The American Ideals And The Salem Witch Trials

The Salem witch trials was a series of trials held for those accused of witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts from the spring of 1692 to September 1692. These trials were started when a group full of young girls were accused of practicing the occult and being possessed by the devil, and then accusing other women during that time of being witches themselves. In order to understand the trials, one must look at the characteristics of the region of Colonial America, the American ideals or philosophies that may have caused this event to occur, and how have these ideals and philosophies changed to the way we live today. One must also look at what was inevitable or avoidable, and what was beneficial or costly. Characteristics of Salems colonial village

Puritans were a group of reformed protestants that hoped to remove the Roman Catholic beliefs from the Church of England. These individuals believed in living strictly by the scriptures and upholding the strongest moral content. In keeping with living strictly by the scriptures in the Bible, and upholding what was stated in those scriptures, was a leading cause for the trials. Being that Puritans sought to uphold God there was no room for occult practices in Salem. These religious beliefs caused, like so many today, mass hysteria and radicalistic approaches in the hopes of eradicating the issues of witches. In fact, according to Brandt (2014), “England’s last witch hanging took place a decade before the Salem trials began, and by 1736 all British laws relating to witchcraft had been repealed”. But, in accordance with Puritan beliefs, individuals guilty or not were put to death on mere accusations of being a witch in the hopes of appeasing God, to avoid punishment by

It may not deal with witches but, in some countries with homosexuality for example, some of the basic principles used to convict innocent people in Salem are done in Countries like Uganda where homosexulatiy is punishable by death. Like in Salem, had a neighbor had a dispute with a fellow neighbor of felt wrongly done, there was nothing to stop them from making a false accusation and sending an innocent person to their death. Unfortunately these ideals will always exist in the world due to limited education and understanding which does not aid in abating