Causes Of The Salem Witch Trials

Even though these laws were written to be fair to all, the magistrates and clergy delegated punishment by who was being punished. This type of reasoning was typical in New England, and set the stage for the witch trials.

After analyzing Document E, it is clear that people in the western half of the town were the poorer and less politically powered people. Document E also provides that more accusers than defenders and witches combined lived in the western part of town. This evidence represents that there was a fine line drawn between the affluent and disadvantaged people. The division probably angered those who possessed an insignificant amount of power or money. Additionally, Document E shows that the defenders were mainly of wealth and/or had political power and lived in the eastern half of the town.

One of the main reasons for the Salem Witch Trials was land disputes. Land was an important thing back in 1692. Salem was divided into Salem Village and Salem Town. Salem town was the

Poorer families from the west side of Salem accused rich men and women of witchcraft and the judges executed many of them because they were afraid of losing power over the colony. Then Governor Philips stopped the trials in 1693 and released the others because there was no evidence.

The panic and hysteria of the lower class confessing started the witch-craze (Who were they). There was a strain on Salems resources, and the wealthy people wanted them for themselves (A Brief History). Along with wanting the resources, the rich people just wanted to rid their towns of the poor (The Salem, 1962). They thought that the poor didn’t contribute much to the village (A Brief History).

Radical religious ideals, strengthened by devoted Christians, were a detrimental factor to the cause of the Salem Witch Trials. For example, the Bible states, “Thou

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?

The egregious hardships the villagers endured were one of the causes of the Salem Witch Trial Hysteria. According to Evidence Set A, the harsh climate prevented successful farming. This meant

Firstly, the conflicts were caused by the factors of gender, age, and marital status. When looking at the total number of men and women who were hanged, the women far outnumbered the men, 13 women to 7 men (Source A). Of the 24 males who were accused of witchcraft, 15 were married, while of the 110 females accused, 61 were married. This shows that the number of females accused outnumbered the men and the majority of those accused were married. Of the male accusers, all 5 were single, ranging from the ages of 11-20, whereas off the 29 females accusers, 23 were single (the other 6 were married). The ages of the accusers ranged from under 11 to over 21, with the majority being 16-20 years of age. There is a distinct pattern that stands out in the accused and the accusers. The accused were mainly

Throughout the Salem witch trials, there were many important contributing factors that spiced up the trials. The witch trials were nothing more than land grabs, economic opportunity, jealousy, and people trying to get retribution on their neighbors. The Puritans religion, politics, and economics were the factors that played a colossal role during the investigation for witchcraft. During the trial of an incriminated person, the community would constantly use their religious and political belief against them. Many accused witches hardly stood a chance if they were known as sinners, stood on the wrong sides of political views, or owned property that someone wanted. If an accused was not known to sin, they believed the right side of politics, and they did not own anything of value, they would most likely be found innocent during the investigation for witchcraft.

The villagers believed that the women were bored and caused the crop disease, since the Puritans had a strict belief of forbidding any type of entertainment for adults and children. Reading books, fortune telling, listening to stories about witches were entertainment, but for women, this was against their religion. Witches in the 21st century used the power of nature, medicine, poisonous plants, rain, or flood. People accused witchcraft were thought to be able to control the weather such as a storm or a drought. There are many witches; some are healers, and some help with medical conditions, and the doctors use “spells” (Schons 2011). Living in or around the town of Salem meant that people would assume you were a witch if you were middle aged, married, and either had a few kids or none, or if your background was English Puritans (Roach 2013). A witch could accuse someone of being a witch, if they caused other crimes. A woman low on the social position, caught doing crimes like being a thief or slandering another person, being related to someone who was accused of being a witch or you knew somebody who was a witch and didn’t report them were some of the many reasons women could have been accused of

The poor were jealous of the rich.The reason why the poor accused the rich as witches was because

Thus, witchcraft was considered a sin because it denied God’s superiority, and a crime because the witch could call up the Devil in his/her shape to perform cruel acts against others.” Many of the people accused of witchcraft were merely vulnerable outcasts that the girls sought out to blame. Throughout the Salem Witch Trials people relied on the church to give them answers to everything. One was told that he or she should keep their trust and faith in the hands of the church. Everyone during these trials thought they were doing the right thing for their community, as a result 20 innocent people were killed.

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

The Salem Witch Trials is an infamous event due to its bizarre and seemingly hysteric circumstances. Eric Foner contributes this incident to Europe’s growing population as well as the replication of English hierarchical social structure in the colonies. I believe that the established social class influenced the Salem Witch Trials to some extent, but the series of trials and executions were caused more by general social and economic tension in the colonies during the 17th century. Those who lived in Salem during 1692 faced numerous hardships. Work was incessant and exhausting- duties including making clothes, raising livestock, and farming in harsh climates and rough terrain. Most families had to be self-sufficient and upkeep strict Puritan values. A recent smallpox epidemic, growing small-town rivalry, and an influx of political conflict in a colony teetering between governments. The constant threat from nearby Native American tribes also magnified the Puritans’ irrational fear.