The Problem With the Salem Witch Trials Often times in history, tragic events that took place could have been easily avoided. The Salem Witch Trials was one of those events. During a time period of vulnerability and chaos, Puritans turned to what they knew best, blaming the Devil. Rather than finding rational reasoning for strange occurrences in Salem, people accused their own friends and town members of toying with Satan. The sources and trials were all flawed and could have been avoided simply by not confusing reason with religion. In the year 1630, a religious group called the Puritans traveled to America from Europe. Though the beliefs of the Puritans were very similar to those of the Roman Catholics, they were persecuted while in Europe for not following the common religion. Like most people of different faiths, they wanted the opportunity to worship freely. The Puritans believed that every human, from the time they were born, was predestined to go either to Heaven or to Hell. For this reason, every child was expected to conduct themselves as if they were adults, while the adults were supposed to live a conservative and pious life. In a Puritan community, a woman’s place was to serve her husband …show more content…
The girls were screaming and acting in pain as if someone were hitting them. The only problem was that there was no one there torturing them. Reverend Parris called for Dr. William Griggs but he could not explain what was happening to the girls. So naturally, he turned to what he knew best, God. Instead of further investigating to see if the girls were possibly lying about their illness, he blamed the Devil for what was happening to them. This being the first mistake of the trials. There were no facts to support his claim that the children were bewitched, he simply just assumed that was what unusual behavior