Throughout the course of America’s history there are many events of injustice: the mistreatment of Native Americans, using African Americans as personal property, and accusing men and women in Salem, Massachusetts of witchcraft. The Salem witch trials occurred many years ago in 1692. In the Puritan community, religion was a huge part of life. It controlled most of people’s everyday activities and was a way to find hope in their difficult, unglamourous lives. According to History.com, “Puritans were portrayed by their enemies as hair splitters who slavishly followed their bibles as guides to daily life” (Delbanco). In 1692, a Puritan’s faith was easily shaken. They were extremely wary of the supernatural, and more importantly the “Devil’s magic” says Smithsonian Magazine (Bloomberg). The event that started it all happened in January of 1692. Elizabeth Parris, a reverend’s daughter, and her cousin Abigail Williams began having unusual fits. The fits consisted of violent contortions, writhing, and irrepressible screaming. A local doctor, William Griggs, diagnosed the two young girls with bewitchment. There were a few other cases of similar fits all involving adolescent girls in the community. The blame …show more content…
He lived with her and the two later married. Commiting fornification was not the only unusual thing she did. Sarah tried to claim her late husband’s estate to use for Alexander and herself, denying her two sons of their inheritance. This was considered very unorthodox for a woman at this time. The Salem witch trials Documentary Archive and Transcription project points out that Sarah would be affecting the progress of the community here “By aspiring to deny her two sons of their wealth and social position, she threatened the growth and stability of Putnam family alliances in Salem Village” (Carroll). Osborne never admitted to the charges and she never accused anyone
The ongoing fits led the Wescot’s and other citizens of Stamford into believing the fits were caused by bewitchment. The suspicion then leads Katherine Branch to tell of visitations from the devil in numerous forms, as well as being tormented by witches. She accuses Elizabeth
The local ministers attempted to heal the girls through prayer, but it was not successful. A physician in the village named Dr. William Griggs diagnosed the girls with being “afflicted” and suffering from the “Evil Hand” (Boyer). A few more girls in the village began exhibiting the same conditions as the first two. These girls all came from prominent homes. When asked who was responsible for their condition the girls began to name women from the village
Puritans thought that the Devil was about as real as God is. It is said that they believed Satan would select the weakest out of them all, which was mostly women, children, the insane and punish them. The ones that followed Satan were considered witches. This was one of the greatest crimes say the Puritans. These kind of things truly shape how the religion is now.
Dozens of people were being accused of practicing witchcraft. Members of local community suspected of witchcraft, when Abigail Williams, and Anne Putman Jr. began displaying strange behaviors in the winters of 1691-1692. Both were Puritan, they decided to join Tituba, Sarah Osborne, and Sarah Good who were members
At the time of the Salem witch trials she was married to Edward Bishop, however, before she was married to Edward she was married twice before. She proved herself to be someone who was weak in nature to the Puritan belief and was accused because of it. Church member Martha Corey and Rebecca Nurse whose husband had high status in the community, and according to The Huffington Post (2013) those who were accused of being a witch in Salem were mainly an English Puritan, married with little to no children, had a bad reputation, had a history of crimes, female, middle aged, and were accused by another witch. The accusations of witchcraft came from those who were afraid of outsiders, and because they had resentment towards those they accused.
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 Witchcraft Trials In Salem, Massachusetts in 1692 there was an outbreak of teenage girls who were accused of practicing witchcraft. If you were accused of being a witch you had two options. One option was for the person to deny their practice of witchcraft, which resulted in their hanging, while the other option was for them to confess their practice of witchcraft and be exiled from the community. The following paragraphs will examine events and details concerning two specific Salem Witchcraft Trials; one in which the accused confessed to the practice of witchcraft and another in which the accused denied being a witch.
This select group that the congregation represented was the Putnam family. Not only did the idea of separating the two communities drive a wedge between Salem Town and Salem Village, but it also
REVIEW OF LITRATURE A.) SUMMARY SOURCE A Although the whole book had information on the Salem witch trials. The introduction, chapter 1 and 2 and the conclusion had information regarding the research needed • Introduction: states what the Salem witch trials where and who they accused.
Salem Witch Trials: Documentary Archive and Transcription Project, https://salem.lib.virginia.edu/n15.html King, Ernest W., and Franklin G. Mixon. “Religiosity and the Political Economy of the Salem Witch Trials.” The Social Science Journal, vol. 47, no. 3, 2010, pp. 678–88, JSTOR, DOI:
As this trial wraps up and have left our once wonderful town of Salem Massachusetts to ruins. Throughout the course of the witch trials many lives have been lost in the ability to trust one another as protestant brothers and sisters has been lost. To this day very question the strength of this town and if it will have the ability to bounce back from such a horrific event such as this. While some may say forget the past for this in the past the story, this horrific story will be told for centuries to come. In addition to this to explain the catastrophic damage even the judges involved in this case have apologized for the many lives lost in the families change forever, never to be the same.
Three Sovereigns for Sarah tells the Story of the Salem Witch Trials of 1692, I will explain the Key factors as to why the Witchcraft Hysteria even took place over 300 years ago. First, it’s important to know the background of the dwellers from Salem and origins of the dwellers at the time. Almost 90 years prior to the trials, many British citizens and their families had finally migrated to “The New World” (America) at around 1607, after discovering the new land many sought to begin new lives pursuing a perceived economically successful Country. As Well as Religion played a Huge part in British Migration due to many seeking a Free land where one could freely believe and practice their beliefs without the threat of religious persecution amongst them. From the many Religions to sprout from this transition, the Puritan Belief was one
The Puritans ran from persecution but then used the witch hunt to persecute innocent people based on the word of the women and men who had ulterior motives. The women used this opportunity to punish people they long had problems or resentment for. These women- Abigail, Tituba, and Mary- were aware of the power they felt when they were being heard by people in their community who were deemed Godly, upstanding citizens. So, they loved the sense of power they felt. Although the townspeople of Salem used religion as the reason for the witch hunt, the witch hunt created chaos because people started using it a revenge mechanism.
In 1692, people were accused of casting spells, which meant they were siding with the devil in Salem, New England. Many people who lived in the countryside of Salem believed that the Holy Bible were God’s direct words and should be followed precisely. Women were more likely to be accused of casting spells because they were expected to be at home, listen to their husband, and weren’t aloud to be ministers so there were more likely to preach the devil. People believe that women aren’t good enough and men are superior to women, even now in this century. There is still a pay in inequality between the average men and women.
The girls were accused of having “fits”, that means that they were contorting their bodies