Persuasive Essay On The Salem Witch Trials

The Salem Witch Trials began in the late 1600’s and is widely known to this day as one of the darkest periods in American history. In this essay, I will be analyzing the context and origins of the trials, the hysteria that dramatically spread through Massachusetts, and the legacy that we’ve come to know today. (thesis statement will go here I just can NOT think of one and I’m tired of wasting my time trying. Help .)

In 1692 the area of Salem town and Salem village became very vulnerable to conflict. Severe weather such as hurricanes had damaged land and crops, the effects of King Phillips War began to impact New England society, and colonists were being forced off of the frontiers by Native peoples. The Church and the government were in heavy conflict. And those residing in Salem began to grow suspicious of one another when some prospered and others hadn’t (Marcus, p13).

In the 1600's the puritans said theycame from England and settled in America. They believed everything the bible said. The witch trials was when indivisuals were being accused of witchcraft or being a witch. You could be taken away and possibly killed if you got accused. The killings ended after the mayors wife got accused. The main question is what is the reason there was so much Hysteria during the Salem witch trials of 1692? The salem witch trials hysteria of 1692 was caused by the fear that people can be possesed by the devil and become a witch, the belief that people could become a witch, and if you were accused of being a witch you could be hung.

The changing historiography of the Salem Witch Persecutions of 1692. How current/contemporary and historical interpretations of this event reflect the changing nature of historiography.

How far would you go to get what you want or admire ? In Massachusetts Bay there's a variety of things young foolish girls would do. Which left a mark in time, the period of The Salem Witch Trials Hysteria 1692. Furthermore, to say the Salem witch trials was when male and women were either an accuser or the accused of witchcraft but, that was acquisitiveness the time. Finally, to say The Salem witch trial Mania was caused by three main reasons, the first reason for the hysteria in Salem Village was when the young, single women of Salem accused older, married women of witchcraft to get a husband for themselves. The second reason was that the beset girls was lying and there parents protected them. The third reason was the conflict of the west (farmers) and the east (Political/wealthy).

Salem Witchcraft Trials Thesis Statement = == == == ==

Life before the infamous Salem Witchcraft Trials was extremely mundane and normal. Salem villagers led a simple life in the customs of the Puritans. The Salem village and society was based and founded on the Puritan religion. The people had a very set lifestyle with very little individuality. Ministers and preachers taught the Salem community that there was an ongoing battle with God and Satan. They were also taught that Satan had witches as his helpers to destroy them by causing terrible things to happen to their lives.

In January 1692, when a group of juvenile girls began to display bizarre behavior, the tight-knit Puritan community of Salem, Massachusetts couldn’t explain the unusual afflictions and came to a conclusion. Witches had invaded Salem. This was the beginning of a period of mass hysteria known as The Salem Witch Trials. Hundreds of people were falsely accused of witchcraft and many paid the ultimate price of death. Nineteen people were hung, one was pressed to death, and as many as thirteen more died in prison. One of the accused Elizabeth Bassett Proctor, a faithful wife and mother, endured her fictitious accusation with honor and integrity.

The Salem Witch Trials were controversial events in history. Many people are to blame for the confusion caused by this horrific event. For puritan colonists, such as the magistrates of the time, if something could not be explained scientifically then it was immediately blamed on the supernatural. While there were many symptoms that could be logically explained there was a number of unexplained circumstances of the afflicted such as babbling in an unidentifiable language and crawling under furniture. A multitude of individuals have varying ideas toward The Salem Witch Trials that are brought to life from a number of myths; some people believed that all the victims were female, some people thought that all the panic and chaos took place in Salem, and it has been said that superstition was the driving force.

out in what is now the town of Danvers, then a district of Salem Town,

The salem witch trials hysteria of 1692 was caused by the Puritans strict religious standards and intolerance of anything not accepted with their scripture. The largest account of witch trials as well as deaths by witch trials occurred in Salem, a village heavily populated with the Puritans. Because most of the trials were occurring in Salem, this meant that the accusations were happening among the Puritans themselves, which could very well be anything as long as the Puritans found it as contradicting their bible. Not only did the strict religion intolerance fuel the accusations and trials, but also the possible factor of ergot being involved which has been known to cause symptoms leading to hysteria.

Salem Witch Trials: Casting a spell on the people Today, the idea of seeing a witch is almost inconsequential. Our Halloween holiday marks a celebration in which many will adorn themselves with pointy black hats and long stringy hair, and most will embrace them as comical and festive. Even the contemporary witchcraft religious groups forming are being accepted with less criticism. More recently, the Blair Witch movie craze has brought more fascination than fear to these dark and magical figures. So, it becomes no wonder that when our generations watch movies like the Crucible, a somewhat accurate depiction of the Salem Witch Trials, we are enraged and confused by the injustice and the mayhem that occurred in 1692. For most, our egocentric

The largest outbreak of witchcraft in America took place in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. A group of girls, including the Parris’s Indian slave Tituba, gathered in the Salem village and were attempting to see the future by decoding “messages”. Shortly after this gathering the girls started showing signs of the possessed (pg. 73). To this day people all over America are still amazed with the events that took place in this time. But why is that? The fear of the village fell heavily onto the judicial system, which later made people focus on the proper separation of government and religious beliefs. Mass hysteria broke out amongst the village and many people were being accused, therefore leading to many innocent deaths. Although there could be many theories as to the reason the witch trials in Salem began, there are two points of view that are very commonly shared amongst people. Some believe that the Salem witch trials were women unconsciously searching for power, whereas others believe it was an encephalitis epidemic.

There was a time when the Salem Witch Trials were going on. Which seems pretty crazy. The whole reason the Salem Witch Trials were going on was because these girls were dancing in the forest and they got nervous after they had been caught. So they thought it was in their best interest to lie about everything. All they did was lie, and everyone around them instantly believed them. All of the people accused of witchcraft were only trying to tell the truth, which was they were all innocent. Even though they all told the truth they all paid for their actions. John Proctor paid for not only his actions, but his wife Elizabeth Proctor’s actions as well.

humanity would have come to an end, but that was not so. In 1692 a