DBQ Essay American History
What Caused the Salem Witch Trial Hysteria of 1692?
The Salem Witch Trials of 1692 represent a part of New England history that is unique in the entire history of the United States of America and, in some respect, also in the history of witch hunts all over the world. These trials were a series of hearings before local magistrates followed by county court of trials to prosecute people accused of witchcraft. People were being accused of practicing witchcraft and were told, to confess or be killed. Some confessed, while others were persecuted. Many people were killed during the Salem Witch Trials and most of them were innocent to begin with.
During the 1600’s a large number …show more content…
of English immigrants arrived in New England. The leaders of these settlers were Puritans. Puritans were Protestant Christians who were unhappy with their church in England and decided to come to New England so they could practice Christianity in a pure way. Puritans believed in predestination, the idea that God elects or chooses before birth who will go to Heaven and who will not. Puritans were also fundamentalists. They believed that every word in the Christian Bible was the true word of God and was to always be followed. What the Bible said, Puritans believed, and the Bible spoke of the devil and of witches. The devil was indeed clever with the ability to enter a normal person’s body and turn that person into a witch (Background Essay). The Bible states that “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.” They should kill the witches- they have no right to live. Since the Bible said it, it must be true, and the Puritans believed it (document 1).
In the 80-year period from 1620 to 1700, 16 colonists outside of Salem were put to death for witchcraft. But this was a small number compared to the number executed in Salem. In just a 15-week period from June 10 through September 22 of 1692, nineteen men and women, all having been convicted of witchcraft, were carted to Gallows Hill, a barren slope near Salem Village, for hanging. Another man by the name of Giles Corey was over eighty years and was pressed to death under heavy stones for refusing to submit to a trial on witchcraft charges. As another stone was added, his last words were “More weight” (The Crucible by: Arthur Miller). Hundreds of others faced accusations of witchcraft. Dozens languished in jail for months without trials. Over the course of 5 days, 20 people were hanged for being accused witches. On June 10, Bridget Bishop was hanged. On July 19, five more witches met the same fate. And so it continued until September 22, with a mass hanging of eight accused witches (document 2).
The Trouble in Salem first began when two young girls, Betty Parris, age 9, and her 11-year-old cousin Abigail Williams, asked an Indian slave woman named Tituba to help them know their fortunes.
Over the next several months the two girls began to show strange behavior. Betty’s father, the Reverend Samuel Parris, was puzzled by the girl’s peculiar behavior and found out about the sessions with Tituba and decided that the girls were under the Devil’s spell. Soon the strange behavior spread to other girls in town. On February 29, 1692, the girls identified two local white women and the slave Tituba as the witches who were causing them such pain. The three accused women were carted off to jail in Boston and only Tituba confessed to practicing witchcraft, in which her life was saved. Over the next few weeks, the odd behavior of the girls continued and accusations kept increasing. The Salem witch hunt was under way and people were determined to not stop until they’ve found every last witch in Salem. (The Crucible by: Arthur …show more content…
Miller).
During the Salem Witch Trials was an honorable minister named Cotton Mather. He told the people living in Salem that “These evil spirits are all around….Go tell mankind, that there are devils and witches… New England has had examples of their existence…and that not only the wigwams of Indians…but the houses of Christians…have undergone the annoyance of evil spirits”. He saying that these evil spirits are everywhere and can take over anyone. No one is safe till these spirits are gone for eternity. Once people heard this from Cotton Mather they knew it had to be true. The Puritans believed what Mather had said and realized that these witches should be killed immediately (document 3).
Many people throughout Salem Village were accused of practicing witchcraft. The majority were females that were married and at the age of 41-60. Many of the accusers were single females ate the age of 16-20. There were some men accused but mostly women (document 5). Abigail Williams (a single female) accused John Proctor’s wife, Elizabeth Proctor, of being a witch. A few years back, Abigail had an affair with John and though that John loved her. When Abigail sees that John loves his wife and regrets the whole affair, Abigail accuses Elizabeth, causing John to be angry with Abigail. Abigail did this out of spite but also hoped that John would choose her over his wife (The Crucible by: Arthur Miller).
Other accusations followed with Rebecca Nurse, Martha Corey, and John Proctor. On April 11, John Proctor became the first man arrested for witchcraft after he protested the arrest of his wife. Mary Warren, a maidservant of the Proctors and one of the "afflicted" girls, recanted her accusations after her employers were jailed saying that she and the other girls were lying. The other girls immediately turned against Mary and accused her of witchcraft. She quickly changed sides again saying that she was lying about lying. On May 27th the newly-elected governor, William Phipps, commissioned the Court of Oyer and Terminer to try these cases. The "afflicted girls" were the main witnesses for the prosecution (http://www.unmuseum.org/salemwitch1.htm).
In order to prove if one is a witch, the court also allowed the use of "spectral evidence” which meant that the girls could testify to seeing invisible entities that nobody else could. The result of this was that no matter how wild a story the girls made up, even though there was no way to confirm it with independent witnesses or evidence, it was still believed. This would even play itself out in the middle of the courtroom. If a defendant looked like he/she might be released, the girls might suddenly start screaming and contorting their bodies as if in pain. The girls would claim that the ghost, or "specter," of the defendant, which only they could see, was attacking them (Background Essay). The “afflicted” girls did this to Bridget Bishop when she was on trial for being accused of witchcraft. When Bridget Bishop shook her head saying that she didn’t do anything, the afflicted were tortured. They acted as if Bridget Bishop was torturing them to convict her as a witch (document 6).
After many innocent people were hanged, the trials were called to a halt by Governor Phips. The fact that the governor’s own wife was accused helped to stop the killing. The Puritan Church leader Cotton Mather agreed things had gone too far. Mather said, “It better that ten suspected witches should escape, than that one innocent person should be condemned.” By May of 1693 the jails had been emptied. One hundred accused witches in jail were either declared not guilty or pardoned. The hangings had ended, but why were 19 people put to death for witchcraft in Salem and another pressed to death by stones?
People and judges and magistrates started to realize that these “afflicted girls” were just acting and caused innocent people to die because of their foolishness and cruelty. “What are we to think of those persons who…continued the accusations – the “afflicted children” and their associates?...They soon…became intoxicated…by the terrible success of their imposture (acting), and were swept along by the frenzy they had occasioned…. Once or twice they were caught in their own snare; and nothing but the blindness of the bewildered community saved them from…well-deserved punishment…. It is dreadful to reflect upon the enormity of their wickedness…. There can be no doubt that they were great actors” (document 7).
The outbreak of the witch hysteria of 1692 was caused by several factors that were only powerful enough because they occurred all at the same time.
None of them alone would have led to a similar course of events, and that is why the witch trials cannot be explained in a few words. It seems that the Puritan view of the world was central to the outbreak of the crisis because it was necessary to make the afflictions seem believable and threatening enough for the people to take action. There is a theory which explains the Salem crisis with the hypothesis of the rye being contaminated at that time by a fungus which led to severe ergot poisoning that caused the villagers to have hallucinations. Overall the main cause was hysteria and the afflicted girls were no help either. People were very suspicious and paranoid about everything back then-if a few people in the village suddenly became ill, it was because of a "witch". They had no science to explain anything, so they had to make up stuff that seems ridiculous to us today. They feared what they didn't know and understand; therefore seeking any kind of solution...in this case their fear led to the Salem witch trials.
(http://socyberty.com/history/what-caused-the-salem-witch-trial-hysteria/)
Belief in witchcraft has disappeared over time, but there have been events similar to the Salem witch trials that occur even in our time, so that they have not lost their historical importance. Just like the Holocaust during World War II was a terrible thing in all of history, yet we still remember it till this day so that we know not to have history repeat itself. The Salem Witch Trials was horrible for those people living in Salem, but it is still remembered till today so that were not doomed to repeat it. Hopefully this will be the last of the Salem witch trials and no one will be killed for being accused of witchcraft ever again.