The Salem Witch Trials Is Unknown

From 1692 to 1693, twenty people were executed after being accused of witchcraft in Salem Village, Massachusetts, many more died in jail, and around 200 people total were accused of witchcraft during the Salem Witch Trials. Records from the event indicate that the Salem Witch Trials started when a group of young girls began acting strange, claiming they had been possessed by the Devil and bewitched by local villagers. The Salem Witch Trials is a much debated event; historians argue over the motivation and causes behind the trials and executions, not over the proceedings. Each historian approached the Salem Witch Trials with their own brand of logic and interpretation building off of and criticizing the interpretations of their predecessors. No one historical theory can conclusively explain the cause of the Salem Witch Trials because there were too many variables and motivations among the villagers. These historians used the best of their abilities to examine the events of the Salem Witch Trials and the mere fact that there are so many interpretations means there are not certainties when it comes to this historical event. However, a combination of their theories could provide a better picture of the Salem Witch story and the many aspects in determining the outcome of the Salem Witch Trials.

From the time of the 1690’s the entirety of Salem, Massachusetts were Puritans. “The Puritan lifestyle was restrained and rigid: People were expected to work hard and repress their emotions or opinions. Individual differences were frowned upon.” (Salem Witch Trials, The World Behind the Hysteria). These people believed that doing anything sinful would result in punishment from God. Just as much as they believed in God, they also believed in the Devil. Keeping up with the Puritan code, it led to the first women being accused of witchcraft. They were viewed as pariahs, and seen differently. Had the Puritan government let the afflicted defend themselves, not be so dependent on religion, not investigating the facts or scrutinize the trials the killing of many could have been prevented. The hangings from the trials would ultimately be the last in America.

American Literature reveals that because of Cotton Mather’s writings there is knowledge of the Salem witchcraft trials in 1692. The research shows that most of the known stories and trials come from Cotton Mather. This essay will describe Cotton Mather, the Salem witchcraft Trials, and an insight on the information provided by Mather.

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.

The number of different interpretations of the Salem Witch Trials illustrates that historiography is ever changing. The historians, Hale, Starkey, Upham, Boyer and Nissenbaum, Caporal, Norton and Mattosian have all been fascinated by the trials in one way or another because they have all attempted to prove or disprove certain elements about the trials. By analysing their augments about the causes of the Salem Witch Crisis, it is evident that this historical event can be examined from a range of different perspectives and interpreted in a range of

The author’s purpose in writing this article was to inform the reader of the rise and decline of witch prosecutions, along with their lasting effects on the society. The author’s central argument is that historians do not usually focus on

The Salem Witch Trials of 1692 took place in the Puritan community of Salem, Massachusetts. Cotton Mather, a clergyman in Salem, emerged throughout the course of the trials as a pillar of support and, ultimately, as a witch-hunter. However, his motives at the beginning of the trials were driven by his Puritanical reasoning which holds a strong belief in Biblical Law. Cotton Mather used his Puritanical faith to find reasoning in God that allowed the Salem Witch Trials to occur.

The Salem witch trials, that occurred in colonial Massachusetts, were a hostile part of American history. People lived in a constant state of paranoia and fear. A great number of people were accused of practicing witchcraft, which was thought to be connected to the devil, and some were even executed. Eventually, the colony realized the faults in the trials. By reading the primary sources ‘A Modest Inquiry into the Nature of Witchcraft Chapter II’ by John Hale and Two Letters by Governor William Phips, we are able to discover a wealth of knowledge about the aforementioned trials. The two sources allow the reader to gain insight into how the trials were flawed by showing the nature of the Salem Witch Trials, the evidence used to find the witches guilty, and the role native americans played in the trials. While also exhibiting how primary sources can be a disadvantage in navigating through historical events.

The view that religious beliefs were behind the Salem Witch Trials of 1692 is predominantly incorrect. While the Puritan culture’s strong Christian beliefs did dictate the behaviour of New England society, for the authorities that instigated the Witch Trials, religion was a mere justification for their actions that allowed them to gain support by instilling in the masses the fear of a higher power. Their true motives lay in the political and social issues of the time, with Salem Town’s division due to two disputing families, the ever-present fear of smallpox, and the male population’s immense opposition to female independence and sexuality. Thus, while society had strong religious beliefs, they were merely a pretext for the political and social factors of family conflict, disease, and fear of women that were the true bases for the accusations dealt in 1692.

The period of the Salem Witch Trials was an extremely dark time in New England because mass hysteria ran rampant, and over 200 people were accused of witchcraft (Blumburg). Trials were held for the accused “witches”, and author Cotton Mather was given the task of documenting a number of the trial proceedings. Mather was an esteemed adult in the Puritan community. Looking back at the accomplishments in his early life it is quite easy to see why he was held in such high regard. Cotton Mather was born February 12th, 1663 to a family of highly reputed New England Puritan priests (Walker). At only 12 years old, following in his father’s footsteps, Mather began his education at Harvard College. Mather faced many hardships and trying times throughout his life. As a child, Mather developed a bad stammer; because of his speech impediment, many presumed that he would never be able to enter the ministry (Franklin). Mather was also prone to nervous disorders that “drove him to ecstasy and despair” (150). Along with these hindrances, he faced numerous hardships. Mather lost his first two wives and then lost his third to insanity. As well as losing his wives, he lived to see all but two of this fifteen children pass away. Increase Mather, Cotton’s father, was President of Harvard, where both he and his son attended. Trying to live up to his father, Cotton aspired to become president of the college as well, but he was declined and never received the position. Multiple peers of Mather said

Cotton Mather’s character was distinguished before the Puritans began their witch hunt. According to Brandt, Mather’s reputation has been “smeared for three hundred years by the abuse and harsh criticism” of those readers who perceive him as an instigator to the Salem Witch Trials (Brandt 232). Before the Salem Witch Trials, Cotton Mather had an interest for “all extraordinary things wherein the existence and agency of the invisible

Three centuries ago, the Puritan religion was the base of the Salem village and many townspeople strongly believed in the existence of witches and witchcraft. According to the common Puritan belief, witches were in alliance with the devil and were granted power to harm. People were blamed for illness, failed crops, to bad weather, and many other things that were evident centuries ago. Due to the belief in witchcraft villagers were, perhaps, inclined to the most improbable explanations. The Puritans held strict views, ways of living, perspectives fears, and fantasies. Many Puritan ministers used the the fear of witchcraft to scare the believers into following the church. Historians believe these strict Puritan ways of life may have brought upon the witchcraft hysteria in Salem. At the time, witches and witchcraft were a serious and viewed as a real threat; almost as real as

Human beings always have been curious creatures. We are a species that is always searching for answers to unexplainable events. Take aliens for example. To us, aliens may or may not exist (depending on your individual belief of course). Yet we still take such an interest in them that we continuously search for answers and proof of alien. Now that we have modern day technology, we can attain “proof” of alien life-form somewhere deep in outer space. But given the date 1692 in New England, if we were to even come in contact with aliens it would have been considered some supernatural phenomena, and even cause quite a bit of hysteria. That is what happened to the puritans in Salem village during the Salem Witch Trials, in Massachusetts, in the year 1962. The puritans of Salem village were extremely paranoid, and they believed that if something can’t be explained then it had the devils influence. So when a group of Salem girls spoke up about the devil and witches, the villagers of Salem went into a panicked frenzy. Truth of the matter is that there were no witches in Salem nor was the devil at war against Salem; the Salem Witch Trials were only a result of endless lies, conspiracies, and side effects of an illness.

Throughout history, there have been many cases of discriminatory accusations of people, including the Salem Witch Trials. The Salem Witch Trials were a string of trials, hearings and prosecutions of many people accused of witchcraft in Massachusetts between the dates of February 1692 and May 1693. The trials ended up leading to the execution of twenty people, men and women, but mainly women. The Salem Witch Trials that took place about three hundred years ago affected the lives of everyday civilians during that time in ways such as politically, religiously, economically, fearfully, mentally, and sometimes in other various other ways.

As an educated Harvard graduate and intelligent man Cotton Mather published hundreds of books to provide solid evidence as to what led to the Salem Witch Trials and was known as one of the most influential Puritan ministers of his time. Regardless, his involvement with the Salem witch trials and his peculiar analyses concerning the craft and actions of Satan gained him a significant number of followers around the 1690’s when the witch trials occurred. Remarkably, he received support from the judges and several of the ministers during the time of the trials occurrence due to his establishment as a well-known preacher but also his book Memorable Providences Mather wrote on his account with the Goodwin children. These children according to Mather’s account were disturbed by the Devil from a bewitchment. (Walker 2001)