Effects Of The Salem Witch Trials
The terror that raged through Salem Village in 1692 caused the citizens to accuse and execute each other because of suspected witchcraft. The Salem witch trials, a series of court cases regarding the 131 people accused of witchcraft, led to twenty-five peoples’ deaths and the arrests of many more (Foulds 258). The trouble first started when two girls acted so strangely that people had no doubts that it was the result of witchcraft. Soon, they considered no one safe because anyone might be a witch, or may be tormented by a witch. The afflicted girls’ mysterious behavior activated a hysterical fear of witches, causing the Salem witch trials. Multiple girls from a variety of ages and backgrounds suffered in a way the Puritans had never before
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The villagers believed the devil had caused the witchcraft crisis, so now they must battle the devil and his witches of the invisible world (Ray 198). This idea intensified the predicament. Their attention shifted from preserving the lives of the tormented to ceasing the lives of the tormentors. Initially, they responded by praying at the bedside of the afflicted girls. Yet now, they reacted by killing anyone who may have committed witchcraft. “Anyone who had pled not guilty was quickly convicted and executed” (Baker 155). Unable to tolerate the thought of corrupted witches in their community, the Puritans resolved to exterminate …show more content…
The successful people included Cotton Mather, an influential minister who sided with the court. unaffected Mather went on to publish books, help develop smallpox vaccines, and take command of Second Church, the church at which his father preached (Foulds 155). Many of the accused witches survived the trials and managed to make a living, and most of the afflicted girls led normal lives. Not everyone had so much luck, however. One visitor in 1704 “found Massachusetts an uncomfortable place where no one knew ‘on his lying down to sleep, but that he might lose his life before the morning, by the hands of a merciless savage’” (Schiff 409) [what does the visitor mean by “merciless savage”? Indians? Witches?]. Some people (who who) lived nomadically, their next meals depending upon the generosity of their neighbors.
The villagers believed the devil had caused the witchcraft crisis, so now they must battle the devil and his witches of the invisible world (Ray 198). This idea intensified the predicament. Their attention shifted from preserving the lives of the tormented to ceasing the lives of the tormentors. Initially, they responded by praying at the bedside of the afflicted girls. Yet now, they reacted by killing anyone who may have committed witchcraft. “Anyone who had pled not guilty was quickly convicted and executed” (Baker 155). Unable to tolerate the thought of corrupted witches in their community, the Puritans resolved to exterminate …show more content…
The successful people included Cotton Mather, an influential minister who sided with the court. unaffected Mather went on to publish books, help develop smallpox vaccines, and take command of Second Church, the church at which his father preached (Foulds 155). Many of the accused witches survived the trials and managed to make a living, and most of the afflicted girls led normal lives. Not everyone had so much luck, however. One visitor in 1704 “found Massachusetts an uncomfortable place where no one knew ‘on his lying down to sleep, but that he might lose his life before the morning, by the hands of a merciless savage’” (Schiff 409) [what does the visitor mean by “merciless savage”? Indians? Witches?]. Some people (who who) lived nomadically, their next meals depending upon the generosity of their neighbors.