Witch Trials in the New Colonies of America - Essay Example

Salem Witch Trials     Witch trials in the new colonies of America were not a unique phenomenon in world history but the events of 1692 in Salem Massachusetts differed in scope and circumstances from in Europe, the origin of the practice. As compared to the thousands of executions that occurred in 16th through 18th century Europe, the trials in Salem resulted in 146 arrests and 19 people being put to death.  The death toll included 18 women, one man and two dogs that were “hanged for giving young girls the ‘evil eye.’”1 This brief and distasteful period of American history was initiated when a group of girls started to act peculiarly. Whether they were somehow ill or the group of friends had decided to play a prank is not confirmable but their convulsive, seemingly synchronized actions sent a wave of panic through the overtly religious citizens of Salem who thought their town was being influenced by evil supernatural forces. The trials of Europe and America were not comparable in regards to number but each involved particular political, economic and social implications and both arose from an environment of uncertainty and fear. In the time of the trials of Europe, the climate on the continent was experiencing a great decline of temperature which led to longer winters and small harvests causing much misery amongst its population. In 1691, drought gripped the New England area of the ‘New World’ and 1692 brought torrential rains and flooding. The superstitious religious societies on both sides of the Atlantic sought scapegoats to punish for the miseries being suffered. They were acting as ‘God’s agents’ to rid the world of its evilness which they perceived as the root cause of the problems. In the case of the Salem trials, these environmental and religious factors acted as the match that lit the fuse of lawlessness that existed in the colonies at that time. The citizens of New England had previously abided by the rule of law according to the Massachusetts Magna Charta. In 1684, the charter was voided by the English Court at Chancery thereby dissolving the government in Massachusetts.2 Additionally, an epidemic of small pox had infiltrated the region and its citizens were in constant conflict with Native American tribes. These conditions along with social transformations regarding Puritan principles exacerbated the existing sentiments of suspicion and fear. The eruption of hysteria concerning witches was brought about by these varying factors in combination with each other although none of which taken separately would have caused this action. It should be noted that Salem was not the exclusive vestige of Puritans nor was the town the only location for witch trials in the colonies. Prior to 1692, approximately 100 persons were accused of being witches in New England in which four were convicted and one hanged.3 The Puritan ideology included an intense belief that the devil endeavored to tempt Christians from following God’s laws. According to Puritanical beliefs, they are responsible to observe and then eliminate the presence of evil in society. “The problems that the first generations of English settlers had to face could always be seen as divine castigations for sinful behavior, or as the threat of Satan trying to establish his rule on earth.”4 Puritans were very fervent in their objective of creating and maintaining a spiritually uncontaminated commonwealth and they responded unsympathetically against whatever would, in their perspective, threaten this objective. In this quest for spiritual righteousness and spiritual purity, they exhibited no tolerance for those believed to be witches.5 The depth of which the hysteria that infected Salem citizens enough to kill innocent people shows the depth of supernatural belief that permeated the collective conscience of the Puritan colonists. “The religion of the colonists was infused with ancient attitudes and practices, some indeed so old as to antedate the rise of Christianity.”6 Paranoia was the order of the day especially amongst the women. Neighbors were constantly on the alert for unusual or less than Christian behaviors. Most of these people had known each other all their lives and tensions ran high when one accused another of witchcraft. Many of those accused shared many commonalities but not all matched certain stereotypes. In general terms, however, several similar characteristics applied to most suspects.7 Women comprised 80 percent of those believed to be witches. The accused men were somehow related to those women who had been accused whether a relative or the defender of the supposed witch.8 The Puritan belief system and the differing interpretations of sin that existed between the genders offers reasoning’s as to why women were more likely to be accused of cavorting with the devil. There are several interpretations why women were more likely to cooperate with the devil. According to the Puritan beliefs, women were the weaker sex not just physically but emotionally and psychologically as well. It was Eve that succumbed to the temptations of the serpent in the Garden of Eden, not Adam. Additionally, women viewed the entirety of their souls as either pure or sinful. A particular incident or deed normally would not change this perception. Men, conversely, generally believed a single event could illuminate a person’s overall sinfulness.9 Women who accused others of witchcraft likely believed that person was generally sinful whereas male accusers pointed to specific incidences where harm was caused that proved their sinfulness.10 Many women in Salem stood accused because of personal financial successes and thus their lack of dependence on men. In the Puritan culture, men were thought to be ordained by God to rule over women. “The accusations were not pronounced in order to punish the women for their strength in comparison to men but because they were seen to be a danger to the Puritan society and its value system.”11 The majority of those accused as witches were usually middle-aged and well-known in the town for at least somewhat dubious behaviors and their malevolent attitude. These traits were viewed as a result of enviousness, a sin, or from discontentedness which was a state of mind frowned upon by that society. Many of the accused also had been known to use foul language and had committed a crime, usually theft. A number had practiced medicine of some sort which was viewed as strictly a men-only occupation.12 Religious ideology certainly factored into the reasons that people were accused and executed for the crime of witchcraft but Puritans that lived in other sectors of the colonies did not take part in such activities. Witch hysteria was largely confined to New England specifically Salem. Salem, a harbor town founded in 1626, was an attractive location for merchants. It was economically divided by the wealthier townspeople and those poorer farmers in the rural areas surrounding the town who could not “cross the subsistence threshold.”13 The outcomes of the conflicts that arose between wealthy merchants and the rural population “were achieved at the expense of the farmers.”14 Salem was surrounded by many villages and as they expanded, this prevented farms from expanding. The original owners of the farmland had small pieces of property because the primitive tools of the day did not allow them to farm great expanses of land. However, these farms became smaller still with every succeeding generation because the original owner had to divide his existing land between his sons. As the merchants became steadily wealthier, the farmers were growing poorer over time which further divided the two factions.    Salem was also divided economically within the township itself. Its eastern sector was level meadowlands that had ample access to waterways and roads. Citizens living in this area wielded more political power because they had more access to wealth. The western sector, inhabited mainly by farmers, consisted mainly of hilly marshlands and was located further from water and road access. This ever-growing economic and political conflict that arose between these factions was a significant factor regarding accusations of witchcraft. Nearly all of these accusations originated from western inhabitants against those more fortunate eastern populous. In most instances, the accuser was not well acquainted with the accused. “The accusations were not exclusively based on the ‘evil’ reputation of a witch; instead the pattern suggests that social status was far more important during the witchcraft hysteria.”15 An example of the political and economic rationale that initiated witchcraft accusations can be illustrated by examining two Salem families, the Putnams and the Porters. The Porter family of eastern Salem was politically influential with powerful connections with the elite merchants of Salem. The Putnams of western Salem had been an influential family but was rapidly losing its monetary and political capital because they could not take advantage of the town’s economic expansion in the east. While no accusations were formally levied specifically against Porter family members by the Putnams, this family was responsible for accusing 46 of the 146 persons tried for witchcraft in Salem, all of which were in the same social circle of the Porters. Ann Putnam accused more people (21) than any other person. She posed as the ‘afflicted girl’ during these trials.16 Samuel Parris, a Salem minister, became a focal point of conflict between the rich and poor of the town following his ordination in 1692.17 Parris was given two acres of land formerly owned by the ministry. He never received his full salary and it appeared that he would also lose his land which was actually supposed to be retained by the ministry. Still, many townspeople condemned Parris, a former merchant, because he still received revenues from other properties he owned apart from the ministry.18 Many of his parishioners were poor and resided in the western section of Salem and many of them were members of the Putnam family who still retained political influence in Salem. A polarization occurred among factions within his ministry between those that supported the Putnams and those that supported Parris. This is but one example of the internal political and economic forces in play with regard to the accusations of witchcraft which had nothing to do with Puritanical ideologies.  Beyond religious, economic, psychological and political influences, another factor of medical origin could have played a role in the hysteria of witch hunts. Puritans baked bread with rye. Ergot, a fungus that commonly collects on rye grain, causes similar effects on people that LSD, a hallucinogenic drug, does.  This could have caused the group of girls which began the witch hysteria in Salem to behave as they did. It also could have contributed to the fanatical actions of the accusers.19 Puritan ideology was fundamental to the witchcraft hysteria because this aspect was essential in giving the accusations credibility and inspiring, quite literally, the fear of God in Puritans who believed themselves ordained by God to uphold the moral law by whatever means necessary. Social and economic issues during this time ignited community emotions and demonstrated to the overtly religious of the time that God had indeed turned his back on New England because of the evil presence allowed to remain there. The colonies, specifically in New England, were experiencing tremendous social changes. What had been a close-knit communal atmosphere of first generation colonists began developing distinct social classes. The concept of working for the benefit of all in the community was transitioning to the concept of working for the benefit of one’s self. Puritans felt threatened by this societal change because they felt that the lust for personal material gain meant a distancing of man from God and towards the devil. Witch trials did not occur in regions that did not contain a majority of Puritans.20 Women at that time were decidedly second-class citizens but even more so within the Puritan culture. This perception led to women being persecuted almost exclusively during the witch hunt hysteria. The witch trials were less avoidable than they were inevitable. Several varying factors may have played a significant role in the deplorable actions of the Puritans without which the trials and subsequent executions may not have occurred but the underlying determinant was superstitious religious zealotry. This factor was not a distant phenomenon that was a product of only that and earlier eras in human history. This mentality is very much alive and well in recent times. One of but maybe the most glaring examples was the McCarthy hearings of the 1950’s which was properly labeled a ‘witch-hunt’ because it exploited the public’s fear of communism during the Cold War. Several patriotic, freedom loving American citizens had their personal, public and professional lives ruined by these congressional hearings. The Salem witch trials occurred more than 300 years ago but the lessons that should have been learned long ago by the events in this appalling period of American history clearly were not. References Boyer, Paul & Nissenbaum, Steve. Salem Possessed. The Social Origins of Witchcraft. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press, (1974). Footnotes: 13, 15, 16 Demos, John. Entertaining Satan. Witchcraft and the Culture of Early New England. Oxford: Oxford University Press, (1982). Footnotes: 7, 12, 20 Godbeer, Richard. The Devil’s Dominion: Magic and Religion in Early New England. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, (1994). Footnotes: 5 Gormley, Myra Vanderpool. “The Salem Witch Trials.” Colonial Homes.  Vol. 23, (November 1, 1997). Footnotes: 19 Gragg, Larry. The Salem Witch Crisis. New York; Westport, Connecticut; London: Praeger, (1992). Footnotes: 3, 8, 11, 17, 18 Hall, David H. Worlds of Wonders, Days of Judgment: Popular Religious Belief in Early New England. New York: Knopf, (1989). Footnotes: 6 Hilkey, Charles, J. “Legal Development in Colonial Massachusetts 1630-1686.” Columbia Universities Studies in History, Economics, and Public Law. Vol. 37, No. 160, (1910). Footnotes: 2 Karlsen, Carol F. The Devil in the Shape of a Woman: Witchcraft in Colonial New England. New York: Vintage, (1987). Footnotes: 14 Luoma, Priscilla L. Who Put the You in Utopia? The Puritan Period. Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute, (April 1, 2005). Footnotes: 4 Reis, Elizabeth. Damned Women. Sinners and Witches in Puritan New England. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, (1997). Footnotes: 9, 10 Schensul, Jill. “New England’s Old Witches, Old Riches.” The Record. Bergen County, NJ: (August 30, 1992), pp t01. Footnotes: 1 Read More