INTRODUCTIONSalem, Massachusetts in 1691 was the home of a Puritan community with a strict moral code. In addition, the difficulties of farming in a harsh climate with rough terrain, Salem would have to face economic and political unrest. It would be in this community where a group of girls accused an Indian slave named Tituba of witchcraft. Tituba confessed under pressure from court officials, and her confession ignited a hunt for witches that left 19 men and women hanged, one man pressed to death, and over 150 more people in prison awaiting a trial. The characteristics of the Puritan community in Salem would be put on the spotlight during this event, and it's important to understand why and how the Salem Witchcraft Trials occurred.
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THESIS
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Witchcraft did exist and was widely practiced by New Englanders during the seventeenth century. The young girls living in Salem did not "fake" their afflictions, but rather they suffered from mental illness. Members of the clergy reacted to the excitement in a restrained manner, and some of them even tried to put an end to the witch trials. The witch trials occurred in reaction to the public's real fear of witchcraft. Salem was not unique, witch hunts occurred throughout Europe and the colonies and resulted in the persecution and execution of hundreds of people.
Social and economic tensions motivated the witch trials that took place in Salem, Massachusetts during the 1690s. When adults within the community observed the crazed behavior of several young girls, they determined the girls were not witches, but rather they were afflicted by the witchcraft of others. Those adults encouraged the girls to identify their political, economic, and social rivals as witches. Political developments in Boston and London both preoccupied and interfered with the power of local authorities to stop the trials and executions. By September 1692, hundreds of people had been arrested as witches; nineteen of them were convicted and executed. |