One cause of the Salem witch trials was boredom. Community placement, beliefs, and strict religious laws caused isolation from other societies. The Puritans were very strict when it came to religion. “The churches usually do within themselves to manage their own discipline, under the control of their elders.” (Cotton Mather Wonders of the Invisible World; pg13) This quote explains how in the Puritan religion, elders would decide to punish people publicly in church to humiliate them. The Puritans believed ¨Swearing, sabbath breaking, and drunkenness¨ (Cotton Mather Wonders of the Invisible World; pg13) were not only sins but made people evil monsters. According to the Puritans these evil people lead a ¨lewd and naughty kind of life. ¨ (Cotton Mather Wonders of the Invisible World; pg. 23)
These beliefs along with isolation lead children to find secret ways to
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Puritans believed the devil could persuade people to do evil things. Puritan Ministers compared women women to Eve implying that women were no good from the beginning of time, the minister, Samuel Parris, might have led to the witch hunt with the push to believe in evil things.
These beliefs lead to strict physical and mental punishments. Some punishments were sitting in stocks and splitting of tongues. Another punishment was cutting off hands or ears. These were not the most severe punishments. Execution was a common punishment for witchcraft. Execution could be done by hanging, stoning, or burning at the stake. Shunning was also a punishment. Shunning is when the community refuses to talk to a person, and mentally, completely cuts them out of the community.
Finally, a strong belief in the occult could have also been another cause for the Salem Witch Trials. The New Englanders believed in the devil and omens. They thought the devil wanted to take over their world, but all attempts had failed. They believed the accused were possessed by the
There is no straight forward answer to this. It is believed that there are many factors that led to the strange occurrences of the Salem Witch Trials. Some of them include a new and unstable government, Puritan religion, Puritan politics, Puritan societal expectations, mental health
The religion was a big part in the puritan’s belief system. Puritans believed that beings like the devil, angels, God, and of course witches. The puritans believed that the Devil would possess a normal being and turn them into and trouble seeking witch, as shown in the Background Essay. The first accused witch was Bridget Bishop, as show in Document C. The “afflicted” girls would act bewitched by her, as proven in Document D.
More specifically than just discussing the trials, I will be discussing what roles that religion, current events, and outside influences played in causing the trials to begin. The religion, and overall majority, behind the madness and chaos of the witch trials were the Puritans. The Puritans, who thought of themselves as as the “social
The Massachusetts Bay Experiment, despite the fact that it began as a business endeavor, was profoundly grounded on religion. As John Winthrop said, they needed to make a "city upon a slope," or an ideal world where God's support could be accomplished. To accomplish this Promised Land, the Puritans dedicated themselves to their congregation life and God. Investing hours at administration consistently, the Puritans were a nearly weave group because of the force of the congregation. At whatever point any issue in the group developed, the Puritans looked to the congregation to give them an answer.
The Salem Witch Trials and the Holocaust were similar but two different time periods. During both events similar things happened to innocent people, such as murder,embarrassment, and torture. The Salem Witch Trials, triggered by something small, started in spring of 1692. (miller,1124-1128) It was a period in time that was complete hysteria, people were falsely accused of consorting with the devil.(miller,1124-1128)
The Salem Witch Trials were caused by townspeople accusing people with different social classes of witchcraft and mass hysteria. The only reason why the witch trials started was because of townspeople pointing out the outcasts. In the video “Salem Witch Trials, The World Behind the Hysteria,” states,”The first women accused of witchcraft were seen as different unwanted people.” This shows that the townspeople were afraid of different people and decided to confront them of witchcraft to kill them off.
The Causes of the Salem Witch Trials Much of modern America’s fear and infamous interest in witches has been derived most likely from the profound Salem Witch Trials. “The infamous Salem witch trials began during the spring of 1692, after a group of young girls in Salem Village, Massachusetts, claimed to be possessed by the devil and accused several local women of witchcraft,” stated History.com authors. However, many historians still deliberate how such events occurred in the first place. Based on several presented documents, some conclusions suggest that there was a prominent cause to the beginning of the Salem Witch Trials. All in all, the cause of the Salem Witch Trials was the attempt of Salem citizens to either defend or create family
he Salem Witch Trials could be seen as one of the steps towards America’s democratic emergence. However, instead of blaming the cause of the witch trials on deranged colonists it can be seen as the collapse of religious expression into affairs of state and government. At the time, overly religious and scared villagers made it seem as if the whole trials were the cause of a Devil and spirits. Also the sources today, on the Salem Witch Trials avoid the truth about what really caused the Salem Witch Trials. It can clearly be seen that without the separation of church and government, the religious fears of the colonists found itself into the government.
In Salem, Massachusetts, Puritans were strong believers in the Bible. The Bible states, “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.” The Puritans beliefs led to them accusing 20 innocent people of being a witch, this resulted in their deaths in 1692. Even though the Puritans couldn’t see it at the time, their accusations were really based off jealousy, lies, and Salem being divided into two parts. One cause of the Salem witch trial hysteria was jealousy.
In the summer of 1692, a few people were accused of being witches. Those people lived in Salem, Massachusetts, and is known as the Puritans. The Puritans were also known as the Protestant Christians because those people came to New England to practice Christianity. They were not satisfied with their church in England, thinking that the churches were not pure. To be a Protestant Christian, you must believe what the bible said, the bible was god’s spoken words.
The Salem Witch Trials; Madness or Logic In Stacey Schiff’s, List of 5 Possible Causes of the Salem Witch Trials and Shah Faiza’s, THE WITCHES OF SALEM; Diabolical doings in a Puritan village, discuss in their articles what has been debated by so many historians for years, the causes of the Salem Witch trials. Schiff and the Faiza, purpose is to argue the possible religious, scientific, communal, and sociological reasons on why the trials occurred. All while making word by word in the writer’s testimony as if they were there through emotion and just stating simply the facts and theories. They adopt the hectic tone in order to convey to the readers the significance, tragedy, logic, loss, and possible madness behind these life changing events,
With the Puritans having strict religious beliefs about the devil and God, it gave them strong feelings about the ways in which women impacted their community. Along with their religious beliefs, their society had certain beliefs about women and the way they should act which led them to suspect anything out of the “norm” as a sign of the devil. While some of this could be on women and the way we speak, the Puritans already had such strong feelings toward the vulnerable mind of women that it wouldn’t matter. The women were represented by weakness in nearly every aspect a person can be judged on and this thought of them as the weaker vessel is what ultimately led to them being accused and persecuted more than men during the Salem Witch
Imagine being a wealthy 45-year-old woman in 1692 being accused of being a witch. The Salem Witch trials were caused by jealousy, fear, and lying. People believed that the devil was real and that one of his tricks was to enter a normal person 's body and turn that person into a witch. This caused many deaths and became a serious problem in 1692. First of all, jealousy was one of the causes of the Salem witch trials.
“ In all, 10 of 18 depositions against Rebecca Nurse were signed by Putnams, but 2 of the other accusers had grudges against the nurse family as well’’. Revenge, Hysteria, and Popularity everyone has an idea on what caused the salem witch trials. It would take forever to just list out all the possible factors. Beleiving in the listed ones are the best bet. All the world can do is think and believe.
Many practicing Christians, at the time, believed that the Devil could persuade people to use the powers that he gave them to harm others. The Salem Witch Trials occurred because of resource struggles, many women were accused and tortured, and in the end the Governor realized that it was a big mistake. (“Salem Witch Trials”, 1). In 1689, English rulers William and Mary started a war with France in the American colonies which sent many refugees into the Essex County and Salem Village.