Salem Witch Trials What Did Cause This Behavior In 1692

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One of the most incomprehensible events as well as one of the darkest times in history occurred in the colony of Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. The Salem Witch Trials occurred in seventeenth century New England, where people lived in a constant fear of the Devil which led to paranoia and illogical thinking. This fear led to many accusations and trials of innocent people and in the end, twenty people were killed, nineteen hung and one pressed to death. With the technology and knowledge we now have in the twenty-first century, it has become apparent that the behavior exhibited during the Salem Witch Trials (and other Witch Hunts around the world around this time) was not due to witches, as they do not exist. Although we can now conclude that this commotion was not caused by witches and magic, the question that still looms is what did cause this behavior in 1692? There is no straight forward answer to this. It is believed that there are many factors that led to the strange occurrences of the Salem Witch Trials. Some of them include a new and unstable government, Puritan religion, Puritan politics, Puritan societal expectations, mental health

One of the many stresses put on Massachusetts at this time was that in 1684 “ King Charles II revoked the Massachusetts Bay Colony’s royal charter, a legal document granting the colonists permission to colonize the area” ( #6.) Shortly after, King Charles the II died, and King James II replaced him. During James II rule, he merged the Massachusetts Bay Colony with the Dominion of New England where the government was royally appointed and had extremely strict laws. After the Glorious Revolution occurred in England however, the Massachusetts Bay colonists fought and overthrew the Dominion. After this, the new King William of Orange and Queen Mary of Orange who ruled England, issued a new anti-religious charter and also combined