The Salem Witch Trials In The 1600's

The 1600’s were a time of devastation, depression, and tragedy in Salem, Massachusetts due to the Salem Witch Trials. All of the facts can be found in Rosalyn Schanzer’s book Witches! The Absolutley True Tale Of Disaster in Salem. The Salem Witch Trials went on from 1692 to 1693. The trials resulted in the death of twenty people. Many sources believe that there could have been more than one cause of the Salem Witch Trials. The main three causes of the Salem Witch Trials are superstition, teenage hysteria, and Puritan politics. The first cause of the Salem Witch Trials was fear of superstition among the Puritan community. The Puritans were pious and believed in the Devil, and believed that God would punish them horridly if they went against their strict moral code. “This is why the witch scare was taken so seriously and the accused were punished harshly” (“The Salem Witch Trials”). Because the Puritans were superstitious, when problems in Salem began, the community was quick to maliciously “blame the Devil and the witches that were carrying out his work for him” (“The Salem Witch Trials”). When the Puritans had no explanation for the girls’ strange behavior, “Salem
village’s physician, William Griggs concluded the girls were bewitched” (Sutter). The Puritan’s fear of God’s anger made them punish sin more harshly. The second cause of the Salem Witch Trials was teenage hysteria.
“Some historians and scientists argue that the girls continued with their accusations because they suffered from hysteria” (Sutter). Betty Paris and Abiail Williams were young teenage girls who allowed their imagination to fervently take over. “The girls spent a great deal of time divining information about their future husbands by dropping egg whites into a glass of water and interpreting the images” (“The Salem Witch Trials”). The girls became frightened when people found out about their secret activities, so they began to act strange and go into convulsions. The girls were afraid of being condemned, so they “howled, thrashed about, and rolled around on the floor” to get other women charged with guilty verdicts of witchcraft
(Sutter). The third cause of the Salem Witch Trials was Puritan politics. In Salem, there were two families, the Putnum’s and the Porter’s, who had been feuding since the 1670’s. The Putnum’s, who were a cantankerous family, “decided to establish a seperate congregation for the supporters of Salem village” (“Salem Witch Trials”). The Putnum’s were scrutinized because they “brought in a new reverend, Samuel Parris, to head this new congregation” (“Salem Witch Trials”). When witchcraft rumors started, “the members of one group tended to accuse members of their opposing group of witchcraft” (“Salem Witch Trials”). The political struggle for power between these two groups and their prodigious pride kept the Salem Witch Trials going. The Salem Witch Trials was a devastating time in America’s history. Of all the theories that have been documented as to the cause of the Salem Witch Trials, one believed theory is that fungus from the rye bread caused the girls’ symptoms of witchcraft. However, many sources believe that the three main causes of the Salem Witch Trials were superstition, teenage hysteria, and Puritan politics. Regardless of the causes of the Salem Witch Trials, there are many lessons that can be learned from this tragedy. One of the lessons that can be learned is that people should learn to think for themselves and not be tempted to follow the crowd.