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The Salem Witch Trials: The Cause Of The Massachusetts Bay Trial

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The Massachusetts Bay Experiment was a colony founded on extreme puritan principal. It was to be a community of “Visible Saints”, for all other religions to look upon, where they could practice their puritan beliefs freely. Whenever there was a problem within the colony the puritans always looked to the church for answers. Since this was such a theocratic society, one could see just how an event such as The Salem Witch Trials could occur. Many historians attribute the cause of the Salem witch trials to various different reasons, it is evident through the various trials and reactions of the people being tried, that the Salem witch trials occurred because of the extremist views of the puritans. Massachusetts bay colony was founded on the power of the church and court system. The Massachusetts government favored one church, and that was the Puritan church. This allowed the trials being held during this time to use religious principal to underlay all claims against a person. In fact, many of the men appointed as judges during this time had religious puritan background. In the biography of William Stoughton, a judge of many of the trials of the bewitched, …show more content…

The 19 that died chose to die rather then commit a sin. Elizabeth Howe, who was hung exclaimed, “If it was the last moment I was to live, God knows I am innocent.” Elizabeth Died knowing that she was in god’s favor. Martha Corey, who was hung as well shouted during her trial, “The Lord open the eyes of the Magistrates & Ministers: The Lord show his power to discover the guilty!”, and again later, “The lord knows”. Till the day she died she believed her god would deliver her and she died knowing her god was accepting of her. Because of the strong conviction of religion that these women and many others had the witch trials continued to

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