Data Bases • Custom Term Papers • Free Term Papers • Free Research Papers • Free Essays • Free Book Reports • Plagiarism? Links • Top 100 Term Paper Sites • Top 25 Essay Sites • Top 50 Essay Sites • Search 97,000 Papers @ DirectEssays.com • Search 101,000 Papers @ ExampleEssays.com • Search 90,000 Papers @ MegaEssays.com Free Essays • Term Paper Sites • Chuck III's Free Essays • Free College Essays • TermPaperSites.com • My Term Papers • Get Free Essays • Essay World • Planet Papers	Search Lots of Essays Back to Subjects - American History Salem Witch Trials1 Salem Witch Trials1 The Salem Witchcraft Trials were part of an important time in colonial history. Taking place in 1692, the trials were triggered by a group of girls gathering to read palms. What started as a session of innocent palm readings, though, turned into a series of courtroom meetings. The trials resulted in chaos and disruption throughout the town of Salem. Various causes for the trials existed, but among these reasons were the religious state of the community, the unstable condition of the village, and the colonists’ way of life. The colonists of Salem village were Puritans, and the preachings of this religion played a major role in the cause of the trials. The religion in the colony was based upon Puritan theology. Puritan theology was influenced by John Calvin, who believed that the “elect” would prosper (Burner 43). All of the Puritans believed that God set up the social classes in each community. If someone was meant to prosper during their life, God was the reason that person was born into a wealthy class. Every person lived their life the way God intended them to live it. The felt resentment towards any people who went against this belief. For example, the Nurses were a family that had gained wealth during the course of time, and were not originally born into a high social class. The resentment that many colonists had towards the Nurses influenced why the Nurses were accused and held as suspects in the courts of Salem (Starkey 65). Followers of the Puritan religion also believed that all people made a covenant with God. For this reason, they all lived together in harmony with God (Burner 43). This would explain why people were so hasty in accusing people of witchcraft. The Puritans did not want anyone breaking the harmonious world that they lived in. The Puritans also believed strongly in the Bible. All religious followers were expected to believe anything that was written in the scriptures and gospels of the Bible. For this reason, all of the Puritans were expected to believe in witches since the Bible contained stories about them. During the time of the trials, it was especially a shock to the colonists if anyone said that they did not believe in witches. In some circumstances there were people, like Elizabeth Proctor, that stated a disbelief in witches (Miller 70). The colonists thought it a sin that anyone would go against the Bible, and so they accused these people of witchcraft. The Puritans were also fearful of witches after reading about them in the Bible. A major cause of the fear was that the Bible condemned all witches. The Bible also stated that witches had the power to harm their neighbors. Therefore, if any person in Salem had the least bit of a suspicion that someone was a witch, they would speak up about it in order to protect themselves and others. They also accused people because the Bible says, “Do not suffer a witch to live.” (Burner 71). Because witches’ views conflicted with holy ones, according to the Bible, the people of Salem did not want them to be a part of their society (Schwartz 1). The Salem Witch Trials came at a time where the colonists were just trying to overcome many other problems. In 1686, King James created the Dominion of New England. The Dominion of New England was an attempt by the king of England to unite all of the colonies. As a part of this plan, he wanted all of the colonies to be ruled by one governor. Therefore, he appointed Sir Edmund Andros as the governor of the Dominion of New England. The colonists were unhappy with the appointment of Andros because they felt that he undermined local self-government. As a result, the colonists felt that their power and control over themselves was being challenged. People who lived in religious communities, like Salem, did not want their form of government to change from a theocracy (Burner 63). The Salem Witch Trials came at a time where the government was, for the most part, powerless. The provisional government was weak, and the governor, Edmund Andros, was looked at as “incompetent”. So, neither one could speak out against the trials. In other words, no means of government at that time could put a stop to the trials (Starkey 147). Right up to the time the trials were held, the people in Salem were experiencing hardships. Among these local conflicts was the fact that land was becoming scarce, and farmers were upset over this (Burner 73). The Puritans were also faced with diseases, like smallpox, and conflicts with the Indians (Rice 14). Another issue was that the villagers had differing political views. This was the cause of many arguments between townspeople. Also, Massachusetts remained without a charter from 1684-1691. Due to this, many colonists were fearful of what changes would be brought upon their society (73). Because of all the problems that the people of Salem were faced, they were extremely uncertain of the future of their village. They had to overcome all of these things to form a stable community, and they wanted to protect it in any way they could. The beliefs and way of life of the colonists also had an impact on the trials. During the trials, women were more often accused than men. In the community, men were believed to be dominant over women. Only men could own land, and they thought that it was necessary for men to support women. Women who owned land were even persecuted (Tobin 1). Women were also stereotyped to be greedier than men and possessive of less strength. The colonists believed the Devil made promises to make people rich and give them supernatural strength. Therefore, women were said to more likely be associated with the Devil, because he could grant them strength and wealth, which they didn’t have (Zeinert 12). Because of these things, the girls were able to pick out people who were easy “targets”. For example, Sarah Good was a perfect target. She was a poor, single, and old, and also had a witch-like appearance. In addition, she was a woman, so this made it hard for her to defend herself (Rice 32). The colonists wanted to protect themselves, and were therefore ready to believe almost anything. The court only went by three kinds of proof, which were all weak. Judges looked for a “Devil’s mark”, like a mole or wart on the human body (Zeinert 38). Witch hunters didn’t need to have much proof, however, to prove that someone had a “Devils’ mark”. One way was to stick pins into the marks on their bodies, and if they didn’t bleed, they were considered to be a witch. This evidence was not completely truthful though, because some witch hunters used pins with hollow handles. Because of these handles, the pins never actually pricked the person, which obviously did not cause the person to bleed. Yet, the court believed this evidence (Zeinert 17). Testimonies from colonists and spectral evidence were also used as evidence. Spectral evidence was a testimony that the suspect had been seen taking on a ghostly form (38). These forms of proof, though, were not too reliable either. Any person who wanted to get revenge on someone they disliked could easily make up a story to present in court. In other words, people who were accused were not always guilty. The girls in the village found themselves in a situation where their word determined the outcome of the trials. Whoever’s name was even slightly mentioned by the girls was held as a suspect. The girls liked having a sense of control throughout the situation. Since the villagers were so uncertain about the fate of their community, they readily believed the unfair examinations (Starkey 147). If someone’s name was mentioned in court, it was extremely difficult for them to defend themselves because people were so quick to believe that people were witches in order to save the village (Starkey 133). The colonists based their belief on the desires of the girls because the girls mentioned names to get revenge on anybody they had hard feelings towards. So, the trial outcome lied in their hands (147). It was even said that “the girls availed themselves of the opportunity of their illness to rebel against every restriction placed on them by the adult society.” (Starkey 25). False confessions slanted the outcome of the trials as well. Suspects were intimidated by the judges, and feared going against the court. When Mary Warren tried to confess the truth by saying the girls were pretending, the court questioned her so skeptically that it made it hard for her to get her point across. Many people were also intimidated in other ways. They felt they had to confess rather than go against the court. As a result, many people made false confessions in fear of being tortured or hanged (Starkey 93). The Puritans valued their orderly way of life, and believed people who disrupted it should be punished. Puritan society was very restricted and limited. Great resentment was felt towards the people who were accused of witchcraft because they were disturbing the contentment of life (Tobin 1). Also, “the Puritans believed that one bad person in a colony could bring God’s punishment down on all—like a smallpox epidemic—so many people were worried. They looked for the common fear of witchcraft to get the colonists back to the Puritan way of life”. (Zeinert 19). Even though the Salem Witchcraft Trials were based upon much false evidence, many other things affect it. The trials fell at just the right time to be taken to the extreme measures that they were taken to. The Salem Witch Trials would not have taken place if it had not been for the extremely religious state of the community, the unstable condition of the village, and the strict beliefs and way of life of the colonists Bibliography: Word Count: 1666
Copyright © 2005 College Term Papers, INC All Rights Reserved.