As we suspected, the majority of female defendants were accused of inflicting their sorceries on only female victims. Out of twenty cases (the gender of the victims was unclear in one of our selected cases, so the population is reduced for this figure), nine female defendants had only female victims. Five were accused of attacking only men, and the other six were accused of affecting members of both gender. Because there were so few values for this particular variable, we did not find it relevant to graph or chart this information. We did, however, feel it necessary to create a frequency chart for this set of data, as it directly addresses one of our hypotheses. The data seems to support the common belief that much of the speculation involved …show more content…
Just as Europe suffered a loss of due process rights (provided by the documents presented by the 4th Lateran Council in 1215) when the Inquisition rose to power, members of colonial Salem, Massachusetts were not provided with the benefits of these rights. For example, only three of the twenty-one defendants in our data set had a witness speak in, rather than against, their favor. The presence of any sort of lawyer or council was not made clear in any of the documents, so it is relevant to believe that the Salem trials followed much of the same procedure as those that occurred during the Inquisition in Europe. Defendants were repeatedly asked similar-sounding questions regarding their alleged offenses, designed to catch a witch in her lies. This practice is incredibly similar to that utilized during the Inquisition. Additionally, both courts made use of the following method described in the Malleus maleficarum: “while he is being tortured, he must be questioned on the articles of accusation, and this frequently and persistently, beginning with the lighter charges-for he will more readily confess the lighter than the heavier. And, while this is being done, the notary must write down everything in his record of the trial - how the prisoner is tortured, on what points he is questioned and how he answers.” There was no presumption of innocence in the Salem trials; one was assumed to be guilty and in need of confession, rather than the plaintiffs being forced to prove the supposed acts of witchcraft performed against them. In conclusion, it is surprising that more defendants were not convicted of witchcraft, given the significant lack of due process rights for the accused and the (obviously) Puritan nature of those overseeing the Salem courts, in which hearsay and heresy went hand in
In salem 1692 many died because they were ‘deadly witches.’ The accused witches were once good and kind but then the devil possessed their bodies and caused them to do bad things like burn your burn your bread. What ever shall we do?! It’s so horrible and hysteria.
With this knowledge, we can start to see the role that the English legal system may have played in keeping the volume of executions for witchcraft lower than that of continental Europe. By giving the accused people a legitimate trial process and requiring evidence to prove guilt, the English may have been able to keep the death toll down by a significant
The girls did not want to be told what to do at all or else they would go tell thier dad ( Doc ( Doc B).29% of the people who accuced the people of witch craft where female. It shows this information because in, it said that 29% of the accucers where girls( Doc B). The girls where actin afflicted and crazy.
Not many people believe in witchcraft. Once you live in Salem, where people are accusing others of being witches, you’ll start to believe. So, why did people go crazy in Salem 1692? It was caused by poor young girls who acted possessed because they were jealous of the rich. Young girls that did not want to be told what to do, afflicted girls acting as if they were possessed, and poor people that were jealous of the rich cause the death of 24 people in Salem 1692.
In the May of 1692, Increase Mather returned to New England with Sir William Phipps. By the time of their arrival, the witch trials were already taking place, having started a few months prior in February. As the witch hunt in Salem escalated, the prison cells started to fill up with individuals accused of witchcraft. The confusing political situation following the ascension on William and Mary and the new charter allowed for a court Oyer and Terminer to be put in place on the 27th of May 1692. The lieutenant governor, William Stoughton, became the chief magistrate for this newly appointed court.
The fate of the accused was in the hands of the court; a flawed system that adhered to a cruel theocracy to the wants of the accusers. The court officials always questioned how the supposed witches were causing harm to the victims, however; Abigail and her friends were not as questioned to the extent that the “witches” were. Indeed, there was doubt about whether these people were witches, but doubt only is not enough to condemn a person to death. Those in the crucible lives were dependent on the decision of a broken courtroom. The clergy wanted to rid Salem of witches and the devil, clouding their true judgment and adhering to the victim’s claims.
Accused, trial, guilty, executed, devil, jury - the news spreading around Salem, Massachusetts was deathly. Starting with women, and then expanding to men, there were accusations of witchcraft encompassing the whole town. The arraigned did not stand a chance against the court. The accused witches went through one of the most arduous times of all people in Salem; however, after a well-abounding amount of trials, the cases were closed and the issue was solved. “It was the darkest and most desponding period in the civil history of New England.”
In 1478 the Spanish Inquisition had begun, and the first year the atrocity they committed not only matches the witch hunt in salem, but far overshadows it. Given time however, the Inquisition slows, yet in Salem blood always flows. In the beginning years of the inquisition many were tortured, interrogated, and countless executions took place (“Spanish Inquisition” Groiler Online). Yet even after committing this horrid string of offenses they realised their inhumanity and took a step back, becoming much more reasonable and docile for the remainder of the inquisition. The courts of Salem however never stopped executing their accused and made no efforts to allow the accused to defend themselves in court.
In Salem, Massachusetts, Puritans were strong believers in the Bible. The Bible states, “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.” The Puritans beliefs led to them accusing 20 innocent people of being a witch, this resulted in their deaths in 1692. Even though the Puritans couldn’t see it at the time, their accusations were really based off jealousy, lies, and Salem being divided into two parts. One cause of the Salem witch trial hysteria was jealousy.
Salem Witch Trials A certain set of unique factors had to align all at once to create the short-lived but vivid intensity of the Salem Witch Trials. In this historic event, many colonists were accused and tried of witchcraft, with 20 colonists executed for their charges. With the use of Mary Easty’s Testimony, the Trial of Bridget Bishop, and the case of Sarah Abbott v. Martha Carrier, one can analyze how false accusation, Puritan extremism, a lack of due process, and the presence of disputes between colonists lead to the Salem Witch Trials.
Salem and the Accused An excerpt from Crucible, Stating the equitable way to arraign people. During the time of the Salem Witch Trials, many innocent people were under the accusation of being and/or dealing with witches or the devil to cause mischief among the citizens of the town. These allegation influenced the rifts in the town, and caused an isolated community in which everyone had a fear of be accused or affected. At the time, the actions they conducted could have seemed etiquette.
Salem, Massachusetts, USA and occurred between February 1692 and May 1693. Over 150 people were arrested and imprisoned and even more accused; but not pursued by the authorities. 29 were convicted of witchcraft but only 19 were hanged. The best known trials were in the Court of Oyer and Terminer.
The Salem Witch Trials; Madness or Logic In Stacey Schiff’s, List of 5 Possible Causes of the Salem Witch Trials and Shah Faiza’s, THE WITCHES OF SALEM; Diabolical doings in a Puritan village, discuss in their articles what has been debated by so many historians for years, the causes of the Salem Witch trials. Schiff and the Faiza, purpose is to argue the possible religious, scientific, communal, and sociological reasons on why the trials occurred. All while making word by word in the writer’s testimony as if they were there through emotion and just stating simply the facts and theories. They adopt the hectic tone in order to convey to the readers the significance, tragedy, logic, loss, and possible madness behind these life changing events,
The Salem witch trial hysteria of 1692 may have been instigated by religious, social, geographic and even biological factors. During these trials, 134 people were condemned as witches and 19 were hanged. These statistics also include 5 more deaths that occurred prior to their execution date. It is interesting to look into the causes of this stain on American History, when as shown in document B, eight citizens were hanged in only one day.
In Salem, Massachusetts a series of hearings and prosecutions started, commonly known as the Salem Witchcraft Trials. The witchcraft trials in Salem became a big concern after two-hundred innocent people were accused and twenty people were executed. Many people of Salem believed the court was just in accusing all these victims. A seldom amount of people went against the court in saying that the court was a fraud and that the decisions were biased being made. Abigail Williams held all the power in the court and determined who was “guilty” or not.