The Salem Witch Trials, taking place between February 1692 and May 1693, arose from a period of mass hysteria regarding witchcraft. The puritanical society of New England emphasized a need for a Bible-based society, which caused a fear of the supernatural and gave rise to the false accusations of “witches.” With testimonies of witches rooted in the Old Testament, the idea of witchcraft eventually made its way into the superstitious and everyday Puritan life, and was fueled by the rejection of the group during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. The intense paranoia among the Puritans eventually led the group to go as far as even setting their own people on fire may be accounted for by the rejection of the religion itself. They were considered …show more content…
Puritan teachings were influenced by Calvinist theology, leading to the “dismissal of idolatry and a focus on images drawn from scripture and everyday life.” The Puritans stressed the importance of community, as it was centered on the church and members were encouraged to report the sins of others in order to keep the community pure as a whole. As John Winthrop explained, “the first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, explained in his letter written on May 22, 1643:” “Our civil Government is mixt: the freemen choose the magistrates each year and assist [them] in making of laws, imposing taxes, & disposing of lands… Our churches are governed by Pastors, Teachers, ruling Elders & Deacons, yet the power lies in the whole congregation.” The Puritans also had strict attitudes and superstitions that lead to religious extremism and false accusations. They believed in “absolute sovereignty of God” and placed considerable emphasis on scripture. It was “against the law not to attend church” and any other religion was attributed to Satan, whom the Puritans thought had profound influence on the weak individuals in society (women and children). The importance of having a righteous community influenced the Puritans to turn each other in for sinning, causing paranoia among community members. Witchcraft can be described as
Erikson explains that to most English people of the 16th century, Puritans became an annoying sect of rebels. Overbearing and unrelenting, many detested the exaggeration of conventional values that the Puritans displayed. Feeling restricted by the formalities of the Church, Puritans quickly became deviant in the eyes of society. By moving to Massachusetts Bay, Puritans hoped to create their own ideas of what is “right” and “wrong”, much like any community attempting to set boundaries. However, problems arose when laws were to be mandated in a Biblical sense. God could not sit at a pulpit in a courtroom, so then how would a strictly religious group maintain itself? As Erikson states, “one of the surest ways to confirm an identity, for communities as well as individuals, is to find some way of measuring what one is not”. From this, they developed a keen sense of Devil distinction – that is, ways in which the Devil presented himself through the behaviors of individuals.
The Puritans had a strong believe for God and feared his anger if one disobeyed or acted against
The Puritans lived a very strict, religious lifestyle. They believed that God worked in their daily lives. In a response to the Age of Enlightenment and people straying from the church, the Great Awakening began. A revitalization of religious piety swept through the colonies. Preachers taught that the people of the church were to trust their hearts over their minds and rely on biblical revelation, rather than human reason. One very memorable preacher is Jonathan Edwards, whose use of imagery encourages congregants to return to the church, especially in his best known sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.”
The changing historiography of the Salem Witch Persecutions of 1692. How current/contemporary and historical interpretations of this event reflect the changing nature of historiography.
During the time period of 1691 to 1692 the town of Salem, a small thriving community within the Puritan Massachusetts Bay colony, was struck by widespread hysteria in the form of witch trials. The way these trials and accusations played out are historically unlike any other witch trials found in European and American history. Historians have pointed to a number of economic, political, and social changes of the then existing institutions throughout the Massachusetts Bay area to be the cause of the Salem witch trials, along with the direction they took. If studied closely however, it becomes apparent that the main cause for the Salem witch trials can be found in the way the people of Salem viewed and
How far would you go to get what you want or admire ? In Massachusetts Bay there's a variety of things young foolish girls would do. Which left a mark in time, the period of The Salem Witch Trials Hysteria 1692. Furthermore, to say the Salem witch trials was when male and women were either an accuser or the accused of witchcraft but, that was acquisitiveness the time. Finally, to say The Salem witch trial Mania was caused by three main reasons, the first reason for the hysteria in Salem Village was when the young, single women of Salem accused older, married women of witchcraft to get a husband for themselves. The second reason was that the beset girls was lying and there parents protected them. The third reason was the conflict of the west (farmers) and the east (Political/wealthy).
Salem Witchcraft Trials Thesis Statement = == == == ==
The Salem Witchcraft Trials of 1692 were a dark time in American history. There were many possible causes of the Salem Witch Trials. A few major causes that led to the Salem Witch Trials were religion, reputations, and lack of laws.
Religion had a powerful impact on Puritans lives. Many Puritan people had faith in a supreme being, God, and the teachings of his Divine Son, Jesus Christ. They’d assume that if you weren’t a good Christian they would suffer in hell, but if you were one would be saved by god. An example would be in the sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” the speaker strongly describes about how being a bad Christian has its consequences and the good things that come of being a good Christian. “Many that were very lately in the same miserable condition that you are in are now in a happy state, with their hearts filled with love to him who has loved them, and washed them from their sins in his own blood, and rejoicing in hope of the glory of God.”(152)This explains how they had a strong feeling towards god’s ways. By being concerned about their religious life and being good Christians.
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.
In January 1692, when a group of juvenile girls began to display bizarre behavior, the tight-knit Puritan community of Salem, Massachusetts couldn’t explain the unusual afflictions and came to a conclusion. Witches had invaded Salem. This was the beginning of a period of mass hysteria known as The Salem Witch Trials. Hundreds of people were falsely accused of witchcraft and many paid the ultimate price of death. Nineteen people were hung, one was pressed to death, and as many as thirteen more died in prison. One of the accused Elizabeth Bassett Proctor, a faithful wife and mother, endured her fictitious accusation with honor and integrity.
Over four short months in 1692, several people in the colony of Massachusetts, discovered an easy solution to gain attention, impress local clergy and magistrate, get into the good graces of God, and get rid of people that they found disagreeable—by accusing them of witchcraft. This period, which became known as The Salem Witch Trials, enforced the belief that Puritan ministers spoke for God himself, and also that their opinions were infallible. At least twenty people were killed because of false accusations, and hundreds had their names and reputations torn apart over accusations that they practiced witchcraft (Norton, 2002). Strict Puritan values, a fear of witchcraft, and the counsel of local pastors created the mass hysteria that made the Salem Witch Trials an indelible part of American history.
Salem Witch Trials: Casting a spell on the people Today, the idea of seeing a witch is almost inconsequential. Our Halloween holiday marks a celebration in which many will adorn themselves with pointy black hats and long stringy hair, and most will embrace them as comical and festive. Even the contemporary witchcraft religious groups forming are being accepted with less criticism. More recently, the Blair Witch movie craze has brought more fascination than fear to these dark and magical figures. So, it becomes no wonder that when our generations watch movies like the Crucible, a somewhat accurate depiction of the Salem Witch Trials, we are enraged and confused by the injustice and the mayhem that occurred in 1692. For most, our egocentric
humanity would have come to an end, but that was not so. In 1692 a
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. These trials began after a group of young girls in Massachusetts claimed to be possessed by the devil and accused several other locals of witchcraft. After this broke out a special court convened in Salem to “hear and determine” (Mather 328)