Dbq Salem Witch Trials

During the 1600’s in the United States there was much economic and religious dissention within the Puritan society: a group of English reformed protestants who pursued the Purification of the Church of England. Among these issues, is the hysteria of the Salem Witch Trials that prosecuted women to be found worshippers of the devil. The Puritans found the necessity to exercise this crusade in order to stay by their moral codes of conformity which included witchcraft to be the greatest crime, punishable by death. However, the true reasons of the trials was not to simply follow their religious constitutions. It is mainly in part from corruption of religion and how some had used the trials as a form of personal gain, the influences of the attitudes from the strict Puritan lifestyle, the need for unification between the Salem factions, and the society’s fear of evil.

From the time of the 1690’s the entirety of Salem, Massachusetts were Puritans. “The Puritan lifestyle was restrained and rigid: People were expected to work hard and repress their emotions or opinions. Individual differences were frowned upon.” (Salem Witch Trials, The World Behind the Hysteria). These people believed that doing anything sinful would result in punishment from God. Just as much as they believed in God, they also believed in the Devil. Keeping up with the Puritan code, it led to the first women being accused of witchcraft. They were viewed as pariahs, and seen differently. Had the Puritan government let the afflicted defend themselves, not be so dependent on religion, not investigating the facts or scrutinize the trials the killing of many could have been prevented. The hangings from the trials would ultimately be the last in America.

The 1690s were a terrible time, full of accusations, lies and death, a scary time for all those in New England, especially in Salem, Massachusetts. The Salem Witch Trials were a result of a Puritan theocracy, in which the Puritans destroyed the lives of innocent women all the while believing they were doing the right thing. A Puritan theocracy meant that all aspects of the ruled area were controlled by the church. The Puritans were extremely strict about creating a perfect Puritan society, the oppression of women was prominent during this time and there was intense pressure to be a model citizen, making no mistakes. Religion ruled the life of a Puritan, it controlled every aspect of their lives.

The Salem witch craft hysteria of 1692 was caused by people thinking they could be possessed by the devil, the belief that witches were real and the fear of being accused for being a witch. Actions caused hysteria in Salem. These little girls were acting strangely, so they accused someone as a witch. In “Document C” it says they the girl accused did not even know what a witch was.

The Salem Witch Trials of 1692 were a series of events that changed the lives of many Puritans forever. Myriads of innocent people were scapegoated, convicted and even executed of witchcraft. It is hard to believe that this absurdity really occurred, and many tried to locate the reasons that led to the evolution of this crisis. While some turned to economic patterns to explain the hysteria, the people’s belief in the Bible and eagerness to conform to slander contributed most to the progression of the Witch Trials.

Salem Witchcraft Trials and Its Possible Causes - Adolescent girls in Salem MA used spectral evidence for accusations against others about witchcraft; an actual belief in witchcraft by Puritans hysteria from the rigid society a way of poorer and less landowning farmers getting back at the rich way to target women (especially widows or those with land) who were seen as inferior

In the 1600’s, a group called the Protestant Christians also known as the Puritans immigrated to New England (modern day east United States) to break away from the Church of England. The Puritans were hoping to improving Christianity and to worship the Lord. As days went by, the Puritans started to make progress on their settlement that they started building when they arrived called Salem. Years and years were the same old lifestyle in the Puritans colony. But in the fall of 1692 a lot of things went wrong. The trouble began when a group of young girls began to show strange behavior. These girls started accusing people of bewitching them and that is what started the Salem Witch Trials Hysteria. Gender roles and

The strict Puritan lifestyle led to the gossip among citizens of people that did not entirely fit the profile of the “perfect” Puritan, such as Bridget Bishop. It is possible that citizens that did not meet Puritan standards were only tried as witches to rid the community of their impure lifestyles. All-in-all, the original accusing girls, the governing families within the community, and the pastor Samuel Parris himself all used their religion as a brutal and violent grab for power by using fear to condemn otherwise innocent people in their

Many assumptions have been made by historians to explain the occurrence of the Salem witchcraft trials, and on why the afflicted girls behaved the way they did, but yet there still seems to remain a sense of doubt on this issue. It seems that this case is not just because of one factor such as Ergotism, but several more. The affliction started by mind suggestion. The early beliefs and superstitions in Puritanical society that were practiced on an everyday basis supported the idea that the behaviors and physical conditions of the afflicted girls were the evil works of the witches, and the Devil. Among many Puritans, this belief becomes a fear, and then this fear becomes like an additional topping that adds up to causing convulsive hysteria

Terror raged through Salem Village in 1692, causing the citizens to accuse each other of heinous crimes supposedly committed through witchcraft, which they punished by arrest, and at times, execution. Twenty-five people died and many more imprisoned as a result of the Salem witch trials, a series of court cases regarding the 131 people accused of witchery (Foulds 258). Trouble first started when two girls acted so strangely, the villagers had no doubts that witchcraft had caused it. Soon, they considered no one safe because anyone might be a witch, or a witch may be tormenting them. The afflicted girls’ mysterious behavior activated a hysterical fear of witches, causing the Salem witch trials.

Salem witch trials. A topic many people have heard about but, don´t know much about the actual topic itself. The salem witch trials were a series of hearings, and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts, between February 1692 and May 1693. The trials started during the spring after a young group of girls called the afflicted girls claimed to be possessed by the devil by the devil. They then accused multiple local women of witchcraft and that they had made is so they were possessed by the devil. In reality the young girls were acting out towards their parents and since they didn't want to get in trouble they blamed the local women to cover up for them acting

The prospect of having religious freedom was enough reason for the Puritans to pick up their lives and begin a journey across the Atlantic. The Puritans lived and breathed their religion, which was prominent in their cultural and political beliefs. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter captures these ways with a beautiful story about a young woman and her struggle with the Puritanism expectations. American Puritanism, with its strict religious beliefs, swept over the New England colonies during the seventeenth century.

“In the seventeenth century, the Puritans were noteworthy for their religious zeal and moral vigor” (Manos). The Puritan’s were firm believers in their faith and would let nothing stop them from following the ways of the Lord. Their strong beliefs were outstanding, in the sense that, they took the Bible very literally. Their religious theocracy was what had shaped their culture and their people all together. “They confidently expected that their own rigorous adherence to God’s Word would lead to the millennial rule of Christ” (Zakaí 1). Outsiders of the Puritan faith did not believe what the Puritans did. ““Puritanism” evokes little more than an image of something gloomy and repressive” (Stannard 1). Many described the people as vindictive or cruel. During the Salem Witch trials, we can get a sense of their true beliefs in the devil and witches. “When they found a statement in the Scriptures that witches must not be allowed to live, their duty became clear” (Billings). At this point anyone who

The Puritans ascending in the 1600's were a lamented and disappointed organization. For a really long time their trusts and desires had been denied. Their fantasies for an English government and a Church of England maintaining a more edified Biblical Christianity were still unfulfilled.

During the mid 17th century of America, an ominous wave that spread mass hysteria and shook the conscience of villagers swept across New England. It was an outbreak of witchcraft that plagued the American lands. The first signs of this menacing witchcraft were in the Salem Village of New England. The villagers of this Puritan village did not know anything that could have been the cause of this forbidding event besides that it was the work of the devil himself. These puritans started with a string of accusations that eventually led to a trial held by the village committee. A domino effect soon took its place and unraveled a chain of unstoppable events. This frenzy was recorded down in history as the Salem witch trials.