Salem Witch Dbq Essay

In 1692 what caused the fear and hysteria of the salem witch trials, you ask? Well 3 little coocoo banana girls who wanted attention and power,they started 20 deaths and reveled in the revenge! The little girls, who were the main accusers, were ages 8-10 years and hated everyone because they didn’t get attention. They accused mainly 20-40 aged women who were either widows or not married.

In the Salem witch trials poor people accuced the rich people of witch craft. Also in Salem 1692 people where scared of being accuced or hanged. The people where scared to death. The girls did not want to be told what to be told and these girls where crazy also the poor people blamed the rich people.

This would cause the accuser to report them to the government, or the church, for being a witch. IT soon changed into a series of mass hangings that the entire town would watch. These killings could range 5 – 8 deaths at a time, they normally would hold these hangings once a month. So why did the Salem Witch trial start in 1692? The Salem Witch Trial hysteria of 1692 was caused by, the fear of being hung due to a false accusation, the belief of witches, and the possibility of others being a witch and affecting your life.

Puritans are known for being extremely religious they practice strictness, simplicity and severity in how they live and conduct themselves; they are strong supporters of modesty, propriety, and decorum but strongly oppose any forms of pleasure (6). The community of Salem considered anyone who practiced witchcraft a felon, it was a crime in the 17th century and they saw it as going against the government (1). Puritans believed the devil could provide you with supernatural powers to harm others in return for loyalty (4). After several incidents that occurred in the town people believed that the devil was roaming the streets of Salem, numerous outbreaks of small pox and fights with the Native Americans led the townspeople to believe so (9). Witches

Salem Witch Trials Twenty-five people were killed in the Salem Witch Trials including the nineteen who were hanged, one which was stoned and then those who died in prison awaiting trial. Even though these people weren’t witches, the villagers killed them on the accusations of some teens and a few adults. People just needed a scapegoat to explain away the negative impacts that were occurring in Salem Village in 1692. The victims of Salems prejudice were people as well.

In addition, one cause of the Salem Witch Trial hysteria was sexism. Evidence of this is from the Salem Court Records where out of 20 people executed for witchcraft 14 were women and six were men(Doc A). This evidence shows that there were more women than men being executed and accused of witchcraft. The people were sexist against women because they weren’t as many men being executed and accused. The accusers, who were mostly women, were being sexist against other women that were being accused.

So the people started to believe that every person that they accused of witchcraft was truly a witch just because of the act they girls were pulling. Lastly religion had to do with everything that went down during the witch hysteria. When, the woman accused of practicing witchcraft were trialed the Reverend made the townspeople conclude that the woman who were accused of witchcraft gave up their soul to the devil. Even though the accused put up a fight there was no way of winning unless you stated you’re a witch, but the woman did not want to confess to false accusations fearing that if they did their soul would truly belong to the devil.

What Caused the Salem Witch Trials Hysteria of 1692? In Exodus 22:18, it proclaims, “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live!” In 1692 Salem, Massachusetts, the Puritans believed every word that the Bible said, causing the death of twenty people because they were accused of witchcraft. What caused the panic and alarm that lead to the death of twenty people in Salem?

The Salem witch trials were established in the spring of 1692, in Salem Village, Massachusetts after a group of young girls claimed to be possessed by the devil and indicted local women of witchcraft. Hysteria soon spread throughout colonial Massachusetts, and a court was assembled in Salem to hear these cases. Malefic witchcraft did exist in Salem, Massachusetts in the seventeenth century, but were the Salem Witch Trials an irresponsible act of the clergy and magistrates? Or was it something more logical?

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.

Throughout the winter of 1692, the small village of Salem, Massachusetts, was unaware of the upcoming events. Paranoia and fear fueled the wave of witch hysteria that swept through the quiet Salem village. An execution of the hanging of fourteen women and five men that were accused of being a witch was a result of the Salem witch trials. In addition, “one man was pressed to death by heavy weights for refusing to enter a plea; at least eight people died in prison, including one infant and one child; and more than one hundred and fifty individuals were jailed while awaiting trial” (Latner). The Salem witchcraft trials was caused by a number of religious factors.

The Accused Witches of 1692 The year of 1692, accused witches were being hung left and right. About 134 people were accused of being a witch or wizard, these hangings mainly occurred in Salem, Massachusetts. What caused the exaggerated behavior of 1692? The Salem witch trial hysteria of 1692 could have been caused by the puritans religion, acting or lying, and ergot poisoning. One possible cause of the Salem witch trial could have been the cause of religion because the ministers and church leaders had to let everyone know about witchcraft and that they needed to end it.

The Salem Witch Trials were one of the most intriguing and mysterious times in the 1600s. The Salem Witch Trial were led by the English Puritan colony living in Massachusetts Bay. The Puritans established their colony because they wanted to practice their religion freely. The Puritans were a "City on a Hill" because they thought they were the model city and everyone would look up to them. But in Spring of 1692, everything escalated with talks and accusations of witchcraft in Salem.

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.

Imagine being a wealthy 45-year-old woman in 1692 being accused of being a witch. The Salem Witch trials were caused by jealousy, fear, and lying. People believed that the devil was real and that one of his tricks was to enter a normal person 's body and turn that person into a witch. This caused many deaths and became a serious problem in 1692. First of all, jealousy was one of the causes of the Salem witch trials.