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Impact of puritanism on american society
Impact of puritanism on american society
Impact of puritanism on american society
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Richard Godbeer presented an excellent picture on how puritan life was structured, how it functioned, and how they perceived the super natural in this novel. Reading "Escaping Salem," I was thrown several different scenarios displaying how witchcraft was addressed in early puritan society and how they reacted towards it. The supposedly bewitching of Katherine Branch showed the reader how the people of Stamford and the court system handled the act of witchcraft. After reading this novel, I can say that I do believe the accused in the Stamford witchcraft trial received a fair trial.
This caused the Puritans to believe in evil forces like the devil who could potentially try to lead them into temptation or other sinful things because their faith in God was so strong. In 1692, the Puritans worst nightmare had begun. The Salem Witch Trials had started and an estimated number of 200 people were accused of practicing dark magic and some had been punished by death. These trials consisted of bringing convicted witches into court and sentencing them to be hanged or in prison for many years if proven guilty. To the Puritans, the devil was as real as God, and the devil would choose the weakest people to torment, and those people were mostly women and children.
Honors Assignment 3 Rylea Nesmith 1. Could anyone have predicted how the economy of the North American colonies would have developed? Be sure to use specific examples such as reasons, crops, systems, competition, etc... No, no one knew what they could produce that Europe would value.
Religion was a very strong influence in the lives of Puritans as they followed a very strict moral code and based their entire lives on their faith. Most Puritans were taught from the Bible that "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live" (Doc. A), which explains why the witch scare was taken so seriously and why the accused were punished so harshly. They believed and feared that "evil spirits were all around" (Doc. C) as noted in Memorable Providences Relating to Witchcraft and Possessions by Cotton Mather, who at that time was a reputable expert in the "invisible world. " It seems strange to 21st-century dwellers that people believed that witches could be identified by marks of the devil, as portrayed in an 1853 painting by T.H. Matteson (Doc. D).
Over 100 individuals were suspected to be witches in result to weird behavior before a disaster happens. The puritans set fairly high standards on themselves and others. True puritans could show their commitment by going to church and working their hardest. They also believed God was not the only powerful force among their community.
The Puritans are also frightened by all the talk of G-d’s wrath and immense strength that they realize their subordination to this almighty G-d simply has to be accepted. G-d cannot be thwarted by man because man is just too helpless to math his inconceivable
The Puritans ran from persecution but then used the witch hunt to persecute innocent people based on the word of the women and men who had ulterior motives. The women used this opportunity to punish people they long had problems or resentment for. These women- Abigail, Tituba, and Mary- were aware of the power they felt when they were being heard by people in their community who were deemed Godly, upstanding citizens. So, they loved the sense of power they felt. Although the townspeople of Salem used religion as the reason for the witch hunt, the witch hunt created chaos because people started using it a revenge mechanism.
Also, the last cause of the Salem Witch Trial was the lack of knowledge of the people. People was just accusing other people of witchcraft, but the accusers did not have an idea of what was going on in the town. For example in Document A says “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live” but the people really did not know who was a witch and who was not a witch. This is lack of knowledge because that was not coming for the Bible or something it was just a version of King James, Puritans let other influence their beliefs and did not give a good knowledge about witchcraft. Other example is in Document B when it talks about all the things that happened and that all of that according to the Puritans was “Witchery” that was lack of knowledge because people really did not know what was happening.
This was a time of religious revival in the 18th and 19th centuries. In other words, people started to become more religious and started to practice more religious beliefs than they did before. After the Salem Witch Trials, many people were beginning to think that Puritanism was not the right religion to follow and that it was easy to become misguided when trying to follow it. The Puritan ministers, of course, wanted as many people as possible to believe what they did because they were certain that their beliefs were the right ones that God wanted others to follow. They tried their best to get people to realize that the whole religion was not bad; just a few people got the wrong ideas and were mistaken on what the ideas actually meant.
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 Salem Witch Trials accusing others of a feared crime showed definite evidence that mass hysteria was to blame. Salem was a religious settlement, following Puritan beliefs (Miller, 6). A large fear for everyone in Salem was the touch of the Devil (Miller, Arthur). According to Puritan beliefs, if a man or woman was touched by the Devil he would convince them to do witchcraft. Once word was mentioned the Devil had possibly touched Salem, the fear spread.
Despite their deeply religious values, the members of the Puritan Society in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible are equally as sinful as the rest of the world. The Puritans, known for turning to God when given any matter at hand, lay blame on the Devil, regardless of their contradictory values. By blaming on him for their wrongdoings, the Devil earns power through the Puritans restoring to involve him whenever any one thing goes wrong. Power is defined by one’s reputation, status, wealth, gender, and age; although the natural deciding factor of one’s power in the Puritan society is land, the Devil himself holds ultimate power. Despite the fact that he does not appear as a human figure, he controls the thoughts and actions of the Puritan society, serving as the ultimate threat.
Whatever the bible said the puritans believed, and one subject about the devil. The devil was real and he was clever, one of his trick was to enter a normal person’s body and turn that person into a witch. The Salem witch trials in 1692 were caused by? The Salem witch trials in 1692 were caused by three things marital status, lying girls, and economic differences. Marital status was one because the women who were accused were more married then single.
This was normal during this time, to have such a controversial topic be embedded into the minds of the common citizen in England. Despite the fact that superstitions were controversial to the church, they had a huge impact during the Elizabethan era. Superstitions shaped daily life, affected illnesses, and impacted modern beliefs in the form of folk tales. Daily life was based off of superstitions and magic was also popular during this time because people relied on it for protection. “The clergy had traditionally provided magical protection against the molestations of malevolent spirits by casting out demons, blessing
Although the natural decider of one’s power in the Puritan society is land, the Devil, himself, holds ultimate power; despite the fact that he does not appear as a human figure, he controls the thoughts and actions of the Puritan
