Salem Witch Dbq

To illustrate, a passage from John Demos’ “Underlying Themes in the Witchcraft of 17th Century New England” states the gender and age range of the accused witches and accusers (Document 5). Furthermore, the document provides proof of the overwhelming amount of widowed, married, and single women, specifically twenty-nine single, sixty-one married, and twenty widowed women. Evidence reveals that mainly women were targeted in the accusations, which suggests that this chaos was brewed out of jealousy and spite. Equally important, the names of the people who were killed throughout the Salem Witchcraft hangings and the dates the deaths occurred are listed in the Salem Court Records (Document 2). Of all the names listed, most were women, revealing that socially, men were not seen as the threat, even though men have always come off as more dominant than women. Names listed also reveal that some of the people were from the same family, confirming that the accusers could have had a vendetta against specific families. From the evidence in these two documents, it can be concluded that there was a social motive for the hysteria of the Salem Witch

In Rosalyn Schanzer book Witches! The Absolutely True Tale Of Disaster In Salem a story is told about a time when Salem, Massachusetts was flooded with witchcraft accusations. In 1692 Betty Parris and Abigail Williams started having mysterious fits. After a doctor examined the girls he diagnosed them with being bewitched! The people started a hunt for all witches in the new land. The first cause are the accusations, the second cause, the fits and the third cause is anger.

To begin, one cause of the Salem Witch Trial hysteria was jealous, young, single, women. One piece of textual evidence that supports this cause os out of thirty-four accusers twenty-three were single women. Married women were the most targeted group for alleged witchcraft (Doc B). This evidence

Reasons for being accused of witchcraft are multidimensional, and although there is no definitive reason, gender was likely a major reason as to why someone was seem as likely to be a witch. In colonial New England, gender was set by strict standards and was in no way fluid. It is indisputable that women were especially vulnerable to be charged with witchcraft. Puritans were guilty of sexism even before the witch trials; the biblical story of Adam and Eve was an example of how Eve had disobeyed God and caused the downfall of man. Consequently, rebellious women were accused of witchcraft because they emulated Eve’s disobedience (Godbeer 13). Most notably, acting outside of one’s gender roles was grounds for accusations. As previously mentioned,

People in Salem thought that there was witchcraft going on when people were acting weir. One piece of evidence that the people of Salem used to prove that there was witchcraft was Mr. Collins saw Betty fly over the barn. “Mrs. Putnam glancing at Betty: How high did she fly, how high?” Page 12. Word about Betty flying over the barn spread through the town. The Revere is worried that people will think that his daughter Betty will be accused of witch craft. Abigail was caught dancing with Tituba by her uncle. “Abigail: Uncle, we did dance; let you tell them I confessed it and I’ll be wiped if I must be. But they’re speaking of witch craft. Betty not witched.” Page 9. The people of Salem are blaming people of witch craft if they are acting

The weather in Salem was varying and could frequently wipe out the year’s crops; effectively ensuring families could not support themselves (Scott). This in addition, to the decrease in land size of the village during this time period (Doc 2) incentivized those who could to garner more land. Those who accused most often were the ones who profited from the accused, they would gain property from the “witches” (Linder). Those within Salem were incentivized to turn on their neighbors so that they might inherit their property. Those who accused were oftentimes wealthier families and individuals (Doc 5), this kept the power in the hands of those who already possessed it. This concentrated the power of the village in those who owned property and made it easier for the wealthier to accuse the impoverished or working class—this effectively split the

For decades now Witches have been persecuted throughout their existence. In the sixteenth and seventh century, witches had become more known. During the 1500 and 1600 the execution rates of witches in Europe was estimated between 50,000 and 80,000 speculated witches were killed. At the peak of the witch hunt in the late 16th century and early 17th century. However, in 1692 is when hysteria swept the nation. In Salem, Massachusetts nemours young ladies began showing unusual behaviors. Some symptoms consisted of convulsions, crying and yelling. Many civilians thought that theses ladies had been bewitched. For instance, in 1604 Joan Guppy made one objection to her discomfort to her Star Chamber of the town. Margaret Abington the Chamber and her husband Andrew accused her of being a witch.

Throughout the 1600s to 1700s, the American colonies expanded and developed very quickly despite societal tension with the Native Americans, politics, economics, and religion. During these times, tension led many times to conflict. Both Bacon’s Rebellion of 1676 and the Salem witchcraft trials of 1692 reflected the growing gap between rich and poor, but were fueled by two different scapegoats respectively, the Indians and religious superstition.

What was the cause of the witch trial? There maybe many reasons why there were witch trials but something had to cause it right?

The Salem Witch Trials is know for its hunt of supposed witches. The occurrence first began with the appearance of certain symptoms in a little girl, Betty Parris. The high superstition was immediately taken advantage of by adults, with the leaders being Samuel Sewall, Samuel Parris, Governor Phipps, William Stoughton, and John Putnam. Its origin belonged to the boredom of three teenage girls, Betty Parris, Ann Putnam, and Mercy Lewis, who was diagnosed by the doctor as having been influenced by witchcraft. The first person accused of witchcraft was Tituba, who soon confessed about seeing the devil, despite being innocent. This caused an outrage and fully launched the witch hunt(Douglas).

In the spring of 1892, the Salem Witch Trials began which would go down as one of the most infamous events in history. (Salem Witch Trials) It began with the youth of salem, such as Abigail Williams languishing for things that they could not have. With this, they were claiming that they were being possessed by the devil. ( Salem Witch Trials) These deceptions by these children led the town into something called “Hysteria”. (Salem Witch Trials) Shortly after, the first accusation of witchcraft on a slave that went by the name of

“The European Witch-Hunts, c. 1450-1750” by Steven Katz describes witch-hunts and how females played a huge role as victims. This journal proves that not only were most women accused of being women but they were also the victims. The author of this journal brings up data and information to back up his theory that women were the victims because people were afraid of women having to much power. This journal is a good article for anyone researching witch hunts and the impact it had on females and why.

In late February, arrest warrants were issued for the Parris’ Caribbean slave, Tituba, along with two other women the homeless beggar Sarah Good and the poor, elderly Sarah Osborn whom the girls accused of bewitching them.The people of Salem experienced a “trigger” when Titube, one of the accused witches confessed that she and the others were in fact witches working for the devil. Although there were other contributing factors, this is the main reason why the Salem Witch Trials happened.

During the 17th century and a time when there was a strong belief in the devil (Sutter, 2003) a very well-known incident took place, The Salem Witch Trials. What started out as innocent meetings in the kitchen of the town minister, Samuel Parris, with the slave from the Caribbean and some of the towns young girls, one of which was his young daughter and another his niece, turned into the accusations of witchcraft by means of an unknown illness and spectral evidence. The town of Salem Massachusetts would forever be changed in 1692 where one hundred forty people were accused of witchcraft, 19 hanged and one man pressed to death.

In a Puritan community called Salem, in 1692, two girls fell ill. They crumbled instantaneously. After they immediately collapsed, they quaked violently quite a few times. They admitted fearfully that three women did some spellwork on them. The girls also confirmed one woman who performed witchcraft was an Indian slave named Tituba. Her master beat her painfully until she confessed seeing the devil, was taught magic, and claimed that there were witches in the community. Many people got frightened that Satan, or the devil, was among them. All women started blaming each other for practicing magic. Sadly, twenty-four people were put to death for studying and doing wizardry. Although this was a disgrace to the U.S. and a melancholy