoritarian or did not protect these rights. The Great Awakening, a religious movement, emphasized personal spiritual revival and questioned the established church's authority by suggesting direct personal relationships with the divine over clerical intermediation.
These ideological movements contributed to a shift in how authority was viewed, leading to a society more skeptical of traditional authority and more accepting of change and individual autonomy. Movements for democratic governance and personal freedoms trace their roots to these key periods of intellectual and spiritual foment. Additionally, they laid the groundwork for the American Revolution and the foundation of a new nation based on these enlightened principles.