Witchcraft Trials in Colonial America - Literature review Example

Witchcraft Trials in Colonial America The hunt for witches in colonial America was almost exclusively a New England phenomenon. Many authors have written articles that not only explain the practice of witchcraft in colonial America but also the trials of the people involved or those suspected. A number of these authors claim that the most famous witch trials in colonial America took place in 1692 in Salem Village, the present day Danvers in the colony of Massachusetts. However, they were not the only ones. Evidently, there were 234 legal complaints or indictments of witchcraft in New England during the 17th century leading to 36 executions. During the same period, there were few witchcraft trials and no executions in all the other British American colonies. Fredrick Drake in his article “Witchcraft in colonial America, 1647-62” states that witchcraft events that brought great fear in the Salem society in 1692 resulted directly in the executions by hanging, pressing under heavy weights and imprisonment of many people. Since then, witchcraft trials and executions have inspired many narrative counts and stimulated different controversies among historians. One important controversy revolves around the role played by Cotton Mather and other church ministers in the 1692 trials. Drake (694) explains that the attacks upon the likes of Mather have varied. At one extreme end, they have been accused of being responsible in guiding the hysteria about witchcraft in order to drive people of America back to church. Some have even claimed that the matters were in the forefront of the group of people who contributed to this hysteria. At the other extreme end, they have been condemned of not being quick enough to speak out against evidence of witchcraft. This is a charge against ignoring the rules that they should have followed as they judged the presence of witchcraft in the society. This topic of witchcraft in colonial America has sufficiently been worked on by authors. However, these historians have placed different weights on the matter. For example, some of them have dismissed the hunt and trial of witches in New England as just but a minor event in the history of great superstition. In his works, "Underlying Themes in the Witchcraft of Seventeenth-Century New England," John Demos dismisses historians like Perry Miller who noted the witchcraft trials with minor qualifications. Miller explains about the trials as though nothing like witchcraft trials took place and neither did it have any political situation. Such views indicate that from the standpoint of the greater historical process, witchcraft was not something that mattered. It exerted very little impact on the unfolding sequence of events in America during its colonial times. The popular interest of such authors is therefore out of proportion to the historical significance of the witchcraft trials and perhaps one of the main reasons why the subject could be silenced eventually. However, Demos represents a different group of authors. He points out that there will be a continuing debate among historians over one set of issues relating to witchcraft in colonial America. Demos identifies the set of issues subject to debate as the roles played by individuals who were mostly directly involved in the witchcraft and in the witchcraft trials (Demos a 1311). Such a perception shows that in a large measure, the historiography of witchcraft in Salem can be viewed as an unending effort to judge the participants. In fact, it is not only to judge the participants but also to fix blames on some people. A number of verdicts have already been created at one time or another. The conclusion of such verdicts was that the ministers were at fault or the core/key group of the afflicted girls or the whole culture of Puritanism or Cotton Mather in particular. Ann Kibbey for example looks at the role played by the core/key group of the afflicted girls. In trying to bring out more evidence of the occurrence of witchcraft and witchcraft trials in Salem, Kibbey wrote the article, “Mutations of the Supernatural: Witchcraft, Remarkable Providences, and the Power of Puritan Men.” In this article, Kibbey explains the case of Mary Warren, a woman who appeared before a Salem court convened to try suspected witches. Initially, the 21-year old woman had testified as a victim of witchcraft but now she stood accused of it herself. After changing her plea many times and for several weeks, the woman finally confessed that she had personally signed the “Devil’s Book.” Something strange is that this yielding to the actions of Satan did not destroy the credibility of Warren as a star witness for this type of court. The court were the trial was being done continued to take depositions from her and the woman continued to be ‘inflicted’ paradoxically. Due to the combination of her earlier role as a victim and the present accusations of being a witch, Warren had to perform the legal roles of the accused and the accuser simultaneously. This ability to act as the victim of the power of Satan and his agent as well allowed Warren to give contradictory views of witchcraft (Kibbey 125). Warren was never consistent when she ventured into making religious explanations on the topic of witchcraft. When accused of inflicting others, Warren would sometimes respond ironically by falling into fits and she continued to experience many other seizures during her testimony. At the same time, Warren resorted to the belief that the afflicted persons were merely insane. Later on in prison, Warren testified of her awareness of her contradiction all through the court trials and on both sides of the cases to her colleagues. Such testimonies therefore gives a good ground for historians to venture into analysing the roles played by different people involved in the witchcraft trials in the unfolding of events in colonial America. Historical accounts explaining the connection of Cotton Mather, a church minister in Boston’s Old North, to the Salem witchcraft episodes and witchcraft trials are not new. As early as 1960s, some people like Robert Calef made denounced Mather and others like Chadwick Hansen made efforts to vindicate him. Since then, historians have spent considerable efforts on the same, either defending Mather or attacking him over his behaviour in the Salem witchcraft affair. Richard Werking explores more on this. In his article “Reformation Is Our Only Preservation: Cotton Mather and Salem Witchcraft", Werking reveals that Charles Upham, a Unitarian Minister and a politician in Salem was more aggressive in his attacks against the Puritan ministers and Cotton Mather in particular. Werking (281) explains that Upham accused Mather of arousing the Salem tragedy by publicising an incident of witchcraft that occurred in 1688 in Boston. In this particular case, Mather has investigated three children who had been complaining of sudden pains and the three children cried out together in chorus. Mather concluded that the phenomena responsible for the problems faced by the three children was witchcraft, and he made specific reference to witchcraft practiced by Mary Glover, an Irish Woman. Mather presented/publicised his findings and conclusions in one his famous works entitled “Memorable Providences.” According to Upham, Mather was trying to revive the subject of witchcraft yet the Salem trials had ended after a lot of efforts as a step towards curing the people who the witches had allegedly been victimised. Upham further claims that Mather drafted an advice of the church clergy to the judges and in this way, he urged the Salem magistrates to continue with the prosecution of suspected witches. After obtaining his findings on the case of the three children, Mather had written to the judges advising them to give special consideration to spectral evidence claiming that it will be fruitful. He also told the judges to consider the confessions made by witches as the best evidence. Along with other historians of similar view, Upham blame Mather for encouraging the Salem judges to carry on with prosecutions through his writings in October 1692 instead of making necessary efforts to bring to an end witchcraft trials in Salem. However, there are historians who hold a different ground on this. Along with such historians like Justin Winsor, George Bur and George Bancroft, Werking is sympathetic to the Mather for the charges laid against him by historians like Upham. This category of historians feel that Mather, and other ministers, were only playing their role of exposing evil in the society and not trying to use the same as a means of gaining anything for themselves nor luring people to return to church. The works of historians not only reveal the roles played by some people in ensuring a continuation of witchcraft trials in Salem but also the high levels of judicial and procedural discrimination in the whole thing. One such author is John Demos. In his book “Entertaining Satan: Witchcraft and the Culture of Early New England,” Demos explains that the trial of witches in Salem came to dramatic end in the end of 1692 when accusations of the practice of witchcraft extended to the wife of the governor of the colony (Demos c 11). Demos explains that once individuals in high places in the colony began to be tainted with allegations of witchcraft, other people in high positions took a more sober look at what exactly was happening. From this, they decided not pursue any further indictments on the matter. Some of them even went ahead and issued public apologies to the people of Salem for what now appeared to be a great miscarriage of justice. Although personal belief in the practice of witchcraft continued among of the people of New England, the magistrates no longer responded any witchcraft accusations and so witchcraft in New England was over (Demos c 13). This was important for bringing to an end the period of great superstition and the suffering of innocent people. However, such historical works are important in making questionable inquiries on the actual extend of the practice of witchcraft in New England. Could be that some of the witches or even main witches were hiding behind their positions making it difficult for them to be suspected and subjected to the judicial trials and executions as other people. Substantial evidence is the main thing that should declare a person guilty or not guilty. However, the works of historians indicate that this was not the case in all the cases of witchcraft trials and executions in colonial America. In his works "John Godfrey and His Neighbours: Witchcraft and the Social Web in Colonial Massachusetts," Demos reveals a great deal of unwarranted suspicions, arrests and execution of some people because of witchcraft. Demos points out that some people were victimised because of their proximity to people already convicted of witchcraft. Demos b (242) gives an example of John Godfrey, a New Englander who was falsely accused of involvement in witchcraft. Godfrey identified his gender as the main reason for this. Other men had already been accused at various times before him and about five of them had been executed. However, a closer analysis into these situations reveals most of these men were husbands of females who were witches. This means that the overall prominence of women in cases involving witchcraft, there is a probability that charges against Godfrey and other men arose as a secondary matter. There were traditional beliefs that suggested that the power to effect witchcraft was mainly transmitted from a close friend or family member to another. In other words, such people were likely to suffer guilt by association. Marital association stood out among all the forms of associations. However, Demos agrees unfairness in this direction was not so pronounced. For example, he points out that many husbands of convicted female witches were declared innocent while many others were not even subjected to such suspicions. Conclusion There is much historical evidence supporting the presence of witchcraft in colonial America. The number of witchcraft trials for Salem was comparatively high than for any other region suggesting that the hunt for witches in colonial America was almost exclusively a New England phenomenon. Generally, many historical writings on the subject attribute this to the predominant puritan religion in the area. There was therefore an avocation of strict faith and adherence to Christian doctrines in all areas that constituted morality. This explains the significant role played by church ministers like Cotton Mather. It is evident he just wanted to expose the whole vice, as nasty as it may look, so as to bring it to an end. Works Cited Ann Kibbey. "Mutations of the Supernatural: Witchcraft, Remarkable Providences, and the Power of Puritan Men" American Quarterly. (2) pp 125-148. 1982. Online: http://www.jstor.org/pss/2712606. Retrieved on 5th January, 2011. John Demos. "Underlying Themes in the Witchcraft of Seventeenth-Century New England”. The American Historical Review. (5) pp 1311-1326. 1970. Online: http://www.jstor.org/pss/1844480. Retrieved on 5th January, 2011. John Demos. “John Godfrey and His Neighbours: Witchcraft and the Social Web in Colonial Massachusetts.” William and Mary Quarterly. (2) pp 242-265. 1976. Online: http://www.jstor.org/pss/1922164. Retrieved on 5th January, 2011. Demos John. Entertaining Satan: Witchcraft and the Culture of Early New England. New York: Oxford University Press. 1982. Frederick Drake. "Witchcraft in the American Colonies, 1647-62" American Quarterly. (4) pp 694-725. 1968. Online: http://www.jstor.org/pss/2711403. Retrieved on 5th January, 2011. Richard Werking. “Reformation Is Our Only Preservation: Cotton Mather and Salem Witchcraft.” William and Mary Quarterly. (2) pp 281-290. 1972. Online: http://www.jstor.org/pss/1921147. Retrieved on 5th January, 2011. Read More