The First Great Awakening period occurred over the 20 years ending in 1750. With its initial roots in England it spread to and flourished in the Thirteen Colonies. Evangelical ministers came to the fore with their sermons and teachings that elicited an emotional response, rather than intellectual. Church gatherings became more participatory and moved to a development of more-democratic churches. The Awakening, although then affecting a broad cross section of American society, had its greatest influence on church leaders, the educated and the elite. It is thought the democratizing ways of the movement influenced the populace and led them eventually to throw off their colonial shackles. As a result of the hard times of the 1760s and the early 1770s, the settlers found it difficult to put their religious life on an organized institutional basis, and since it cost money to build churches and pay ministers, the settlers were hard pressed to meet such obligations.