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. They began because of the tough, rigid, religion that hanged innocent people under the assumption that they were
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“Religious belief a tradition of theocratic governance, and social and political tension were all factors in the frenzy that led to and sustained the Sale witch Trials” (Gale Encyclopedia). Sexism argues that the discrimination against women allowed for them to be easily targeted but men were accused displaying the same symptoms as women. The differences in class asserted that the lower classes were prime suspects to have followed the devil but the lower class was usually made up of the poor farmers from Salem Village that accused the merchants in the upper class. During 1692, everybody faced several stresses and experienced anxiety. The past wars and illnesses had kept people on edge and caused more conflicts but the wars and diseases were a part of all the colonies in New England, not just Salem (Gale Encyclopedia). The colonists were forced to separate not just into Salem Village and Salem Town, but into two different factions of totally different people that fought about economic changes and magic. There was also hallucinogenic mold that many had gotten into their crops and brought cause for concern of witchcraft and potions. Not all of the accused could have been affected by the mold though (Stokes). These causes for the accusations of witchcraft all stem from the conflict between religious colonists and merchant colonists. The central idea of Puritan religion was the fact
“Religious belief a tradition of theocratic governance, and social and political tension were all factors in the frenzy that led to and sustained the Sale witch Trials” (Gale Encyclopedia). Sexism argues that the discrimination against women allowed for them to be easily targeted but men were accused displaying the same symptoms as women. The differences in class asserted that the lower classes were prime suspects to have followed the devil but the lower class was usually made up of the poor farmers from Salem Village that accused the merchants in the upper class. During 1692, everybody faced several stresses and experienced anxiety. The past wars and illnesses had kept people on edge and caused more conflicts but the wars and diseases were a part of all the colonies in New England, not just Salem (Gale Encyclopedia). The colonists were forced to separate not just into Salem Village and Salem Town, but into two different factions of totally different people that fought about economic changes and magic. There was also hallucinogenic mold that many had gotten into their crops and brought cause for concern of witchcraft and potions. Not all of the accused could have been affected by the mold though (Stokes). These causes for the accusations of witchcraft all stem from the conflict between religious colonists and merchant colonists. The central idea of Puritan religion was the fact