The town Salem decided that the people in their town that resembled witches would be put on trial and persecuted, but the people weren’t witches and were being killed for being different from the rest of society. The convictions of the first people started a continuous strain of executions and imprisonments throughout the community. The courts of the time were corrupted with religious views and biased, so convictions were not far when it came to the accused. No one from this community was safe from the chance of being accused of being a witch.
Salem, Massachusetts was a very religious community that held a fairly large amount of power over the people and laws. John Putnam, in 1688, was an extremely important person in Salem, and he wanted
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This was against their puritan religious beliefs in many different ways (Brandt). Bridget Bishop was the first accused witch in Salem to go on trial (Burgon). The accused witches were not allowed to speak in court, so she was convicted and sentenced to death. She was hung on June 10, 1692, and this started a chain of hangings and executions throughout this witch era. In 1692, one hundred and fifty people were charged from suspicions of being witches in the town (Hamilton 24). Rebecca Nurse, one of the accused witches, joined Salem’s church in 1972, but even though she was a loyal member of the church, she had to prove that she was truthful to God (Brandt). She and her family were very supportive of the community by helping in charity and helping support others. Her family had been rarely involved in any confrontation with the law, but only had the occasional land dispute, which was normal in their time (Brandt). Rebecca Nurse was accused of being a witch even with all her contributions to society. She was hung on June 29. She died asking God to turn his cheek to her accusers (MacBain 25). Nurse’s family did as much as they could to prove her innocence (MacBain 25). In 1711, her family was given money for the wrongful death of Rebecca (MacBain 25). These convictions were wrong, unjust, and recognized by the government, but were sadly accepted at the
A special court of Oyer and Terminer was formed for witchcraft cases and Bridget Bishop was the first to be convicted. On June 10, she was hanged. 18 others soon followed afterwards and about 150 people were accused over the following months with another person pressed to death by stones. By September 1692, the public began turning against the trials and it soon ended months later.
For my life now lies in your grasp… " Though confronting passing, Rebecca Nurse never gave in and kept on arguing guiltlessness, never losing her religious confidence. Indeed, even in her March 24th, 1692 affirmation, she said "I can say before my Eternal father I am pure, and God will clear my innocency" and "I have no body to look to yet God," demonstrating her solid will and determined soul not to confer a wrongdoing against God. Without this solid feeling of religious uprightness, the Salem Witch Trials could have been finished
The Salem Witch Trials In March 1692, Rebecca Nurse, an elderly woman and respected member of Salem Village, was arrested on suspicion of witchcraft. She was accused based solely on the testimony of four young girls who claimed that the apparition of Rebecca Nurse had severely harmed them. Many witnesses testified in favor of her, but ultimately the "afflicted girls" prevailed. Nurse was executed on July 19, 1692.
The priests and judges forced Proctor to accuse himself of Witchcraft and not be hanged in hopes that the people of Salem would recognize this action, and come clean. After this was all said and done, they made Proctor sign his name so they could hang it on the doors of the church, and after Proctor refused they hanged him for the crime of Witchcraft. This left the people of Salem shocked because nobody knew who to trust anymore. Rebecca Nurse was one of the most religious women in the town, and when she was accused it made Reverend Hale stop, and reconsider whether the accusations and proceedings were just and fair. “If Rebecca
On June 15, 1692, a group of ministers including Mather wrote to at the time Governor Phips urging that special caution be taken in the use of evidence in the trials. The court next met on June 29 and heard the cases of five more accused women. When the jury tried to acquit accused witch Rebecca Nurse, William Stoughton sent the jury back to deliberate, and returned with a changed verdict from innocent to guilty. Ultimately, all five of the women were hanged on July 19, 1692; at this time the witchcraft hysteria had spread out of the Salem border to Andover. When the hysteria reached the Corey household for the second time, Martha’s husband Giles
During the Salem Witch Trials, which were a series of witchcraft trials that took place in 1692 in Massachusetts, nearly 19 people were executed by hanging and 200 people were accused of witchcraft with various consequences. There are several theories surrounding the causes of the Witch Trials, but most historians agree that they were a result of mass hysteria within the population of Salem and other surrounding towns. The circumstances that contributed to the mass hysteria surrounding the Massachusetts Salem Witch Trials of 1692 include ergot poisoning, family rivalries, and a strong belief in the occult. Each of these theories are very real explanations which could have contributed to the events in Salem, although none of these events have
In doing so, the court believed this and she was found guilty of witchcraft. She was put to jail and is now serving a sentence. Rebecca Nurse is not the only character who was judged unfairly in this play. In my lifetime, I have been judged unfairly many times.
Eighteen other females were hung after her in the time to come, They even had a special place where these hangings would commence called Salem's Gallows hill. There was 150 men
While Proctor was being investigated he witnessed Rebecca Nurse, one of the most wholesome people in Salem, be convicted of murder. Rebecca knows she is innocent but is convicted anyway because of an accusation. Rebecca says after she was sentenced to hang, “Let you fear nothing! Another judgement waits us all!” (The Crucible, p886).
Rebecca Nurse is the sweetest, kindest, women you would ever meet. She was convicted of witchcraft for sending her spirits out to kill the 7 Putnam babies. She knew that if she confessed she would be free, but she would also be a liar and be damned in God's name. Instead of doing what would have kept her alive, she did what would keep her in God's eyes. Rebecca Nurse also inspired John Proctor to tear up his confession and lead them both to heaven.
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
Isabel Malone Baumgartner English III 24 April 2023 Title In the 1690s, Salem Witch Trials occurred. During this time, an innocent old woman named Rebecca Nurse was hung after being accused of committing Witchcraft in Salem. Rebecca had proved many times to be a good example of perfect Puritan behavior.
Rebecca was a 71-year-old woman, the wife of Francis Nurse who was a wealthy farmer and landlord in the Salem village, and had many children and grandchildren (Hill 87). She was very pious and everyone in the Salem village thought of her as an “exemplary piety” in the Puritan community (Linder). Rebecca had a very strong faith in God and told her friends on her sickbed that she recognized more God’s presence in her sickness than any other time in her life (Hill 88). Rebecca was a very respectable woman and supported by most of Salem villagers who believed in her innocence. After she was arrested and prosecuted because of the false accusations made by the “afflicted” women and girls’ against her, thirty-nine notable members of the community came forward, signed and submitted a petition to assure her innocence and piety (Hill 100).
Rebecca is accused for murdering the seven children of Ann Putnam who have died long before any questioning arose. Following this accusation, which is one of many that are false, Rebecca would go through the court process of either admitting to her actions as a witch or
Bridget Bishop, a resident of Salem, was the first person to be tried as a witch. Surprisingly, Bishop was accused of witch craft by the highest number of witneses. After Bishop, more than two hundred people were tried of practicing witchcraft and twenty were executed. Many of these accusations arose from jealous, lower class members of society, especially towards women who had come into a great deal of land or wealth. Three young children by the names of Elizabeth, Abigail, and Ann were the first three people to be “harmed” by the witches.