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Salem Witch Trials: The Mistreatment Of African Americans In 1692

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Throughout the course of America’s history there are many events of injustice: the mistreatment of Native Americans, using African Americans as personal property, and accusing men and women in Salem, Massachusetts of witchcraft. The Salem witch trials occurred many years ago in 1692. In the Puritan community, religion was a huge part of life. It controlled most of people’s everyday activities and was a way to find hope in their difficult, unglamourous lives. According to History.com, “Puritans were portrayed by their enemies as hair splitters who slavishly followed their bibles as guides to daily life” (Delbanco). In 1692, a Puritan’s faith was easily shaken. They were extremely wary of the supernatural, and more importantly the “Devil’s magic” says Smithsonian Magazine (Bloomberg). The event that started it all happened in January of 1692. Elizabeth Parris, a reverend’s daughter, and her cousin Abigail Williams began having unusual fits. The fits consisted of violent contortions, writhing, and irrepressible screaming. A local doctor, William Griggs, diagnosed the two young girls with bewitchment. There were a few other cases of similar fits all involving adolescent girls in the community. The blame …show more content…

He lived with her and the two later married. Commiting fornification was not the only unusual thing she did. Sarah tried to claim her late husband’s estate to use for Alexander and herself, denying her two sons of their inheritance. This was considered very unorthodox for a woman at this time. The Salem witch trials Documentary Archive and Transcription project points out that Sarah would be affecting the progress of the community here “By aspiring to deny her two sons of their wealth and social position, she threatened the growth and stability of Putnam family alliances in Salem Village” (Carroll). Osborne never admitted to the charges and she never accused anyone

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Three Sovereigns for Sarah tells the Story of the Salem Witch Trials of 1692, I will explain the Key factors as to why the Witchcraft Hysteria even took place over 300 years ago. First, it’s important to know the background of the dwellers from Salem and origins of the dwellers at the time. Almost 90 years prior to the trials, many British citizens and their families had finally migrated to “The New World” (America) at around 1607, after discovering the new land many sought to begin new lives pursuing a perceived economically successful Country. As Well as Religion played a Huge part in British Migration due to many seeking a Free land where one could freely believe and practice their beliefs without the threat of religious persecution amongst them. From the many Religions to sprout from this transition, the Puritan Belief was one

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Extremist religious beliefs of the supernatural and religious intolerance in Salem acted as a catalyst of the Salem Witch Trials. In England, talks of moving to America for religious freedom disseminated rapidly due to British stigma against puritanism. Puritans came to America and began practicing puritanism freely. Even for this time, Puritans practiced their beliefs orthodoxly. Puritans believed that solely God’s grace allowed them into heaven, and that they had almost no way of interfering with their own salvation.

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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.

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Salem Witch Trials: Documentary Archive and Transcription Project, https://salem.lib.virginia.edu/n15.html King, Ernest W., and Franklin G. Mixon. “Religiosity and the Political Economy of the Salem Witch Trials.” The Social Science Journal, vol. 47, no. 3, 2010, pp. 678–88, JSTOR, DOI:

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As this trial wraps up and have left our once wonderful town of Salem Massachusetts to ruins. Throughout the course of the witch trials many lives have been lost in the ability to trust one another as protestant brothers and sisters has been lost. To this day very question the strength of this town and if it will have the ability to bounce back from such a horrific event such as this. While some may say forget the past for this in the past the story, this horrific story will be told for centuries to come. In addition to this to explain the catastrophic damage even the judges involved in this case have apologized for the many lives lost in the families change forever, never to be the same.

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