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The impact of Puritans on the
The impact of Puritans on the
The impact of Puritans on the
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In document F it says “There is confined unto the atmosphere of our air a vast power or army of evil spirits under the government of a Prince (Satan) who employs them in a continual opposition to the designs of God.” They believed in God and that the evil spirits and witches are under the influence of Satan. The Puritans believed that the bible was true. In Document H says “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.” The Puritans were
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.
Three deranged girls, from 1692 Salem; Massachusetts, precipitated the mass hangings of twenty innocent people accused of witchery for the reason that of their adept prowess at acting, their marital status and jealousy of the newfound eastern wealth. As a result of their skills in deception, the accusers were able to dupe the jury to convict people of witchcraft. For example, Document C describes the three girls’ reactions once their target entered the vicinity. “As soon as she [Bishop] came near, all(afflicted girls) fell into fits.”
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).
The Truth: During the late seventeenth century in Salem, Massachusetts Bay, Elizabeth Parris and Abigail Williams were found dancing in the forest by Samuel Parris (minister of Salem). Later on, both of them started to do violent movements and to scream randomly. A doctor theorized that the young girls were acting strange because they were bewitched. Afterwards, different young girls in the area started to have resembling behaviors.
Between 1692 and 1693, in Salem Village, Massachusetts, the Salem witch trials were taking place. In the event, many were accused of witchcraft and some were even executed. This event had left many curious as to what caused the people to accept witchcraft and treat it as a crime. To explain the trials, Paul Boer and Stephen Nissenbaum wrote the book Salem Possessed: The Social Origins of Witchcraft in which they analyzed and broke down key components of the witch trials.
In 1689, a man by the name of Samuel Parris opened up a new church in Salem Village, Massachusetts. Parris had attended Harvard University a few years prior before leaving to pursue a career in ministry. At the time, the village of Salem was divided into two different parts: Salem Town and Salem Village. The two parts of the village were set apart according to their economy, class, and character.
Many Puritans immigrated to the New World in the 17th century. Unfortunately for the surrounding Native Americans, and all other no-Puritan groups (Quakers), the Puritans of the tense had no qualms with fatal in the name of God. This led to the adulthood of the New England colonies and westward dilation. I would remonstrate the rise of our formality of government isn't the Puritans, directly, but the philosophies of those that came before them. The origin of this limit can be copy back to 17th century Hegelian Thomas Hobbes.
In the spring of 1692, Salem Massachusetts, the famous Salem Witch Trials begins after a group of girls claimed to be possessed by the devil and accused a group of women of witchcraft and using the so called “devil’s magic.” As the hysteria spread through the small colonies in Massachusetts a panic began to form as the innocent puritan lifestyle was threatened. In the end, 18 were sent to Salem’s Gallow Hill, and over 200 convicted of witchcraft, the known tradition of the Salem Witch Trials would undergo for years. The Salem Witch Trials grabbed American History by the neck and is not one of our most prideful moments.
Ignorance of medical and scientific explanations: Puritan attitudes towards the witch trials were largely governed by the authoritative figures present at the time. Any medical explanation given was disregarded, thus showcasing how the villagers’ views could be easily manipulated. They chose to only consider two possible extremes for the cause of this outbreak; either the women were possessed or they were fabricating such behaviors. Chadwick Hansen describes the behavior of the bewitched being a 'neurotic syndrome '. It was known patients experiencing this disorder turned "their mental worries into physical symptoms such as blindness, paralysis of various parts of the body, choking, fainting, or attacks of pain"(The
The Accused Witches of 1692 The year of 1692, accused witches were being hung left and right. About 134 people were accused of being a witch or wizard, these hangings mainly occurred in Salem, Massachusetts. What caused the exaggerated behavior of 1692? The Salem witch trial hysteria of 1692 could have been caused by the puritans religion, acting or lying, and ergot poisoning. One possible cause of the Salem witch trial could have been the cause of religion because the ministers and church leaders had to let everyone know about witchcraft and that they needed to end it.
The Puritans’ life involved a domineering religion which included every family member attending church. They lived off the land and had primitive ways of surviving and raising their
Oakes College is a place where diversity and individualism can thrive. The principles that Oakes College stands for are represented in its theme: Communicating Diversity in a Just Society. Throughout the Oakes Core Course the students have been taught how they can be effective members of society. Octavia E. Butler’s novel, Parable of the Sower, displays the themes of diversity and justice all throughout while tackling the many issues that stem from them. Butler depicts how difference is needed in a society for it to thrive.
Salem witchcraft trials started in New England and caused a lot of deaths and hysteria for the people of Salem, Massachusetts. Innocent women and men were hung just for being accused by their fellow friends and neighbors. Witchcraft in the 17th century was a big taboo that people feared. It started when a couple of girls from Salem encountered an African woman slave who knew about sorcery and fortune. After a few days, people noticed that they seemed different.
The Salem witch trials were the prosecution of people accused of witchcraft in Massachusetts from June to September 1692 by the Court of Oyer and Terminer. Though the trials were held in Salem, the accused were brought in from the neighboring towns of Amesbury, Andover, Topsfield, Ipswich, and Gloucester as well. To this day the trials are considered the epitome of injustice, paranoia, scapegoating, mass hysteria, and mob justice. The results were almost 200 arrests, 19 executed “witches”, one man pressed to death, one man stoned to death, and two dogs killed because they were suspected to be familiars of their owners who were accused of being witches. (Familiars are evil spirits in the form of animals used by witches to cast spells and perform