complete picture of thecauses behind the witch trials, you must look at the physical reasons as well. Two historians, Paul Boyerand Stephen Nissenbaum, drew a map of Salem Village and plotted the accusers, the defendants, and theaccused witches. An interesting picture arose when a line was drawn dividing the town into east and west.It became clear that nearly all the accusers lived on the west side, and almost all the defenders andaccused witches lived on the east side. To determine the cause of the east-west split, the historiansexamined many disputes, chief among them being the choice of ministers. Once Salem Village wasgranted the right to have its own meeting house, quarrels arose over who would preach in the pulpit.There were four ministers between the time period of when the meeting house was built and the end of thewitch trials. The arguments over ministers soon became a power struggle. There were two factions thatarose during this dispute, and it was noted that one group supported two ministers while the other groupsupported the other two ministers. Each group wanted to prove its influence by choosing a minister andmaking him the spiritual guide to Salem Village. The two groups were found to coincide closely with theeast-west division. When the economical divisions of the village were examined, it was found that ingeneral the western citizens of Salem Village lived an agrarian lifestyle and were hard-pressedeconomically. The land on the western side was well-suited to farming and grazing. By contrast, thevillagers on the east side were mainly merchants and lived fairly opulently. The road to Salem Towntraveled through the east side of Salem Village. Many innkeepers and tavern owners lived on this roadand made a good profit off all the travelers. Tension often arose between the two groups because of theirvastly different lifestyles. It is not difficult to see why a catastrophe such as the Salem witch trialsoccurred. Once one acc...
