Introduction
The observation of the different roles gender has played in U.S. history can provide insight about events and why those events occurred. This is especially true in the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. Why did gender play such a large role in this bizarre event in history? During the Salem Witch Trials the number of women persecuted for supposed witchcraft far outweighed the men. Women were sought after for this crime because of their perceived fragility, their inferiority to men in a paternalistic society, their vulnerability, and their good-naturedness that led them to confessing to a crime they did not commit.
Salem, Massachusetts in 1692 Salem, Massachusetts is located on the east coast of Massachusetts at the mouth of the Naumkeag River. Salem was founded in 1626 by Roger Conant and other immigrants from Cape Ann, Massachusetts. The settlement in this area was first name Naumkeag, after the river but eventually it was changed to Salem, the Hebrew word for peace. In 1628, the Massachusetts Bay Colony led by John Endecott also came to Salem. Salem was an important trading port, since it was on the mouth of a river, it was easy to get goods in and out of the colonies this way.
The settlers in Salem had a charter by the Monarch of England in 1629 that gave them the right to …show more content…
When a woman was seen as loud or coarse, she was looked down upon and thought of as odd. This can be seen as a problem during the Salem Witch Trials, because those who didn’t fit in with society were more likely to be accused of being a witch. Women were beginning to live longer too. This was a problem because there was not yet a role for elder women in society. They did not fit in easily, and this was something that made society distraught. Young women did not fit into society either because they felt oppressed and unheard, which made them unlikely to compromise to fit into
The observation of the different roles gender has played in U.S. history can provide insight about events and why those events occurred. This is especially true in the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. Why did gender play such a large role in this bizarre event in history? During the Salem Witch Trials the number of women persecuted for supposed witchcraft far outweighed the men. Women were sought after for this crime because of their perceived fragility, their inferiority to men in a paternalistic society, their vulnerability, and their good-naturedness that led them to confessing to a crime they did not commit.
Salem, Massachusetts in 1692 Salem, Massachusetts is located on the east coast of Massachusetts at the mouth of the Naumkeag River. Salem was founded in 1626 by Roger Conant and other immigrants from Cape Ann, Massachusetts. The settlement in this area was first name Naumkeag, after the river but eventually it was changed to Salem, the Hebrew word for peace. In 1628, the Massachusetts Bay Colony led by John Endecott also came to Salem. Salem was an important trading port, since it was on the mouth of a river, it was easy to get goods in and out of the colonies this way.
The settlers in Salem had a charter by the Monarch of England in 1629 that gave them the right to …show more content…
When a woman was seen as loud or coarse, she was looked down upon and thought of as odd. This can be seen as a problem during the Salem Witch Trials, because those who didn’t fit in with society were more likely to be accused of being a witch. Women were beginning to live longer too. This was a problem because there was not yet a role for elder women in society. They did not fit in easily, and this was something that made society distraught. Young women did not fit into society either because they felt oppressed and unheard, which made them unlikely to compromise to fit into