A diverse array of historiographical arguments concerning the preliminary causes of the Salem Witch Trials have emerged subsequently to their occurrences, clashing along a vastly debatable spectrum of economic, social, and political influences (Brinkley, 2014, 74). Escalating accusations backed by miniscule evidence reaped terror among the Salem community. No one was truly immune to an accusation, and being accused had a high probability of ruining one's reputation for the remainder of their lives. Conversely to the linear notion of believing a singular cause was responsible for the atrocities among the Salem community, an intertwined network of various tensions set the anemic foundation for a monstrosity of inhumane punishment and hollow allegation
The Salem Witch Trials, with lies, manipulation and so much more. Abigail should be held responsible for the imprisonment and execution of innocent people. Abigail was spreading rumors and messing with bad spirits, also lying about Elizabeth haunting her during trial. At the beggining of the story, she spreads rumors of the so called bewitchment instead of denying it and saying that all they did was run into the woods. The religious people in town started hearing more rumors.
The Salem witch trial hysteria of 1692 may have been instigated by religious, social, geographic and even biological factors. During these trials, 134 people were condemned as witches and 19 were hanged. These statistics also include 5 more deaths that occurred prior to their execution date. It is interesting to look into the causes of this stain on American History, when as shown in document B, eight citizens were hanged in only one day.
There are many important events that led up to the Salem Witch Trials. In 1233, Pope Gregory established the medieval inquisition to bring order against the growing heresy in which he later hunts down witches. In 1347, the Bubonic Plague or also known as Black Death struck in Europe demonstrating how ignorance lead to superstition.
Salem Trials The Salem Witch Trials was dark and tragic time in American history. What events and factor could have began this terrible period? This whole thing starts with conflict between the Indians and the Pilgrims, The King Philip’s War. While this was happening England was it’s own war, the Seven year’s war. Fighting with French, make it too hard for England to help the colonist with the indians.
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.
The establishment of the colonies was a universe of anxiety and lust for an individual. An atrocious event that took place in Salem, Massachusetts. A town where colonist feared starvation, exposure to disease, and Native Americans. This was only the beginning for Salem and their uprising nightmare. A nightmare that I would desire to experience and travel back in time to 1692-1693.
Salem, Massachusetts, USA and occurred between February 1692 and May 1693. Over 150 people were arrested and imprisoned and even more accused; but not pursued by the authorities. 29 were convicted of witchcraft but only 19 were hanged. The best known trials were in the Court of Oyer and Terminer.
The first four colonies of America were, New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay Colony, Rhode Island, following with Connecticut. John Winthrop, Thomas Hooker, Roger Williams, along with Anne Hutchinson, were few of the founders of the first colonies. Centered around religion, after escaping religious persecution, these colonies based the way they lived their lives around the Bible, Church, along with the New testament. The Puritans emphasized religious obligations and followed strict guidelines pertaining to the Bible. They broke away from the church of England and became their own religion following the teachings of the Bible as well as the Old Testament.
Wicca is becoming more and more accepted in America and across the world but there are many people who still misunderstand what the religion is and this often leads to a great deal of controversy. When covens first began meeting in England in the 1950s, many did so in private. The covens said that this was intended to produce an air of mystery but it is most likely that they wanted to protect themselves from public ridicule as many believed they were worshippers of Satan. These misconceptions surrounding Wicca still exist today, likely because Wiccans refer to themselves as witches. To many people the term witch still brings an idea of evil and spell casting but Wicca is a religion of white magic, or good magic.
Review of Literature The religiously motivated Salem witch trials of 1692 left a permanent stain on Massachusetts’ history, but one overlooked factor could have sparked the tragic ordeal. The trials are best summarized as an inexplicable and unforeseen frenzy of accusations, aimed at the social pariahs of the community, that led to multiple deaths in a previously tranquil place. An intense type of food poisoning known as convulsive ergotism provides a seemingly simple, yet understandably deceptive to the ignorant, explanation. Due to optimum conditions for the disease, the correlation between the bewitched and the expected symptoms, and the religious fanaticism of the time, one can conclude ergotism was an influence on the Salem witch trials.
While the practice of the Wiccan religion has increased the problems Wiccans have faced have not. These problems are not the same ones that Wiccans faced when the religion first came about. There are ways to fix these new problems that have appeared. One of the ways to begin fixing some of the problems would be to be more open towards nontraditional religions.
In America, .03% of Americans reportedly practice New Age Pagan religions, including the Neo-pagan Earth-centered Wiccan religion (PewResearch). Today “witch” and “witchcraft” has over a dozen different meanings. Witches are often depicted in movies, television or books as those who practice fantasy magic like author J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter or the powerful demon fighting witches on the television show Charmed. Christian religions and the Bible often cast witches and witchcraft as evil and associate it with Satan. However, Wicca is one of the fastest-growing religions within the United States.
Another dynamic which magic and those who practice it bring into a community, especially malevolent magic, is persecution. When you have a church doctrine which prescribes the practice of magic to be the works of an evil devil, magic by extension would also be evil . This presents two inherent dualities to the study of witchcraft in regards to a community; first a practitioner of magic could be either a source of help or a plight upon the community, and second a magic practitioner’s acceptance within the community, leading a normal existence, or rejection within a community leading to persecution or possibly death; both must be addressed when studying witchcraft in your very own
REVIEW OF LITRATURE A.) SUMMARY SOURCE A Although the whole book had information on the Salem witch trials. The introduction, chapter 1 and 2 and the conclusion had information regarding the research needed • Introduction: states what the Salem witch trials where and who they accused.
