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Root cause of Salem witch trials
Root cause of Salem witch trials
What causes the salem witch trial
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In January of 1692 a series of witch trials, caused by economical stress and fear of the devil began in Salem. The Salem witch trials included executions and trials that ended in devastation and the death of several men, women, and children. Causing people to flee, the King William's War began the economic stress in Salem. With the overpopulating town the people ran out of jobs to offer and living areas. Christians and religious people believed that the devil used this time of stress to overtake their religious society.
In my opinion I think the Salem witch trials were caused by Jealous females looking for a wealthy husband. Why you ask well let me tell you. Coming from Doc E imagine Salem divided in half, straight through the middle. Making an east and west side. Now on the east side imagine 5 witches spread around with only 30 accusers.
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.
As their puzzled father ,Samuel Parris, observed the two mysterious little girls creep under chairs and spin around on the ground he pondered where this weird behavior was coming from. In Salem there were two little girls who were envious of the rich, so they made it clear that they could make people tremble in fear if they did not like you or wanted what you had. Everyone in Salem was terrified because there were so many people being accused of witchcraft. 22 people were hanged because the two little girls were pretending to be afflicted. The Salem witch trial Hysteria of 1692 was caused by two poor, young girls who claimed to be afflicted because of jealousy.
So what provoked this tragedy? Evidence shows that the Salem Witch Trial Hysteria of 1692 was caused by boredom, personal, and religious bias. One of the most important things to consider is the biases the accusers might have had. When looking at a map of Salem one may observe that more than ninety percent of the accusers lived on the west side of town, and more than eighty percent of the Accused witches
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.
The Salem Witch Trials accusing others of a feared crime showed definite evidence that mass hysteria was to blame. Salem was a religious settlement, following Puritan beliefs (Miller, 6). A large fear for everyone in Salem was the touch of the Devil (Miller, Arthur). According to Puritan beliefs, if a man or woman was touched by the Devil he would convince them to do witchcraft. Once word was mentioned the Devil had possibly touched Salem, the fear spread.
Many would assume that after the witch trials that occurred in Salem in 1692 people would be terrorized or cautious, but is that really what happened? Out of the almost two hundred people accused of witchcraft only "nineteen were hanged on Gallows Hill" (Brooks, 2011). After this gruesome event one would think that people would be disgusted by themselves for randomly blaming innocent people. The few who were pardoned continued their lives normally seemingly not caring about the ones who had passed away due to false accusations.
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
The Salem Witch Crisis was a period of time when women would be accused and tried in court for being witches. Girls that said they had symptoms that were bothering them and accused women and one man of being witches. If the women confessed to being a witch, the would be thrown in jail, and if they were convicted for being a witch but denied it they would be killed because the judge would have to believe their visions. I think the Salem witch trials was caused because Reverend Parris, his nine year-old daughter and his niece created a lie to punish the people to those who were seen as straying from God's work and people that they disliked.. The Reverend’s daughter was the one who got sick so she probably acted like she was sick.
The cause of the Salem Witch Trials were demographics, divided towns and lying girls. First of all, demographics played a very important role in the Salem Witch Trials. Many of the girls were between the ages 21-40 and were not married. On the other hand, many of the accused witches were from the ages 41-60, they were not married and were mainly widows. (Demos).
Although, surely other causes may help explain the hysteria, for example, a common misconception that those with fits from illness were bewitched, to show the power of the town’s government in the slightest of situations, and etc. However, the most powerful argument was that ergot caused the “signs” of a witch and the Putmans’ western part of the village used that as a way to falsely accuse those infected with ergot. The three main convincing reasons for the Salem Witch Trial Hysteria, like the ergot a parasitic fungus that was a big cause misclassification of “signs” of the bewitched, the Putman family’s motivation to reacquire their position in the village, and the Puritans’ duty to not let a witch suffer to live. The Salem Witch Trial Hysteria
What were the causes of the Salem Witchcraft Trials? One of the causes for the Salem Witchcraft trials is Abigail Williams not telling the truth to her uncle Rev. Parris, after he caught them dancing in the woods around a fire. Also the next morning when her cousin Betty Parris didn’t wake up, then Mrs. Putnam saying that their daughter Ruth is acting strange. Then when the grown ups walked out room Betty wakes up and saying “You drank blood to kill Goody Proctor”(p.837)
The Salem witch trial was a time about accusing your fellow neighbor or being accused yourself, this all began in 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts. During this time many people were being accused of being a witch, a majority of the time it was because either someone truly believed that you were a witch and were reeking havoc or they were trying to find someone to take the blame if they were to being accused. So this leads us to question, what began the Salem Witch Trials? There were at least three causes of the Salem witch trials hysteria. These were Betty Parris and Abigail Williams story, Ergotism, and the acknowledgment of hysteria.
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.