More than two hundred years have gone by since the discovery of the new world. People of with all types of backgrounds and problems came flocking over the ocean to start anew. Jamestown, Virginia and Salem, Massachusetts, were very early settlements, and perhaps two of the most known names of colonies. Jamestown was known for many things, including Bacon’s Rebellion. And Salem was known for one reason, the Salem Witch Trials. These two pieces of history reflect the tensions of the unstable society and of their beliefs. With every piece of history, behind them were tensions. Bacon’s Rebellion took place in Jamestown, Virginia in 1676, led by Nathaniel Bacon. Sir William Berkeley, the royal governor of Virginia, adopted policies that favored the large planters. He also angered farmers on Virginia's western frontier because he failed to protect their settlements from Indian attacks. Nathaniel Bacon was upset due to how Berkeley was leading colony and led a rebellion against Berkeley's government. He raised an army of volunteers and conducted a series of raids against Indian villages a...
...able behavior far different from that of rebellion.” The colonists held their tongues as long as they could, but in 1676, their frustration grew too strong. Bacon and a thousand Virginians rebelled and overthrew the governor, in what is known as Bacon’s Rebellion. Shortly after the rebellion, Bacon died, and Governor Berkeley returned and viciously crushed the brigands.
The evidence presented against the supposed witches during the Salem Witch Trials was not physical evidence. Most of the testimonies given by the townspeople were random happenstances that were told to make the accused seem guilty. Other types of evidence given were statements about the accusers being bitten and pinched; this apparently classified as bewitching someone. Some of the accused claimed to be conspiring with the devil so they would not be executed and instead be put in prison (Godbeer 143). Many years later statements given by testifiers were recanted, jurors apologized, and the families of the executed were given compensation for their loss.
Salem 1692, two girls ,Betty Parris, age nine, and her eleven year old cousin Abigail Williams, had a dream. They wanted to be the best actors in the village. They worked very hard to do that and they got twenty people killed. Betty and Abigail were Puritans and they are not supposed to lie or they would end up with the devil in the afterlife, but it seemed like they didn’t care. That’s why we ask, why were people blaming the innocent for being witches in Salem, 1692? The Salem Witch Trials were caused by two poor, young girls who acted possessed. There were also other people who took the risk of lying and accused other people. Most of the accusers were under the age of twenty and woman. The little girls caused the Salem Witch Trials hysteria by pretending to be possessed. Most of the accusers were poor and lived in the western part of the town.
In 1676, the colony of Virginia experienced the first of many American civil wars, called Bacon’s Rebellion. The rebellion was between the Virginian Governor, Sir William Berkley and local plantation owner Nathaniel Bacon. The rebellion was caused by many different reasons, beginning with social unrest in the colony. “There was no one single cause of Bacon's Rebellion. Rather, the simmering discontent of the [Virginia] people reached full boil with the Indian raids and the governor’s apparent unwillingness to take decisive action against them.”
According to Jones, modern estimates suggest perhaps 100,000 trials took place between 1450 and 1750, with an estimated execution total ranging between 40,000 and 50,000. This death toll was so great because capital punishment was the most popular and harshest punishment for being accused of witchcraft. Fear of the unknown was used to justify the Puritans contradictive actions of execution. Witch trials were popular in this time period because of religious influences, manipulation through fear, and the frightening aspects of witchcraft.
In today’s times, witches are the green complexed, big nosed ladies who ride around on broomsticks at Halloween. Back in the 1600’s, witches looked like average people, but they worked alongside the devil. Salem, Massachusetts, was a religious town of Puritans. They were strong believers in God, and had believed that witches were the devils workers. Everything was usual in Salem in 1692, until, 9-year-old Elizabeth Parris and 11-year-old Abigale Williams had sudden outbursts of screaming, contortions and convulsions, the doctor came and diagnosed witchcraft (Blumberg, Jess) And from this time on, the people of Salem believed there were witches all around them.
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
Bacon's Rebellion was a very important part in American history which took place in the Virginia Colony between 1676 - 1677 against Indians and the colonial government. Led by Nathaniel Bacon, a 29-year-old planter that was very wealth who sided with Virginia’s governor William Berkeley. Bacon's Rebellion was the first rebellion that ever happened in the American colonies. There were many things that caused Bacon’s Rebellion.
On 1692 there were more than twenty people executed because of witchcraft. Witchcraft was a very big problem in the late 17th century Salem. People were accusing each other of being witches, and this soon got out of hand. Many say there were causes of the constant witch accusing. These causes of the Salem Witch Trials Hysteria of 1692 were jealousy, poverty, and boredom.
Between June 10 and September 22, 1692, 20 people were hanged in Salem after being accused of witchcraft. The trials began with a group of young girls claiming to be possessed by the devil, accusing local women of being witches and conducting their witchcraft on them. Within Puritan societies, there were very strict gender roles and religious beliefs, along with extreme economic tensions all contributed into the chaos of the Salem Witch Trials.
The Salem Witch Trials of 1629 were complex, deep, and twisted in nature. However, they can be rooted down to the specific scientific cause that is ergot, and were driven by purely inequitable allegations. The trials highlight utterly corrupt decisions and a crooked time period in American History.
Bacon’s Rebellion was a revolt by poor farmers against both the aristocracy of the Jamestown settlement and the frontier Native Americans. The rebellion can be described as both anti-aristocratic and anti-Native American. Severe social and racial tensions and conflicts led to the outbreak of rebellion.
The Salem Witch Trials certainly casted a spell over the people of Salem, Massachusetts in 1692 and even decades later on historians and non-academics alike. The trials inflict discrimination, persecution, abuse of power, and religious injustice as well as causing the society to have irrational fears. The trials are very interesting now because there is no explanation of the event that has been accepted universally. There are many theories such as the “affiliated” girls of the trials were simply bored and decided to play god. Ergot poisoning which is a disease in rye grains, and there is also the cold weather theory. Along with those theories a strong belief in the Occult and also disputes, rivalries, and personal differences with residents in the town have also been talked about. The effects after the trials are as important as when the
Bacon’s Rebellion began in 1676 (Bacon’s Rebellion), when Bacon was sent by his father to Virginia in hopes of gaining maturity. Maturity is clearly not what Nathaniel Bacon gained, or had in mind for that matter. Instead he began to disagree and generate problems with his cousin by marriage, Sir William Berkley. Even though Berkley treated Bacon with respect and love, by giving him a place to stay and a job, Bacon still continued to disrespect and ruin Berkley. Bacon did not only cause problems for Berkley, but also for the town of Jamestown and the people in it. If Bacon would not have been sent to Virginia, these problems could have
In 1676, Nathaniel Bacon led one of the biggest rebellions in the pre-American Revolution period. He, along with hundreds of white frontiersmen that supported his cause demanded that the Virginian governor William Berkeley step down from power. When Berkeley refused to abide by the terms of Bacon's “Declaration of the People,” Bacon and his supporters burned down the city of Jamestown, and the governor was forced to flee. This rebellion would come to be known as “Bacon's Rebellion.” Furthermore, Bacon can be seen as a parallel of the white frontiersmen, poor farmers and indentured servants in Virginia Colony, and Governor Berkeley can be seen as a parallel of the British, the government, the Virginia House of Burgesses, the masters of said