Causes Of The Salem Witch Trials

In 1692 the Puritans, colonists that believed in the bible, settled in America. They believed in witchcraft, and believed that people who study it should be executed. This led to many people being accused and executed. What made the Salem witch trials of 1692 such a threat and fear to the people of Massachusetts? The Salem witch trial hysteria of 1692 was caused by the fear of being possessed by the devil, by the fear of being accused and what your consequences would be, and lastly the belief of people being witches which was a crime worthy of death.

Puritan laws were extremely strict and the community needed to follow this laws, so everyone who went against the laws or did something that was against the law was viewed as a sin and that they deserved to be punished, this is why the community took the trials seriously and accused harshly the “witches”. There was hysteria because of the “witches” was among the streets of colonial Massachusetts, so the government and the judicial court, that were heavily influenced by puritanism, started a special court in Salem to hear the

Since there never was a spurned lover stirring things up in Salem Village, and there is no evidence from the time that Tituba practiced Caribbean black magic, yet these trials and executions actually still took place, how can you explain why they occurred?

Within the town of Salem, there seemed to be two regional divisions, being the rich and the poor. The west side contained most of the accusers and the east side contained most of those who were claimed to be a witch (Document F). In historical context, this information is reliable because it can be traced back to being documented in 1692 which is when the witch trials were in full swing. Townspeople could easily accuse one of being a witch, especially if there was a conflict between the two people,

In 1692 Salem was divided into two sections. Salem Town, and Salem Village. The village was mostly poor, but the town had trade lines so they were more settled. For a long time Salem village tired to compete with the town (“Salem Witch Trials”). Salam town began taking taxes from the village, the village became infuriated. It was likely that the jealousy between the two parts of Salem played a huge role in the witch trials. The anger between the two became strong hatred. The people from the village began claiming that the town had an invasion of witches (“Salem Witch Trials”). The division also in opinion played a huge roll in the

The Salem Witch Trials of 1692 were a series of prosecutions of people who were accused of acts of witchcraft or of being a witch in Salem, Massachusetts through the time period of February 1692 through May 1693. This was a dark time in history as more than 200 prosecutions took place and at least 20 people were killed during this time of fear and hysteria. The accusations began as three girls Tituba, Sarah Good, and Sarah Osborne were accused of witchcraft from other young girls in the community. During this time period, fear of the Devil was common as people in Salem were very devoted to their religion and religious practices. As one of the accused girls, Tituba, confessed to working for the Devil and admitting to being a witch, this caused panic and hysteria as a massive witch hunt took place to find more of these witches. This confession was the main reason behind months and months of fear and mass panic as it triggered more accusations.

What caused the Salem Witch Trials? Why was everyone so onto it, and wanting to kill someone because they do not believe in the religion Salem, Massachusetts wants a “Witch” to believe in just ‘Christianity,’ even though the villagers wanted to set their own rules, and believe in whatever they can. The Puritans had a governor in which the town of Plymouth had no Charter, nor laws to be enforced. But why come to this, why focus on Witchcraft, when you have other things to pay attention on - Smallpox, and being under attack with the French, and Native American People.

To begin, one cause of the Salem witch trial hysteria was envious, young women. One piece of textual evidence that supports this cause is out of the 34 accusers, 67% of them were single females. Married women were the most targeted group for accusations of witchcraft (doc B). This evidence helps to explain the hysteria because most of the single women were jealous of the lifestyle others were living. Married women showed status in the community. They had security, a family, and money. These things would cause younger single girls to become envious of married women. Furthermore, another piece of textual evidence is the westside of Salem village were the poor people the accusers. On the eastside of Salem village were the wealthy the accused (doc E). This evidence helps to explain the hysteria because the poor single women were jealous of what the wealthy married women had. More married women were accused by young single women. 96% of accusers lived on the west side of Salem

For over four centuries, the enigma of what truly happened during the Salem witch trials in Massachusetts has befuddled many professionals in their respective fields. Salem, Massachusetts, before the witch trial conundrum, was a small city with regular stresses, such as strong religious beliefs, a small-pox outbreak, and factions among the townspeople. A rather large portion of the townspeople, which were the local farming families, believed that Salem’s “thriving economy would make [Salem] too individualistic” (Sutter). Besides the fact that the small village of Salem was not as united as it could have been, it was still a very religious village. In fact, due to this strong belief of Puritanism, the village people were strongly against devil— worshiping people. Those individuals with the ability to perform witchcraft were believed to have a pact with the Devil and therefore considered witchcraft a major sin. Puritanism in Salem allowed the practice of witchcraft to entice young girls in wicked witch hunts.

Between 1692 and 1693, in Salem, Massachusetts, 200 women were put under indictment, and 20 were executed because they were accused of witchcraft. Although all the cases against these women were false, this significant event displays paranoia and injustice. Many theories have been hypothesized on the reason why the trails happened. Social, political, religious, and economic factors played into the causation of this horrific madness. The hysteria, known as the Salem Witch Trials, were caused by the insanity amongst the people of the Salem, the hypocritical Puritan code, false accusations, and the misconception that there was a correlation between a lack of resources and evil spirits.

One of the earliest witch hunts in America happened thirty years before the Salem Witch Trials. This witch hunt swept through another colonial New England town in Hartford Connecticut in 1662. In March of 1662 parents John and Bethia Kelly’s 8 year old daughter passed due to an unknown sickness. Their daughter Elizabeth was fine just days before when she came back from a neighbor's house. Looking for any explanation to why this happened to them the mother saw the devils work. John and Bethia were convinced that their daughter was possessed by the neighbor Goody Ayres. The parents testified that Elizabeth became sick after she returned from the neighbor and called out to the father that Goody Ayres was upon her and choked her. After the death of little Elizabeth, accusations of bewitchment grew and fingers were pointed throughout the town. Hysteria grew throughout Hartford, a town where a generation had before witnessed the first witch execution.

Before the trials began a rift was forming between the Town of Salem and the Village of Salem. The Town of Salem was evolving, and becoming more mercantile which displeased the Village.

I believe that the girls were playing a game but then it got too out of hand and they didn’t want to come forth because they got scared that they might get in trouble for joking around and got so many people killed. Now I think that them being actual witches is least likely because in my opinion there is no such thing is magic like that now I do believe that wiccans are true to a point but I don’t think that you can bewitch someone. Now the things that lead to the Salem Witch Trials is that there was a constant threat of Indians attacking, disease that were plaguing the colonists, the fact that the Puritans believed that Satan or Lucifer recruited witches, warlocks, wizards, smallpox, and even people who were admitting that they were witches.

In the year (1692) witch trials held the Salem area hostage people were terrified. People of

It is extremely difficult to imagine witches different than an ugly woman wearing a pointed hat, flying on broomsticks, especially when even the dictionary defines witches this way. As one of the representative symbols of Halloween, witches have always been associated with the Halloween festivity that initiates ebullience in the modern person. Back in the year of 1692, witches were also the cynosure of Salem, Massachusetts. The negative light that was casted on witches instigated an atrocious image of them. The reaction of Salem Village’s residents was completely irrational when they penalized the accused of capital punishment. The strange behavior of the children originated from their craving for attention. Then, the Puritans’ strong belief in God added to the controversy and caused them to believe that Satan was related with these witches. The competition between the east and west side of the village generated unintentional emotions of greed and jealousy for the less successful. Although others may claim to different causes of the Salem witch trials, several evidence directly points to the fact that this hysteria was ultimately engendered by the economic and political difference between Salem’s residents and the food poisoning produced by ergot.