Tensions In Colonial Americ The Salem Witch Trials

There were several tensions throughout colonial America. In the beginning the colonies struggled financially. Many came to the New World with the promise of land and opportunity and it was difficult to get started. Many farmers lacked the proper tools to tend their land and many died from a lack of good medicine. The work was hard and labor intensive for crops like rice and sugar and this required indentured servants and later slavery. Currency was also a major issue as most paper created by the colonists was worthless and instead a strange barter system needed to be used instead. As time passed trading became more organized as noted by the Triangular Trade where there was a constant flow of different goods to different ports along the coast

Settlements were based in religious beliefs and the residents lived in villages and on lots based on the size of the family. The family, not slaves, were the workforce. The communities were intended to be close-knit with property and wealth distributed to the sons of the family. As time went on and the land was split from generation to generation there was less and less to go around which led to major pressures on the families and community. Population pressure and a lack of resources became a major tension within these communities. This extreme tension in such a small community created a powder keg of pent up hostilities toward one another. This problem was most evident in Salem, Massachusetts during the Salem Witch Trials. Although a very different class from that of the south it was a class struggle at its core nonetheless. The majority of those accused of being witches were on opposite sides of the social classes. Either they were considered very poor and of low social position or they were wealthy by way of inheritance or their own making and thereby challenged the social hierarchy of men in charge within the Puritan community. This Puritan society was deeply rooted in male dominance and as a result many innocent women lost their lives to these false charges of witchcraft simply because they were undesired or challengingly wealthy. This highly religious community used religion to justify a horrific display of

The main reasons were for economic and social advancement and religious freedom. The Puritans of England wanted a place of their own where they could escape religious prosecution. The indentured servants of England sought opportunity to work and be fed while they put in time to earn their freedom and eventually land of their own. The German Protestants also sought refuge in the New World from religious prosecution and most settled in Pennsylvania. The Scots-Irish also came to the New World by the thousands to escape English landlords sky rocketing rents. Others from England came for the promise of land and opportunity to become wealthy themselves which was more difficult in England were the wealthy were more established and land was in very short