The events that took place leading up to the witch trials were Bacon’s Rebellion, The Little ice age, and the puritan control of the church and state. Bacon’s rebellion was a rebellion in Virginia against Governor William Berkeley for his failure to address the colonists safety. The Little ice age was a very religious time for the settlers, who thought they were being punished by God. Puritan control of the church and state led people to believe that men were superior and women were evil beings. The witch trials of 1692 were not only motivated by the stringent restrictions of the Puritan faith, but also by the misogynistic social structure that provoked mass hysteria among the sexes. Some of the accused puritans believed so heavily in their faith, they would rather die than be convicted as a witch. …show more content…
In Ann Putnam’s deposition, she believed she had seen the apparition of a minister. She was terrified, thinking it was a witch, and immediately wrote a letter to the court telling them of her apparition (doc c). Not only were the people of Salem stating false facts, the women were forced to take all of their clothing off so the hierarchy men could look to see if she had the mark of the devil (doc G). These accounts show that if the Puritans believed something was real, they would stop at nothing to find
In the year of 1630, a group of people known as the Puritans arrived to America and settled in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in Boston. The Puritans were similar to the Pilgrims in which they were Protestants from England who thought that their reforms of their church were “too Catholic” and needed to be changed further. The Puritans being unhappy with their reforms was the primary reason for leaving England and settling in America, while the Pilgrims stayed behind and were determined to change their reforms. When they came to America, they decided to keep some of their strict rules. For example, church was mandatory and if someone missed a day,
In the play called The Crucible by Miller talks about people being accused of being witches. In a small town in Massachusetts people were getting accused of being witches. Many people were not a witch but they the people did not believe them. They ended up killing the all the people who was accused of being a witch. The Salem Witch Trial of 1692 was caused by lying girls, jealous people, and people who more power than the others.
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.
There are many important events that led up to the Salem Witch Trials. In 1233, Pope Gregory established the medieval inquisition to bring order against the growing heresy in which he later hunts down witches. In 1347, the Bubonic Plague or also known as Black Death struck in Europe demonstrating how ignorance lead to superstition.
The Causes of the Salem Witch Trials Much of modern America’s fear and infamous interest in witches has been derived most likely from the profound Salem Witch Trials. “The infamous Salem witch trials began during the spring of 1692, after a group of young girls in Salem Village, Massachusetts, claimed to be possessed by the devil and accused several local women of witchcraft,” stated History.com authors. However, many historians still deliberate how such events occurred in the first place. Based on several presented documents, some conclusions suggest that there was a prominent cause to the beginning of the Salem Witch Trials. All in all, the cause of the Salem Witch Trials was the attempt of Salem citizens to either defend or create family
My English III class just finished watching The Crucible based on the true story of the Salem Witch Trials. There are many factors that contributed to the trials, but I have found three in particular that stand out. The citizens of Salem's religion, their gullibility, and jealousy all led to the deaths of many innocent people. Their puritanistic religion is the main reason the trials even began. The girls were extremely fearful of their strict religious elders.
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.
Ann Putnam It’s human nature to favor to conform to the similarities of others. The feeling of belonging in life is one that almost everyone strives feel. The Crucible, a play write based on the witch trials of Salem, Massachusetts, tells the story of how many innocent people were accused, tried, and executed for witchcraft. Among the characters was Ann Putnam. She was a Housewife, married to Thomas Putnam, and was The mother of Ruth Putnam.
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,
Everything revolves around their strict Christian beliefs. The only reason that the Salem Witch Trials could happen is because people were so superstitious, and believed in the first place that witches existed, and that their purpose was to interfere with Salem´s progress as a Christian society. Too, in seventeenth century Salem, women were at the bottom of society. They worked as servants until they were old enough to be married off and rear children.
Historians have connected the witch trials to the unwanted changes that the Puritan society was experiencing. The Puritan laws were extremely rigid and the members had to follow a strict code. The Puritans considered themselves the new chosen people, they abandoned a land of sin and
“Mary Warren, very faintly: No, sir. Hathorne, with a gleam of victory: And yet, when people accused of witchery confronted you in court, you would faint, saying their spirits came out of their bodies and choked you - Mary Warren: That were pretense, sir. Danforth: I cannot hear you. Mary Warren:
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.
The Salem witch trial was a time about accusing your fellow neighbor or being accused yourself, this all began in 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts. During this time many people were being accused of being a witch, a majority of the time it was because either someone truly believed that you were a witch and were reeking havoc or they were trying to find someone to take the blame if they were to being accused. So this leads us to question, what began the Salem Witch Trials? There were at least three causes of the Salem witch trials hysteria. These were Betty Parris and Abigail Williams story, Ergotism, and the acknowledgment of hysteria.
Many practicing Christians, at the time, believed that the Devil could persuade people to use the powers that he gave them to harm others. The Salem Witch Trials occurred because of resource struggles, many women were accused and tortured, and in the end the Governor realized that it was a big mistake. (“Salem Witch Trials”, 1). In 1689, English rulers William and Mary started a war with France in the American colonies which sent many refugees into the Essex County and Salem Village.