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Economic and political causes of the Salem witch trials
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Some people say that the Salem Witch Trials were less a religious persecution than economic in purpose, using religion as a guise to gain property. I believe that the Salem witch trials were less a religious persecution than economical. I believe this for several reasons; one being that the accused witches were using their witchcraft on other people in the town and it was affecting them. Many people were accused of performing witchcraft and were persecuted for doing so. But I believe that people in towns accused others of "witchcraft" whenever something went wrong, because "witchcraft" was such a common thing back than. When the witches that were accused of this so called witchcraft, usually the rest of their family, if they had one, would have to sell their house and this gave the people in the town more land and gave other people outside of the town to move into the town. Since there were two distinct parts to Salem, it is believed that the rich people of Salem accused the poorer people so they could take over their land. Salem did have two distinct parts: Salem Town and Salem Village. Salem was actually part of Salem Town but was set apart by its economy, class, and character. Residents of Salem Village were mostly poor farmers who made their living cultivating crops. But Salem Town was a wealthy town where the center of trade took place. Most of those living in Salem Town were wealthy merchants. For many years, Salem Village tried to gain independence from Salem Town.
There were a number of religious factors that contributed to the Salem Witch trials but most of the people in Massachusetts during the trials were Puritans. The Puritan lifestyle was influenced by the church and Christian beliefs. Puritans believed that God expected them to live according to the scriptures and to set a good example so the people that remained in England would change their sinful ways. Puritans were expected to follow a strict moral code and anything other than that was considered a sin and deserved to be punished. When difficulties in the community began the blame was on the Devil and the witches.
In the textbook, religion is portrayed as the main cause of Salem’s witch hysteria. In America Possessed, however, the main reason is told to be a result of social conflicts and a power struggle between the main groups of Salem. Although the textbook addresses different causes, as does Salem Possessed, there is never a mention of the two most influential groups of Salem having an impact on the witch trials. Perhaps this is due to a time limitation of the book, as including that much detail would require the textbook and course to be much
The Salem witch craft trials are the most learned about and notable of Europe's and North America's witch hunts. Its notoriety and fame comes from the horrendous amount of people that were not only involved, but killed in the witch hunt and that it took place in the late 1700's being one of the last of all witch hunts. The witch craft crises blew out of control for several reasons. Firstly, Salem town was facing hard economic times along with disease and famine making it plausible that the only explanation of the town's despoilment was because of witches and the devil. As well, with the stimulation of the idea of witch's from specific constituents of the town and adolescent boredom the idea of causing entertainment among the town was an ever intriguing way of passing time.
While Salem Village remained an agricultural community, Salem Town transformed into a mercantile town. These factions created strained relations and high levels of anxiety among the residents which led to accusations of witchcraft. Tensions exacerbated as Salem “experienced two different economic systems, two different ways of life, at unavoidably close range” (437). Within Salem Village, witchcraft accusations steadily increased as “the first twelve witches were either residents of the Village or persons who lived just beyond its borders” (435). However, witchcraft was not confined to a specific, geographic location as it spread beyond Salem Village and into other geographic boundaries. In fact, the majority of the people accused of witchcraft came from the surrounding villages. The outgrowth of conflicts and bitter disputes between the people of the rising mercantile class and the people of the land-based economy continuously led to witchcraft accusations. The accusations were not limited to farming communities, but also extended to political representatives and people higher up on the social ladder. For example, Boyer and Nissenbaum mention the accusation of Daniel Andrew and Phillip English who were two elected Salem Town selectman. As more
The economy was based on fishing, lumber, whaling, boat building, craftsmen, merchants, and small farms- the region utilized its natural resources (including the valuable Atlantic Ocean), which was shown by the presence of small villages and farms throughout New England. This allowed for life to revolve around the village community and the Church, since each family received several parcels of land for agricultural purposes. Under Puritanism, which controlled many aspects of the colonists’ daily life (including the economy), the Salem Witch Trials began in 1692. Several older women were accused of being witches by some young girls and, during the witch hunt, nineteen people were hanged and one was crushed to death under a rock. This occurred due to intensifying social conditions, inflicted by the Church and the Puritans in Massachusetts, and it created more of a distinction between classes, especially economically. It also should be noted that many of the economically prosperous colonists in Salem were accused of witchcraft- yet another example of economic stratification found in the New England
The Salem Witch trials were when hundreds of citizens of Salem, Massachusetts were put on trial for devil-worship or witchcraft and more than 20 were executed in 1692. This is an example of mass religion paranoia. The whole ordeal began in the home of Reverend Samuel Parris. People soon began to notice strange behavior from Parris’s slave, Tituba, and his daughters. Many claimed to have seen Parris’s daughters doing back magic dances in the woods, and fall to the floor screaming hysterically. Not so long after, this strange behavior began to spread across Salem.
During the time of the Salem Witchcraft Trials of 1692, more than twenty people died an innocent death. All of those innocent people were accused of one thing, witchcraft. During 1692, in the small town of Salem, Massachusetts many terrible events happened. A group of Puritans lived in Salem during this time. They had come from England, where they were prosecuted because of their religious beliefs. They chose to come live in America and choose their own way to live. They were very strict people, who did not like to act different from others. They were also very simple people who devoted most of their lives to God. Men hunted for food and were ministers. Women worked at home doing chores like sewing, cooking, cleaning, and making clothes. The Puritans were also very superstitious. They believed that the devil would cause people to do bad things on earth by using the people who worshiped him. Witches sent out their specters and harmed others. Puritans believed by putting heavy chains on a witch, that it would hold down their specter. Puritans also believed that by hanging a witch, all the people the witch cast a spell on would be healed. Hysteria took over the town and caused them to believe that their neighbors were practicing witchcraft. If there was a wind storm and a fence was knocked down, people believed that their neighbors used witchcraft to do it. Everyone from ordinary people to the governor’s wife was accused of witchcraft. Even a pregnant woman and the most perfect puritan woman were accused. No one in the small town was safe. As one can see, the chaotic Salem Witchcraft Trials of 1692 were caused by superstition, the strict puritan lifestyle, religious beliefs, and hysteria.
Those who were very religious resented those who were wealthy. Many accusers accused individuals who have wronged them in the past, after being accused, trials would be unfair and unjust. The accuser never had any punishment for wrongly accusing a person of witch craft. At times, even rumors were enough to have someone hung. “Old feuds (disputes within congregation, property disputes) between the accusers and the accused spurring charges of witchcraft” (The Salem Witchcraft Trials of 1692) Douglas Linder stated on his list of causes of the Salem witch hunts; arguments between the accusers and the accused had been one of the factors caused the epidemic. Some accusers during these times had the intention of taking large establishments of property for themselves after the so called “witches” were hung. Many of the accused had lived near the prosperous Salem Town while the accusers were the poor farmers on the outskirts of Salem Village. Jealousy would have been enough reason to blame someone of witchcraft in 1692, whether or not they were a
Salem is an isolated village in Massachusetts where power is one of the main driving forces that contribute to the dynamics of the community and how people interact with each other. Authority and power is dominant in two main areas- The Church and the Males.
...itan religion played a major role in the occurrence of the witch trials, even the children became part of the conflict when they accused the people of the east side. This pre-existing tension was the reason so many of the accused came from the eastern side of Salem village. Along with ergot poisoning and superstition, the rivalry created by the socioeconomic situation contributed to the occurrence of the witch trials.
In the modern day it’s hard to believe there’s even still ‘’witch hunts’’ as you can say where a group of people are stereotyped as something without them doing the actual stereotypical thing. We live in a world where blacks are getting shot for no reason when they were just walking down the street unarmed and not harming anyone. Blacks and Latinos are always looked down upon in any shape or form. They could be driving a nice car they get pulled over for suspicion of a stolen car, they can get pulled over in an old broken car and they will get pulled over for suspicion of ‘’criminal activity’’. But if it’s a white person the cops will NOT bat a single eye at them despite being in the same situations as the black. And you know what the problem
To better understand the events of the Salem witch trials, it is necessary to understand the time period in which the accusations of witchcraft occurred. There were the ordinary stresses of 17th-century life in Massachusetts Bay Colony. A strong belief in the devil, factions among Salem Village fanatics, and rivalry with nearby Salem Town all played a part in the stress. There was also a recent small pox epidemic and the threat of an attack by warring tribes created a fertile ground for fear and suspicion. Soon prisons were filled with more than 150 men and women from towns surrounding Salem.
The Salem Witchcraft Trials of 1692 were the largest outbreak of witch hunting in colonial New England up to that time. Although it was the largest outbreak, it was not something that was new. Witch-hunting had been a part of colonial New England since the formation of the colonies. Between the years 1648 to 1663, approximately 15 witches were executed. During the winter of 1692 to February of 1693, approximately 150 citizens were accused of being witches and about 25 of those died, either by hanging or while in custody. There is no one clear-cut answer to explain why this plague of accusations happened but rather several that must be examined and tied together. First, at the same time the trials took place, King William's War was raging in present day Maine between the colonists and the Wabanaki Indians with the help of the French. Within this war, many brutal massacres took place on both sides, leaving orphaned children due to the war that had endured very traumatic experiences. Second, many of the witch accusations were based on spectral evidence, most of which were encounters of the accused appearing before the victim and "hurting" them. There were rampant "visions" among the colonies' citizens, which can only be explained as hallucinations due to psychological or medical conditions by virtue of disease, or poisoning.
The Salem Witch Trials took place in the summer and into the fall of the year 1692, and during this dark time of American history, over 200 people had been accused of witchcraft and put in jail. Twenty of these accused were executed; nineteen of them were found guilty and were put to death by hanging. One refused to plead guilty, so the villagers tortured him by pressing him with large stones until he died. The Salem Witch Trials was an infamous, scary time period in American history that exhibited the amount of fear people had of the devil and the supernatural; the people of this time period accused, arrested, and executed many innocent people because of this fear, and there are several theories as to why the trials happened (Brooks).
During the early winter of 1692 two young girls became inexplicably ill and started having fits of convulsion, screaming, and hallucinations. Unable to find any medical reason for their condition the village doctor declared that there must be supernatural forces of witchcraft at work. This began an outbreak of hysteria that would result in the arrest of over one hundred-fifty people and execution of twenty women and men. The madness continued for over four months.