History Of The Salem Witch Trials

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The Salem Witch Trials Ashley Gilsdorf American History Period 7 6, May 2014 Every old woman with a wrinkled face, a furr’d brow, a hairy lip, a gobber tooth, a squint eye, a squeaky voice, or a scolding tongue… a dog or cat by her side, is not only suspected but pronounced for a witch. John Gaule 1646 It is one thing to believe in witches, and quite another to believe in witch-smellers. G.K. Chesterton 1922 People have believed in witches for centuries before the Salem witch trials even occurred. Before the Salem witch trials began the Puritans migrated from England to the United States of America to break off of the Church of England. The reason they did this was to start fresh in their own way and to rebuild their faith how they thought it was suppose to be (Kallen). The Salem witch trials relates to rights and responsibilities in American History because of the way people were treated and punished. It was really an odd way of how the Salem witch trials all started. Something so big is caused by a group of such young girls. They were known as the “afflicted girls” (Brooks). There were about a total of 9 girls involved. Supposedly after playing a fortune-telling game they all started to act out in very abnormal ways. Three of the girls: Mercy Lewis, Betty Parris, Mary Warren, were all examined by Dr. William Griggs and he suggested that they were bewitched (Brooks). During this time Salem separated into accusers and the accused. One of the accused women was a former slave, Tituba. She of the three women accused confessed the use of witchcraft. All three of the women were arrested and questioned. Tituba confessed seeing a few girls acting weird and confessed treating some of the girls in a rude way. She however did n... ... middle of paper ... ...so gave more in depth information about the accusations of innocent people. historyofmassachusetts.org/the-salem-witch-trials/ Beatrice Brooks, Rebecca This source helped me understand how it all started and gave a lot of information on the victims. I also liked this one a lot because of the information it gave on how the trials ended. http://2smart4school.com/pitfalls-in-puritan-religion-the-sovereignty-and-goodness-of-god-by-mary-rowlandson/ Vincent Amedekah This source helped me better understand how differently the Puritans thought of other people, especially natives. The Salem Witch Trials Stuart A. Kallen I really liked this book because of the stories it had in it, that really helped me understand how bad these times really were, and how the treatment was horrible. I read a lot of how strict they were which was a part of my essay. Works Cited

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