Salem Witch Trials Research Paper

In 1629 Salem was settled. In 1641 Salem makes a law saying witchcraft is a capital crime. The year of 1692 was a major event for Salem, Massachusetts. There are still many questions as to why men and women were killed during these trials. The Salem witch trials started the spring of 1692, in the village of Salem, Massachusetts (History.com Staff. "Salem Witch Trials). It was a series of hangings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft. Many participating Christians and other religions, believed that the devil could give people certain powers to harm others in return for their loyalty (Blumberg, J, A brief his…). The trials consisted of a complaint made to the magistrate about a suspected witch. The magistrate then makes an arrest warrant for the accused person. The accused person is taken in and examined by two or more magistrate, and then the accused person states their testimony and awaits trial.("Procedure Used in the Salem

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.

The Salem Witch Trials brought havoc among the citizens of Salem, Massachusetts starting in 1692. Many of the people within the town continued to have strong loyalties to their new Puritan religion and their old king back home. The church of England had moved away from the Catholic religion with the help of King Henry VIII and the Puritans were a new group of people who accepted the split from Catholicism but still believed that the church of England had a lot of aspects that remained with the Catholic religion. Despite this, loyalty to the king remained strong because the Puritans were not looking to break off from the Church of England instead they wanted to reform the religion and make it their own. These loyalties stretched to such an extent that any sin committed was also considered an act of treason and thus punished. The Salem community was constantly searching for evil within their town to prove their righteousness to God which lead to high rates of fear and paranoia in their daily lives. The strict Puritan religion soon became the root cause of the monstrous imagination that started to form within the community of Salem. Many people still feared the presence of Catholic ideas within their communities and in response were willing to go to any extent to irradiate these views. Some historians also account the beginning of the trials to divisions within the two towns of Salem that lead to tensions and turmoil between the townsmen. But without the increased belief in their new religion, women around town wouldn’t have been persecuted. The strict belief in the Puritan religion and culture was the root cause of fear and paranoia that led to the mass execution of many women and townspeople during the Salem Witch Trials.

Puritans settled in the Massachusetts town of Salem in 1630, with their leader John Winthrop. Winthrop claimed that Salem would be “As a City Upon a Hill,” meaning that the Puritans coming to the New World would set a religious and civilized example among other colonies. However, this wasn’t the case. The Salem Witch Trials were a series of accusations and persecutions due to what was thought to be witchcraft among Salem townspeople. King Philip’s War played a role in the trials. It caused regional mass hysteria which lead to the accusing of witches in Salem. Samuel Parris was the local preacher of Salem and in 1691 he started preaching about the devil and focused more on hell instead of more positive things which also played a role in the crafting of the witch trials. Rich versus poor feuds, the desire to feel around and inspect women, and easily being able to have someone punished by accusing them of being a witch, fueled and motivated the Witch Trials of Salem in 1692.

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.

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

The Salem Witch Trials were a time of paranoia and mass hysteria. In this small town of Massachusetts hundreds were accused of witchcraft and 19 people were executed. Salem was home to very devout Puritans. The worries arrived when young girls would become sick with no explanation or cure. The doctors not knowing what the cause of the illness was, quickly pronounce the girls bewitched. It spread terror through the town. The girls, as well as other residents, started accusing others of witchery. Many accusations were because of vengeance or self-interest. There were rivalries between families over land or wealth. Neighbors started accusing each other in order to gain their land. The religious community had an intensified sense of fear that the Devil was walking among them. They believed witches were out to destroy the Puritans. In order to purify the village of evil they had trials for the accused.

The Salem witch trials were a difficult time for the citizens of the Massachusetts Colony in the late seventeenth century. They were accused of practicing the Devil’s magic, which many believed to be real; so real that people were being imprisoned and executed for it. Between the years 1692 and 1693 there were over two hundred accusations and about 20 people and two dogs were killed altogether.

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.

The 1690s were a terrible time, full of accusations, lies and death, a scary time for all those in New England, especially in Salem, Massachusetts. The Salem Witch Trials were a result of a Puritan theocracy, in which the Puritans destroyed the lives of innocent women all the while believing they were doing the right thing. A Puritan theocracy meant that all aspects of the ruled area were controlled by the church. The Puritans were extremely strict about creating a perfect Puritan society, the oppression of women was prominent during this time and there was intense pressure to be a model citizen, making no mistakes. Religion ruled the life of a Puritan, it controlled every aspect of their lives.

What Caused the Salem witch trial hysteria of 1692? In Exodus 22:18 it states, “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.” In Salem, Massachusetts 1692, a very vile event happened in American History. This vile event involved 19 people hanged and 1 person pressed to death.

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.

In Salem Massachusetts, 1692, twenty people were put to death as penalty of witchcraft. Why did this witch hysteria seize Salem? The Salem witch hysteria was promoted by the Puritan’s strict religious basis, inequality between social classes, and the boredom of young girls. The importance of religion in Puritan culture amplified the effects of the witch hysteria. In the Exodus 22:18, it says, “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live” (Doc. 1).

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

Einstein once said, “The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who do nothing” (Gurteen). The Salem witch trials began in the Spring of 1692 in Salem Village, Massachusetts. A group of young girls, who claimed to be possessed by the devil, began accusing a few women of witchcraft, which caused hysteria among the people in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Approximately 150 people were convicted of practicing witchcraft, 19 were hanged at Gallows Hill, and others died in captivity (“Salem Witch Trials”). These tragic events lead to the convictions of many innocent people in Salem Village and later in Salem Town, Ipswich, Gloucester, and other towns (Brooks). The Salem witch trials are a