Puritan Beliefs In The Salem Witch Trials

During the 1600’s in the United States there was much economic and religious dissention within the Puritan society: a group of English reformed protestants who pursued the Purification of the Church of England. Among these issues, is the hysteria of the Salem Witch Trials that prosecuted women to be found worshippers of the devil. The Puritans found the necessity to exercise this crusade in order to stay by their moral codes of conformity which included witchcraft to be the greatest crime, punishable by death. However, the true reasons of the trials was not to simply follow their religious constitutions. It is mainly in part from corruption of religion and how some had used the trials as a form of personal gain, the influences of the attitudes from the strict Puritan lifestyle, the need for unification between the Salem factions, and the society’s fear of evil.

The Salem Witch Trials were a time of confusion, where half a dozen girl accusers threw the town of Salem on its head. The end result was 19 hung and one crushed to death for failure to admit or deny witchcraft and 150 more were imprisoned throughout the course of the trial (Hall p38). The Puritans came to the “New World” for their religious freedom to fallow their ideals for a new way of life, the “perfect way of life.” They were issued charter--to live on the land--. The King Phillip’s war labeled as “[t]he bloodiest war in America’s history …which…took place in New England in 1675” (Tougias par.1) had a dramatic effect on the Puritan society. Their charter was revoked and

Church was the foundation of life in New England. People in Massachusetts were Puritans colonists seeking freedom and religious acceptance by leaving England. The Puritan lifestyle was self-controlled and firmly enforced. Since Puritans were expected to live by a resistant code; they believed that all sins committed should be punished and that God would punish sinful behavior. When someone went against their codes, Puritans saw it as God’s will to not help them. In keeping up with the Puritan code of obedience, the many women to be accused of witchcraft in Salem were seen as divergent and social

Puritans were extremely religious and sought to restore Christianity (Henrietta, James 83). The act of committing any sin including summoning the devil was frowned upon because it was seen as an act of turning away from God. The persecution of witches was viewed as a purge of sin for some. Witchcraft was a serious offense because it was believed that witches made pacts with the devil to charm or kill another. “…power of darkness …murdering witch.”

When the Puritan came to the New World after being rejected in England for their beliefs, they knew the demand of perfection in God’s eyes could never be fully accomplish. Humans could never live up to the standards that God set out. After settling in New England, the Puritan became well aware they needed to have law enforcement with religious obligations, and most importantly the sexual temptations. Knowing that human could never fully obey God’s word and always be tempted, the puritans enforced certain punishments for certain sexual crimes, including fornication, adultery, rape and buggery or sodomy.

Between the months of June to September of 1692, the infamous witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts resulted in the hanging of 19 men and women; the deaths of five others, including two children, while imprisoned in jail; the pressing to death of an 80-year old man, and the stoning of two dogs for collaborating with the Devil. Hundreds of others faced accusations and dozens more were jailed for months during the progress of the trials. For over three hundred years these events have not only captured the general publics' imagination, but that of the academic community. Beginning with Charles Upham, in 1867, historians have attempted to explain the mass hysteria that swept through Salem in 1692. These accounts vary both in their

Puritans had many beliefs that affected the Salem Witch Trials, these were based on how the attendance or lack of attendance of the church, how people should behave, social class, and the way the government should be handled. Puritans were English Protestants that came to America in 1630. They sought to reform the Church of England. When they first came to America they settled at Salem, Massachusetts. The main reason the Puritan’s came to Salem was for freedom of religion which they did not have in England. The Puritans also came because they believed that the Church of England was not religious or enforcing religion enough. Puritans were just like the Pilgrims. Years later the Salem Witch Trials started in 1692 and ended

While Puritan religious beliefs did contribute to the Salem Witch Trials, it was only to a minor extent as, rather than being the true source of the witchcraft fear, they were used by New England authorities to manipulate and control the public. In the 1600s, religion was the cornerstone of Puritan society, a denomination that originated in England and was established in America with the migration of approximately 9,000 colonists between 1630 and 1645. Already superstitious, with a Christian Church that preached of a God who protected his servants, and a Devil who preyed on the weak, society’s fears were intensified

The Salem witch trials had a drastic affect on the Puritan religion. The trials helped shape and point the direction for the New England Colonies and the Puritan religion. The Salem witch trials outbreak began in 1692. In the past, there had only been about five convictions of people being accused of witchcraft; none of this resulted in any deaths(Wilborn 16). Usually just a fine was given, but by the end of 1692 there was already 150 arrests (17). Whether you were rich or poor, it didn’t seem to matter, anyone and everyone was being accused. No one felt safe at this time (Trask ix).

During the time period of 1691 to 1692 the town of Salem, a small thriving community within the Puritan Massachusetts Bay colony, was struck by widespread hysteria in the form of witch trials. The way these trials and accusations played out are historically unlike any other witch trials found in European and American history. Historians have pointed to a number of economic, political, and social changes of the then existing institutions throughout the Massachusetts Bay area to be the cause of the Salem witch trials, along with the direction they took. If studied closely however, it becomes apparent that the main cause for the Salem witch trials can be found in the way the people of Salem viewed and

In the seventeenth century, many Puritans began to settle in New England. The Puritans lived a harsh religious life, being very strict in accordance to the Bible. They believed that Satan lived on earth with them, and influenced weak people, turning them into witches and wizards. The Puritans punished these witches strictly by death, but the evidence had to be solid. In Salem, a Puritan city in Massachusetts, many witchcraft trials were held in a 15 week period, leading to the accusations and deaths of more than 100 men and women. The Salem Witch Trial Hysteria of 1692 was caused by the existing social conflict of the time, influenced by the religious conditions and triggered by medical problems from a contaminated harvest.

The Salem witchcraft trials resulted from a climate of repression, religious intolerance, and social hierarchy combined with fanaticism and the oppression of women. The Puritan leaders used the trials as a way to control the community and to prevent change in the strict social hierarchy. The trials ensured that the teachings of the church would be followed - anyone not following the church was simply accused of being a witch and punished accordingly. Witchcraft was considered a crime, and punishment was severe. The first recorded incidents of Witchcraft originated in the mind of a young girls who would supposedly use crystal balls to try and predict their future.

The Puritan’s beliefs and lifestyles played a role in starting the witch trials. For the Puritans, life was strict. Even at a young age children are told to suppress feelings of anger and joy to avoid losing the right to go to heaven (Kallen 10). Anyone who showed feelings other than submission was thought of to lose God’s favor. To believe in a God the Puritans also had to believe in the opposite existing. “Beliefs in the devil’s practice of giving certain humans the power to harm others in return for loyalty was widespread in colonial New England” (Salem Witch Trials N.P.). The belief of the devil possessing people to do his work was strong. Puritan’s wanted nothing less than an execution for conspiring with the devil

Puritanism became established around the 16th and 17th century. The puritan people are probably most associated with the massive witch hysteria center around their deep belief in the realization of witch-craft, black magic, and the dark arts. "Unlike many other separatists of the time period the Puritans wanted to "purify" the Church by the corruption created from the hierarchy within" (Puritan). Some people may think that puritans had horrible value or beliefs, but they were actually made so that bad or sinful actions were discouraged greatly.

For some sins, Puritan law demanded much more than an embroidered letter to transform a criminal into a living sermon of sin. Some crimes, such as witchcraft in The Crucible, called for death itself to be the example set for society. Punishment in Salem, Massachusetts was very rash; people were put in jail without justifiable evidence due to the schemes of the "inflicted" girls. Even the most honorable people like Rebecca Nurse, "the very brick