Images of women screaming at the stake while being burned, religious leaders yelling about damnation and hellfire, and young girls going into convulsive fits fill the minds of many Americans. Frances Hill takes on the daunting task of sorting through the various information and creating a single book that elaborates more on the tragic events that occurred in Salem, Massachusetts during the 1690’s, as well as including a detailed index, chapter notes, a total death toll, chronology, and a list of key persons and their ties to the Salem Witch Trials. Hill expertly conveys the true cause of the Salem Witch Trials as well as the outcomes and catalysts in twenty five chapters. Each chapter tackles a…
Theories of The Salem Witch Trials Salem, Massachusetts, a town originally settled in the early seventeenth century, after King Charles II granted a charter, allowing the colonization and self rule over The Massachusetts Bay Colony. This charter was revoked then renewed before finding stable ground in 1691. Salem was run by a group of Puritans who left England due to religious oppression. The Puritans sought out a land where the Puritan Church could not only exist, but exist without interference from the Church of England. The colony, having been over-run throughout the past, was yet again threatened to be abolished.…
Innocent and Godly People Accused Salem was suppose to be built around the ways of God. However, this wasn’t the case when the word of witchcraft appeared in Salem. Rumors about colonist performing witchcraft didn’t come off too well on their reputation.…
In The Salem Witchcraft Trials: A Legal History, Peter C. Hoffer closely examines the many complexities of the bizarre Salem Witchcraft Trials and offers explanations as to what led up to and caused the terrible event. In the book, Hoffer uses analogies and insight to village life to support his explanations. This paper will review Hoffer’s re accounting of the trials, his theories on the trails, and the way in which he presents his arguments.…
The Salem witch trials of 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts, was a notorious episode in American history. This historical event resulted in the execution by hanging of fourteen women and five men accused of practicing witchcraft. Furthermore, one man was pressed to death by heavy weights; at least eight people died in prison; and more than one hundred individuals were jailed while awaiting trial. The political discrimination experienced in Salem was the foundation for the trials. In 1692, the town of Salem, Massachusetts was split into two distinct sections.…
Massachusetts, McCarthyism, and Mass Hysteria Humankind has expressed throughout time how easy and destructive it can be to accuse others without proper evidence or a truly reliable investigation. First occurring in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692, innocent individuals were unjustly persecuted as a result of their seemingly abnormal actions or personal affiliations. Behavior such as this was rekindled, witnessed during McCarthyism in the early 1950’s and the treatment of homosexuals during the subsequent Lavender Scare. Many lost their jobs, relationships, and lives due to uninformed people with a substantial amount of power and influence. As the newly Westernized American land provided a home for the residents of Salem, Massachusetts,…
What started as curious young girls playing with the idea of mysticism quickly escalated into one of the most infamous trials in United States history. The puritan community of Salem has become married to notions of hysteria, mystery, and dark magic. However, through the investigation of Paul Boyer and Stephen Nissenbaum in their book Salem Possessed: The Social Origins of Witchcraft, the roots of the trials are revealed to be community based. If the events of the witch-trials are seen as symptoms for socio-economic tensions between the Salem Town and Salem Village, a clearer picture begins to form of the events’ true motivation. By focusing on the divisions in the area within the set up of the town, factions within the village, and WHATEVER…
Salem Witch Trials- Real Vs. Truth The Salem witch trials were trials against friends and family for the only reason of fear, mischief and misconception. In the years 1692 and 1693, there were many court dates and accusations of men and women who were “seen” with the devil, which caused many executions out of fear.…
Religious Colonists v. Merchant Colonists The main cause for the Salem Witch trials was the accusations towards the merchant colonists by the religious colonists of Salem, Massachusetts in 1692 because of the religious views of the time and the economical changes brought by the merchants, and no other underlying cause was as influential as this one. The Puritans of Salem believed in witches that followed Satan and carried out his work. The merchants that caused the economic prosperity of Salem threatened the people’s Puritan values. The witch trials that followed were not caused by any stresses or anxieties of the colonial era.…
Were socioeconomic tensions responsible for the witchcraft hysteria in Salem? YES Paul Boyer and Stephen Nissenbaum believe that the political and economic tensions among the people of Salem, Massachusetts are to blame for the chaos in regards to witchcraft. They compare the events to a dramatic set piece where the town was in a power battle between political members and clergymen with the common folk and famers. Farmers were adamant about not becoming a part of commercial communism, wanting a new way of life for themselves.…
They were punished as adults and were expected to do as the adults did. The children were not allowed to have an imagination and had to work with their parents. Toys and games were scarce so the children didn’t have much of an imagination. All Puritans in Salem read only the bible and listened to the long preachings. Young boys were allowed to explore outdoors and hunt but girls were expected to stay in their home to help clean, cook, wash and sew.…
Salem, Massachusetts in 1692 was a terrifying scene. The witchcraft accusations were everywhere. As a result, the whole colony was paranoid about where a case of the devil’s possession may show up. Up to this point, the witch hunts in the thirteen colonies had been small and in only a small amount of places. The Salem Witch Trials were the first full-on hunt for witches.…
This community of Salem, Massachusetts in a way be compared to Jonestown due to the heavy puritan faith. Richard Sibbes a puritan minister is quoted saying “The whole of a Christian should be nothing but praises and thanks to God; we should neither eat nor sleep, but eat to God and work to God and talk to God, do all to His glory”. (Peikola) This mentality is shown very heavily in the town of Salem, their whole live, existence was based upon God. The puritan religion was mostly a strict moral code, and any straying from this code resulted in sin and punishment.…
Salem was a town with pure and hardworking Puritans. British Protestants would go out to farm their land and feed their cattle. A good Puritan could work hard and be faithful his or her entire life, but if accused of witchcraft their lives could take a turn for the worse. There were many candidates in Salem potentially deciding the lives of honest Puritans. The ultimate responsibility for the death of innocent Puritans is borne by Abigail.…
Witches! The Absolutely True Tale of Disaster in Salem is a National Geographic book that gives an overview of the Salem Witch Trials from its start to its finish. The author, Rosalyn Schanzer, is complete in her telling of the events, starting from the point where no one guessed that the afflicted girls were being tortured by witches and ending with the stories of how each person lived out their lives after the trials ended. The drawback of recording over a year of time within 131 pages is that the information isn’t as in depth as possible, and though everything is touched on there are obvious focuses, such as the reverend, who appears on nearly twenty different pages, as opposed the the symptoms of the girls’ affliction which appeared on…