Salem Witch Dbq

he Salem Witch Trials of 1692

Witch or not? This was the main question in the town of Salem 331 years ago. During this period, 134 innocent people were accused of being witches for several reasons. The accused had their fate decided in court, known as the Salem Witch Trials. If one accused of witchcraft confessed, they were put in jail, then removed from the town after their sentence. If the accused witches did not confess, they were hanged or pressed to death. During these trials, only twenty-four people of those 134 were killed, four of whom died in jail. The Puritans, who accused the witches and believed strongly in the Bible, thought a witch was someone who was overtaken by the devil. Overall, the Salem Witch Trial Hysteria in 1692

Unlike the men, these women spent most of their time cooped up inside doing household tasks. This could have played part in the bias, because women were considered to have weaker souls, and the devil is interoperated to prey on the weak. According to the DBQ Document B, 110 of the 134 people accused were women. This represents the claim that the Salem Witch Trial Hysteria could have been caused by a bias against women. Secondly, the younger women could have been bored because they were spending everyday with the older women. This could have caused a bias towards older women. Also in the DBQ Document B, the records show that 73 out of 134 accused people were over the age of 40. Furthermore in DBQ Document B, the statistics show that 97 of 134 people were married or once married. This shows that being married or once married is an opportunity to use it against his or her spouse. For example, in DBQ Document C, the text says about Bridget Bishop, “[The people of Salem] say you bewitched your first husband to death.” This is an example of why there was a bias towards married people in the Salem Witch Trials. In conclusion, there could have been a bias towards gender, age, and marital status might have caused the Hysteria of the Salem Witch

A theory has been brought up by Charles Upham that the victims, Betty Parris and Abagail Williams, were lying. For example, Upham writes in DBQ Document D, “It is dreadful to reflect upon the enormity of their wickedness... [T]here can be no doubt that they were great actors.” This illustrates the idea that the afflicted girls, or the “witchcraft victims” were just faking it, and their acting killed the 24 people. Furthermore, in DBQ Document C, the text states, “[Bridget Bishop] shook her head, and the afflicted were tortured.” This shows that Bishop supposedly used witchcraft on the two girls by shaking her head. To add on, the examination was recorded by the Governor Sammuel Parris. This could have caused a bias because his daughter was one of the afflicted girls, and Parris would have more easily believed his daughter than Bishop. To sum up, the Hysteria of the Salem Witch Trials might have been caused by the lying of the