Puritanism: The Salem Witch Trials

The oppressive nature of Puritanism created a crisis in the form of the Salem witch trials. Puritanism is represented in several aspects of the Salem Witch Trials. The laws that created a strict pious code, the Puritan’s everyday life style, and the political policies contributed to the crisis which arose in the town of Salem. The Puritan religion had been brought to Salem, Massachusetts from England in early 1629 by a group of religious separatists who believed that the newly reformed Church of England was unable to provide for their religious needs. They believed every person had a right to worship God in whatever way brought them closer to him. Puritanism dictated that there was one God and Devil and that God allowed the Devil to tempt his …show more content…
Children experienced boredom because playtime was frivolous. Adults expected children to stay quiet and busy with chores. Idle hands, after all, opened a foothold among the young for the Devil’s diversions. Children were only allowed to read the Bible or Cotton Mather’s Memorable Providences, which was about a witch trial and hanging that had previously happened in Boston. Fairytales were viewed as wicked and forbidden. Parents warned their children that the woods were wild and untamed and therefore Satanic and evil. Children found playing in the woods were believed to be under the influence of the Devil. Puritans believed that children were inherently bad and had to be strictly raised to become model Puritan adults. Boys enjoyed a little more freedom than girls, in the forms of hunting, fishing, and woodwork. Conversely, girls were expected to act in a docile manner at all times. Puritan girls were allowed to visit other children of neighboring farms or houses. Frances Hill’s book, A Delusion of Satan: The Full Story of the Salem Witch Trials, agrees that the Parris girls visited other girls in the surrounding farms. In return, the other neighborhood girls visited at the Parris household and participated in the fortune telling games. It is these nefarious games that Betty and Abigail Parris were caught playing and historians believe to the cause the girls supposed …show more content…
Predestination states that God already knows whose souls would good to heaven before people were even born. If something bad happened to a person or a family, such as a failed crop or sickness, the other people in the community would not offer aid, because they believed it was God punishing the family for a wrong doing. If a person suffered a bout of extra luck, the community could interpret that to mean the person might have made a deal with the Devil. In his book, The Wonders of the Invisible World, Cotton Mather outlined schemes the Devil used to manipulate the Puritans. He explained how Satan visited Salem because it was close to the end of times and Satan knew his time on earth was almost over. Mather goes on to prove that the apocalypse was upon them by stating how there were more frequent earthquakes in Italy and Jamaica. He wrote about how the creatures of Hell are surrounding them every day and they must guard their hearts against theses beast. He even hints that he believes that Henry VIII was the Anti-Christ so that surly means the end was near. Mather references how the Pawnee tried to kill the early settlers of New England. he also discusses the smallpox epidemic as evidence of Satan’s work against the Puritan people. Mather’s book goes into great detail on several paranormal cases of people seeing their dead loved ones. However, most of the