Bacon's Rebellion, The Little Ice Age

The events that took place leading up to the witch trials were Bacon’s Rebellion, The Little ice age, and the puritan control of the church and state. Bacon’s rebellion was a rebellion in Virginia against Governor William Berkeley for his failure to address the colonists safety. The Little ice age was a very religious time for the settlers, who thought they were being punished by God. Puritan control of the church and state led people to believe that men were superior and women were evil beings. The witch trials of 1692 were not only motivated by the stringent restrictions of the Puritan faith, but also by the misogynistic social structure that provoked mass hysteria among the sexes. Some of the accused puritans believed so heavily in their faith, they would rather die than be convicted as a witch.

In Ann Putnam’s deposition, she believed she had seen the apparition of a minister. She was terrified, thinking it was a witch, and immediately wrote a letter to the court telling them of her apparition (doc c). Not only were the people of Salem stating false facts, the women were forced to take all of their clothing off so the hierarchy men could look to see if she had the mark of the devil (doc G). These accounts show that if the Puritans believed something was real, they would stop at nothing to find