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The puritans came to New England so they could experience and practice christianity in a new form.[background] Puritans believed every word in the bible was the word of god. That said, the bible mentions Devils and witches. They believed a witch was a person who was controlled by the devil. For example, The devil can make a young girl cry in church. One way the court accepted evidence the suspect in question was a witch was when a woman confused the words when saying the lord's prayer.[background] Because of these actions more people were being accused of being a witch.
In 1692, as the puritans of Salem Massachusetts over-turn on each other, they started scapegoating many of their villagers with witchcraft. During this time many were murdered unfairly. The Salem Witch Trials was a reformation of the government. People believed that this was an era where the devil gave certain humans powers to harm others in joining them into their beliefs. It was certain to happen, because many had personal envy which caused many of the accusations,trials, and the implementations.
DJ Jones Jones1 U.S History Mr. Watkins 5/25/16 The Salem Witch Trials In the beginning of 1620 the puritan community moved from there mother church in england so they could practice christianity in its purest form and without anyone holding them back . One off the many practices that they wanted to do but was rejected by their mother church was the concept of predestination they believed that when you are born God has already judged whether or not you go to heaven or hell.
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.
Religion affects what people believe, therefore, puritans were religious and believed there was a God and Devil. Their belief had eventually come to the Devil had arisen upon Salem. Reverend Parris speculates there may be a Devil upon Salem after the unexplainable sickness Betty obtained in act one. “Parris: A wide opinion’s running in the parish that the Devil may be among us…” Eventually everyone began to believe there were witches that work with the Devil. Therefore, the Salem Witch Trials began and all the puritans investigate into this matter.
Between the month of June 10 and September 22, 1692, the Salem witch trial which took place in Salem Massachusetts, claimed 20 residents life’s from Salem. This event shook the American History and left historians with one question decades after, what caused the Salem witch trial hysteria of 1692? In a Christian community this must have seemed strange, but superstition causing religious role to intervene and also social/economic class fueled the witch hunt. The Salem witch trial of 1692 all started when two young girls (Betty Parris and Abigail Williams) in Salem village Massachusetts claimed to have been possessed by the devil, accusing three women who had possessed them. As this hysteria continued, a special court was built just to hear
Puritans believed in evil supernatural beings like witches, werewolves, and the devil. Their beliefs of these supernatural presences led them to accuse women of witchcraft because they believed the devil possessed women and made them his servants. Ultimately, they put these women on trial, thus starting the Salem Witch Trials. Additionally, their spiritual intolerance manifested in their disdain for Native
No one will ever know what caused the Salem Witch Trials, but there is a truth behind the hysteria. It’s believed that the Salem Witch Trials were caused by young girls eating a fungus in rye, but there was also a young slave from the caribbean named Tituba who put these devilish thoughts in these young girls heads. The Salem Witch Trials were caused by a misfit, slave woman. What started this witch hysteria is proof that the slave, Tituba, was the cause of all of this unnecessary drama. According to a website, “The ordeal originated in the home of Salem's REVEREND SAMUEL PARRIS.
In Witches: The Absolutely True Tale Of Disaster In Salem by Rosalyn Schanzer people in the town of Salem were Condemned for being witches. By the end of it all more than 200 people were accused and 20 were executed. Horridly they accused people from all ages, everyone from teenager to ancient was accused. But why? The Salem Witch Trials were caused by hysteria, popularity, and revenge.
What Truly Caused the Salem Witch Trial Hysteria. On the Merriam Webster Dictionary website hysteria is defined as “a situation in which many people behave or react in an extreme or uncontrolled way because of fear,anger,etc. ”This is the exact same thing that happened in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible which is based off of the Salem Witch Trial hysteria. What truly caused the hysteria within the play and in the actual Salem Witch Trial can be multiple things
According to Richard Sibbes, a Puritan Minister, "The whole life of a Christian should be nothing but praises and thanks to God, we should neither eat nor sleep, but eat to God and work to God and talk to God, do all to His glory and praise" (Faiza,2008). Their belief that the devil could be amongst them was one of the main factors of the start of the Salem witch trials. The Puritans wanted their communities to only be made up with believers and followers of God and they thought that by hanging anyone suspicious of being "touched" by the devil they would accomplish that goal. According to Faiza (2008), one theory remains that ministers spread the rumor of witchcraft to bring more people into the churches.
Every place has its dark time; that moment in history that everyone would rather just forget about. The Salem Witch Trials are no different. Filled with confrontation, accusation, and misery, these trials proved to be a feat for anyone accused of being a witch to overcome. The debate of why these trials happened has been going on for many years. There are many reasons that historians have come up with to try and explain and justify these trials, some are merely speculation, while others have proof to back them up.
Witch trials created panic which caused many people to become paranoid (Bailey, 12). They were afraid that their neighbor would turn them in, so they turned their neighbors in, falsely, to be safe. This gave the church the idea that there truly were witches out there, although
Because the Puritans believed in the Devil and witchcraft, they believed that someone could have the ability to interact with both, which is a form of superstition. Exactly what is superstition? Superstition is a belief or notion, not based on reason or knowledge, in or of the significance of a particular thing, circumstance, occurrence, proceeding, or the like. The first step towards elimination superstition is, realizing that there 's no rational proof that these the superstition can affect your life. The second step towards eliminating superstition is realizing that you have the power to make your own luck.
Puritans sought to “purify” Christianity, Catholic and Protestant alike. They believed that humanity existed for the grander glory of God, and their life mission lay with doing God’s work for the reward of eternal happiness and peace in Heaven (The Salem Witch Hysteria and “Witchcraft” in 17th-Century New England). In Massachusetts during the seventeenth century, people often feared that the Devil was constantly trying to find ways to infiltrate and destroy Christians and their communities. As a devout and strongly religious community living in near isolation in the mysterious New World, the community of Salem had a heightened sense of fear of the Devil (The Salem Witch Hysteria and “Witchcraft” in 17th-Century New England). A few characteristics the colonists looked out for to determine a witch ranged from if the person talks or mutters to themself, which was seen as the person trying to cast a spell to if a women has pets or is well associated with the animal, she is probably using it for witchcraft (Characteristics of Witches).
