Analysis Of Franklin G. Mixon's Homo Economicus And The Salem Witch Trials

From June through to September of 1692 the Salem Village, Massachusetts, was in a state of constant panic and suspicion as young girls began to exhibit strange behaviour and claimed they were possessed. As a result of the trials nineteen people and two dogs were hanged, one man pressed to death by rocks, eight other persons sentenced to death, fifty expecting sentence and one hundred and fifty awaiting trial in gaol. Historians have offered many explanations for these events including: real witchcraft within Salem or hysteria through the belief in witchcraft, pressures of the puritanism religion and its leaders encouraging the events, fraudulent behaviour from the afflicted, ergotism and other physiological illnesses, and finally, social circumstances

such as instability and hostility. All of these theories have been offered up by different people from contrasting times, therefore it is important to consider the context that each explanation was offered in.

The earliest belief to the cause of the trials was that real witchcraft was at work and the devil prevalent in the Salem Village. At the time, Salem was a Puritan community who held very strong beliefs about witchcraft and the devil. They believed that Satan was aware of human’s weaknesses and would target people, which is displayed in the writings of the Puritan clergyman and writer, Richard Bernard, who states, “Before the Divell can come to solicitte for witchcraft, hee findeth some preparedness in such parties, to give him hope to prevaile.” Once chosen, the person would be converted to follow and belong to the devil, thus renouncing their faith in God and becoming a witch. These ideas are further reinforced in the writings of the late 16th century theologian William Perkins, “Witchcraft is a wicked Arte, serving for the working of wonders, by the assistance of the Devil, so farre forth as God shall in justice permit.” Moreover, the Puritan clergy believed that there were two main steps to becoming a Witch, firstly one must sign and agree to Satan, thereby joining a covenant and secondly, they will receive the devils evil powers. Evidence of real witchcraft within Salem can be apparent in transcription of court records and other primary documents such as Puritan minister, Cotton Mather’s book Wonders of the invisible world, in which he describes the events in Salem as an “army of devils is horribly broke in upon the place which is the centre…of our English settlements.” Many of these accounts portray the ‘afflicted’ mimicking the accused witch, crying out and falling in fits as the trial proceeded. Moreover, an account from eyewitness Lawson states:

“It was observed several times that if she did but bite her underlip in time of examination, the persons afflicted were bitten on their arms and wrists and produced the marks before the magistrates, ministers, and others. And being watched for that, if she did but pinch her fingers, or grasp one hand hard in another, they were pinched, and produced the marks before the magistrates and spectators.”

Although in a modern context it seems unlikely that possession was the true cause of the girls unusual behaviour it is important to note that the popular beliefs of Puritan society centred on religion. Additionally the girls may have been under immense pressure to behave afflicted, or truly thought that their symptoms were signs of affliction as the Puritan belief system and leaders seen witchcraft as the only explanation.

This theory of the girls being pressured into thinking they were afflicted due to the fear induced by Puritan leaders into society is introduced in Franklin G.

Mixon’s ‘Homo Economicus’ and the Salem Witch Trials. This work overviews the exploitation of witchcraft for the Puritan churches economic gain, this is supported by McClure and Van Cott (1994) who believe that history and folklore can represent financial principles and Boyer and Nissenbaum (1971) who propose that the Salem witch trials give understanding in regards to the relationship between church and economics. As the population was becoming increasingly displeased with the Puritan church their profits and attendance also decreased, therefore when young girls started acting unusual the ministry grasped the opportunity to give an explanation that would turn the townspeople back to their faith. Coercion by authorities can be evident in Samiel Parris’ sermon, in which he says, “We are either Saints or Devils – The Scripture gives us no medium” . Moreover, a similar situation in Northampton Massachusetts where ministers claimed that God had ‘touched’ the community, resulted in higher attendance to which Boyer and Nissenbaum state that the congregation were, “ever eager to hear...the words of the minister as the come from his mouth...The place of resort was...no longer the tavern, but the minister’ house.” Robert Calef, who disliked Mather, stated that Mather and the minters encouraged the hysteria to bring people back to the Church. This is reinforced by Charles W. Upham, who wrote that Mather brought about the witch craze to “increase his own influence over an infatuated people” by making them believe he could “vanquish evil spirits” and “hold Satan himself in chains by his prayers and piety.” However, in 1956 Samuel Eliot Morison disagrees and stated Robert Calef “tied a tin can to him after the frenzy was over; and it rattles and banged” through the ‘pages of history’, moreover he believes that Mather

acted sensible during the witch trials and even argued against excess. Likewise, in Chadwick Hansen’s 1969 study if witchcraft within Salem he argues that many of the girls accused such as Bridget Bishop, Mammy Redd and a slave named Candy practiced acts of witchcraft and even considered themselves to be witches. Hansen does not argue that the devil was actually located in Salem, rather that people truly believed that he was which is the same in his opinion. Consequently, Hansen believes the afflicted became ‘possessed’ because of their faith and attributed their behaviour to mass hysteria, concluding that the symptoms were pathological rather than real or fraudulent and “the failure to appreciate this fact, has vitiated all previous accounts of witchcraft at Salem.” In 1927 Vernon L Parrington shifted the blame from the Puritan clergy to Puritanism itself, stating that Massachusetts was an oppressive environment “with ever unfamiliar ideal likely to be seized upon as evidence of the devils wiles” and that the hysteria “was only a dramatic aftermath of a generation of repressions and inhibitions”. He also states, “the logical outcome of the long policy of repression, that has hanged Quakers and destroyed independent thought, in its attempt to imprison the natural man in a straitjacket of Puritan righteousness.” Others blame the afflicted girls believing they made up the charges of witchcraft.