(Introduction)-who, what, where, when, why) In 1692, in the village of Salem, Massachusetts, women and man were executed on charges of witchcraft. These factors contributed to the major social, political, and economic reasons why the Salem witch trials began. The Salem witch trials began as a result of a variety of causes. These causes were derived from the social, political, and economic aspects of society.
Salem witch trials, (June 1692–May 1693), in American history, a series of investigations and persecutions that caused 19 convicted “witches” to be hanged and many other suspects to be imprisoned in Salem Village in the Massachusetts Bay Colony (now Danvers, Massachusetts). The events in Salem in 1692 were but one chapter in a long story of witch hunts that began in Europe between 1300 and 1330 and ended in the late 18th century (with the last known execution for witchcraft taking place in Switzerland in 1782).
The Salem trials occurred late in the sequence, after the abatement of the European (100 of 2110 words).
What caused the Salem Witch Trial Hysteria of 1692? During the summer of 1692, nineteen people were hung and one pressed to death, because they were accused of practicing or aiding the process of witchcraft. The Salem Witch Trials were started by a preconceived notion that witchcraft was real based on religious texts and ministers, or that being in a wrong place at the wrong time was the doing of witch. In addition, all of the accused were tried with in the sights of four young girls who I believe were faking it to gain attention or political gain for their parents. Puritans, called fundamentalists, followed the Bible to the T and anything outside of the Bible was considered unheard of.
This is where I believe the witch accusations started. They disliked anyone who didn’t act the way the fundamentalists considered normal or they didn’t go to church were accused of being a witch. In addition, church attendance was down dramatically and so the fear of witches and demons, since witches and demons couldn’t stand to listen to the word of God, anyone who went to church could deny being one themselves. The first speculations of witchcraft being real can be found in Exodus 22:18,”Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.”(doc. 1) and in Cotton Mather’s, a leading minister at the time, quote, “These evil spirits are all around Go tell mankind, that there are devils and witches New England has had examples of their existence and that not only wigwams of Indiansbut the houses of Christianshave undergone the annoyance of evil spirits.”(doc. During the actual witch trials, you needed actual proof that the person you were accusing was actually a witch.
One of the easier ways to tell if a person was a witch was looking for non-natural moles or devil’s marks, on the accused, like in the painting from the Peabody Essex Museum that actually shows a women being examined in front of a crowd (doc.ones lips, it spreads like a disease throughout the community. The Salem Witch Trials of 1692 was the outcome of multiple factors. These factors include jealousy over people, the feel of power/control, and the fear and/or anxiety of their surroundings and the threat of punishment. Jealousy provided fuel towards accusing witches by venting ones emotions onto another. The accusers of the Salem Witch Trials were young girls and one woman, since the afflicted were so young, their own emotions clouded their judgment.
For instance, if one of the girls developed feelings for a married man, the girl would become jealous of the wife. To be rid of the wife, the girl would only have to accuse her of witchcraft.
That could have been the case because as the majority of the accused, 76 married women were accused of witchcraft out of 176 single, married, and widowed (Document 5). The single women accused could have been associated with or have been friendly towards the person of the accusers’ affections. Additionally, because of the girls being young and impressionable, their parents could have urged them to accuse people of the community or men of valuable goods/land. The few men indicated as witches in the trials could have been at the receiving end of a person’s jealousy or greed (Document 2). The one woman accusing could have condemned others from past grievances or past.hold a trial with a sentence of death. Though such scenarios seem unfathomable in our modern culture, it was a reality for hundreds of New England settlers. The causes of the famous outbreak of witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts are rooted in social, economic, and political aspects of the late 17th century Salem community.
Early New Englanders were unable to accept the increase in diversity and the break in tradition that occurred between generations. This, in addition to various unappealing events which occurred throughout the late 1600s, created tensions within the New England community. Such tensions were the cause of the prevalent hysteria concerning witchcraft in the 1680s and 1690s. The disastrous consequences of these tensions included the execution of hundreds of innocent civilians during the Salem witch trials.
Accusations of witchcraft often targeted widowed, middle-aged women with few children, and of low social standing. Sometimes, the accused women were those who had acquired possession of property and respectively contested the gender norms of Puritan society. In addition, separation of Church and State was nonexistence, and often religion was intertwined with political law. As a result, anyone who opposed the Puritan Church in even the slightest of instances was susceptible to chastisement by law.
'Witchcraft' was viewed as a rebellion against. What caused the Salem witch hunts? Michael Kimbrough October 3, 2012 The Salem witch trials happen in colonial Massachusetts between 1692 and 1693. More than 200 people were accused of practicing witchcraft.
Some of the colony eventually admitted that the trials were a mistake and compensated the families of those convicted. Since then, the story of the trials has become famous with paranoia and injustice, and it continues to be in peoples imagination more than 300 years later. In the winter of 1692 and 1693 mass hysteria broke out in a small colonial town of Salem village. Family members were being accused, and neighbors were accusing each other of casting spells, corseting with the devil, and being witches. This was only new in America; France, Italy, Germany, and England it has been going on for more than 300 years. Between, 1400-1600, thousands of people were accused and killed for being witches.
The reasoning behind the killing was that in the Christian Bible, Exodus 22:18 “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.” The early Christian was accepting of all pagan religion, but the Roman Catholic Church saw them as heretics and enemies of the church. In 1231 Pope Gregory IX stared The Inquisition to flush out the heretics, but in 1484 Pope Innocent VIII declared witchcraft heresy, and the punishment.Research Project: The Salem Witch Trials The Salem Witch Trials in Salem, Massachusetts rocked the town to its core. Hysteria, paranoia, and confusion among the citizens of Salem. Accusing people of casting spells and consorting with the devil. How were the politics and citizenship of this period handled and was it handled correctly? Witchcraft was something very new in the colonies. In France, Italy, Germany, and England, this has been going on for about 300 years.
The bible even says, “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.” In 1484, Pope Innocent the 8th declared witchcraft a heiracy and the punishment was death. With little being done by the authorities, forty to fifty thousand people were executed in 14th through 16th century alone.
Usually with a public hanging, these were called witch hunts. In 1684, a charter granting independence from the crown and the right to own land was revoked. The charter was restored 5 years later, but the political instability and the further anxiety from the rigid ways of their puritan religious beliefs took its toll on Salem’s residents. The first trial in Salem to catch the attention of the people was in 1688.
There were four Boston children “possessed” by the mother of their family’s servant. Her last name was Glover. The investigator, Cotton Mather, described.Marcus 9/20/10 DBQ Essay American History What Caused the Salem Witch Trial Hysteria of 1692?
The Salem Witch Trials of 1692 represent a part of New England history that is unique in the entire history of the United States of America and, in some respect, also in the history of witch hunts all over the world. These trials were a series of hearings before local magistrates followed by county court of trials to prosecute people accused of witchcraft. People were being accused of practicing witchcraft and were told, to confess or be killed. Some confessed, while others were persecuted. Many people were killed during the Salem Witch Trials and most of them were innocent to begin with. During the 1600’s a large number of English immigrants arrived in New England.
The leaders of these settlers were Puritans. Puritans were Protestant Christians who were unhappy with their church in England and decided to come to New England so they could practice Christianity in a pure way. Puritans believed in predestination, the idea that God elects or chooses before birth who will go to Heaven and who will not. Puritans were also fundamentalists. They believed that every word in the Christian Bible was the true word of God and was to always be followed.The Salem Witch Trials of 1692 The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witch craft in colonial Massachusetts. The trials started in Salem in 1692 and after that they spread all over the world. Most towns thought that there was witch craft going on.
The witch trials are an important historical event as it resulted in the deaths of dozens of innocent people.There are many different stories as to how witchcraft began,some say it started in Salem.Other people say it started on the night of the devouring. The repercussions of this event can still be felt globally. The suspicion of witch craft in Salem Village, Massachusetts began in January 1692 when a group of girls began to act strangely (The Salem Witch Trials, eyewitness to history). The town could not explain the seizures, random screaming, and trance states that affected the girls. The doctors were summoned in to examine the girls but could not find cause of the behaviour. The community reasoned that it must be the work of Satan. Witches had invaded Salem.
The girls were given a trial then later were put to death. After this many of the people of Salem were accused of.going on in America.
The Salem witch trials in Massachusetts. But I bet you didn’t know the same thing was going on in Europe at the same time. The Salem witch trials and European witch hunts had a lot of things in common, yet they had their differences as well.
People accused other people of being witches all the time, then when people started believing that is when the hysteria kicked in. The thought of witches being in their presence terrified them.
They didn’t know what they were capable of, so they did everything they could do to stop the “black magic.” The Salem witch trials began in June of 1692 when three girls, Betty Parris, Ann Putnam, and Mary Walcott. 12-year-old Ann Putman was considered the leader of the “circle girls.” The girls secretly gathered at Parris’ house for stories and magic with Tituba, Samuel Parris’ Indian slave. Betty Parris was the first to start acting strangely. Not long after Betty, Ann Putman and Mary Walcott started acting strangely ill as well.
They threw fits, contorted in pain, and complained of fever. When a doctor, William Griggs, failed to find an effective cure for the girls’ symptoms he suggested that their problems may have been of the supernatural origin. When asked to identify their tormentors, they blamed Tituba, Sarah Good, and Sarah Osborn of witchcraft.Reasons Behind Witchcraft Accusations In the Salem Witch trials of 1692, many individuals were accused of witchcraft. However, the reasons for which they were accused differed greatly from person to person.
The classification of a witch, how people were tested for witchcraft, and specific witch accusations in conjunction with other logical explanations may be the reason why people were condemned as witches. A witch is defined as a person who has made a deal with Satan ( Witch-Hunt, 33). It is believed that the witch gave up his/her soul in exchange for the capacity to channel Satan’s power. This power gave the witch the ability to harm his/her victims. A witch was seen as different from others because, he/she used “angry words” and “had an obnoxious mouth” ( Witch-Hunt, 34).
The witch was believed to feed her pets with her unnatural breasts and was the reason behind deaths of infants ( Witch-Hunt, 108). A person whom is believed to be a witch is often associated with ritualistic activities such as voodoo dolls or fortune telling.
In fact, the egg in a glass ritual is believed to have started all of the Salem Witch trial accusations. It is though that nine year-old Elizabeth Parris used this seemingly innocent ritual to find out her.