Salem Witch Trials Essay Research Paper In

Salem Witch Trials Essay, Research Paper

In the winter of 1692, a wave of witch hysteria surrounded the settlement of Salem Village in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The accusations began with two little girls who were acting strangely. There are many underlying factors to why these thoughts of witchcraft started coming about. These issues were going on before that winter of 1692. The winter of 1692 was the onset of the hysterics behind the witchcraft trials.

To understand the reasons behind the hysteria, you have to know a little about the people who settled the area of Salem Village. Mainly Puritans inhabited Salem Village. There were very few other religions at that time. The Puritans left England to escape religious persecution. Puritans wanted to purify the national church by eliminated what they saw as Catholic influence. They believed in the total sovereignty of God and the absolute sinfulness of man. They wanted to establish a union of church and state (Kallen 17). Church membership was required for voting rights or to serve on juries (Roach 77). Puritans believed they were entering into a sacred compact with God in the founding of the Massachusetts colony. The agreed to live according to his will in return for a divine endorsement in the New World (Rice 10). To commune with Satan invited God s wrath and exposed the entire community to threat of divine retribution. Individual sin was considered an act of treason (Rice 11).

The people of Salem Village believed in witches. The word witchcraft meant the art of bewitching, casting spells, or manipulating the forces of nature . It was the idea of the people that this was impossible without the cooperation of the Devil (LeBeau 1). Many perceived that the Devil resented their way of life (Roach 7). The Devil had to act through a witch to do physical harm to human beings. He couldn t do it on his own (Dickinson 2). People who wholly believed in witches were always on the lookout for them. As a result, many people were wrongly accused (Dickinson 4).

Puritans viewed the world in basic black and white. The towns and villages stood as strongholds of righteousness. Armies of dark intent surrounded them. Discipline and devotion were slogans in the service of the Lord. The simplest acts of innocence were looked upon as questionable conduct or even abnormal (Rice 11). Sinners were severely punished in Salem Village. The punishments were meant to humiliate the person as well as hurt (Kallen 18).

There was little play or amusement during this time. Children were expected to work at all household chores at around six or seven years of age. Some five- and six-year-old daughters were expected to help upholster chairs and make curtains (Kallen 21). Toys were thought to be frivolous and time-wasting in general (Jackson 24). Dolls were especially harmful because witches used them as small replicas of people to perform magic (Jackson 27). There was also a widespread belief that witches targeted children (Linder).

There was never respect for the privacy of any individual in the seventeenth century. The community as a whole was expected to uphold the Puritan religion. They were encouraged to watch their neighbors closely and report any behavior that drifted even slightly from the straight and narrow (Dickinson 8). In 1644, it was decided that every Sunday two people would walk around town and take note of the people who were not attending church (Jackson 19). In the winter of 1647, a man fell into a pool late Saturday night and couldn t get his clothes dry in time for church. So he stayed home in bed to keep warm. He was convicted of slothfulness and whipped for not attending the sermon (Kallen 18).

According to some sources there was a problem with women s increasing independence (Karlson 160). They lived in a society where men exercised substantial authority over a woman. It was more difficult for women without brothers, widows who remarried or remained single and had no sons during the witch hunts. These women stood to inherit property and were resented for it. They stood in the way of orderly transmission of property from one generation of males to the other generation (LeBeau 30). 61% of the women accused during the witch trials were women without brothers or sons. 64% of those were tried. 76% of the women tried were convicted. 89% of those convicted were executed. Once a woman under these circumstances was accused, they were even more likely to be tried, convicted, and executed (Karlson 102).

The behavior in Salem was also a result of fear (Hansen 117). The Massachusetts colony at this time was threatened. King Charles I recalled their charter in 1684 (Hansen 118). In 1686, James II appointed a royal governor, Sir Edmund Andros. William and Mary came into power in 1689. They enforced the Test Act of 1673, which required Anglican assembly for civil or military office. At this time Massachusetts was still excluding anyone but Puritans from civil office (Hansen 119). They probably feared that they were going to lose their religious foothold on the colony.

In 1688, Samuel Parris was invited to Salem Village to preach to the Village church. After negotiations he accepted the job. He came with his wife, daughter (Elizabeth), niece (Abigail), and his two slaves, Tituba and John Indian (Linder). In 1692, the two girls began experiencing odd behavior. The doctors couldn t figure