What Economic Factors Led To The Salem Witch Trials

When analysing the factors that lead to the Salem witch trials we must first examine the numerous economic reasons. It can be argued the main source of economic tension was caused by King William's War (1688–97) it ravaged upstate regions, sending a flood of refugees into the county of Essex, especially Salem Village in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. This created a strain on Salem's resources and aggravated existing rivalries. Salem village had a lot of farmland but Salem Town did not and thus made Salem Town dependent on the village for food. Despite this Salem Town determined crop prices and kept them high, it collected taxes from Salem Village which caused bitter resentment. In 1692 Salem was divided into two clear parts Salem town and Salem

set their hearts and fears against their more prosperous and commercially minded neighbors who lived .... nearer the town, and economically benefited from it. Ultimately…the conflict between the two groups was between differing visions of community: an agrarian-based, older Puritan sense of the public goodwill contrasted with a later emergent capitalist sense of private interest…”. The Putnam family were farmers and were against the increasing capitalism of Salem Town, they followed the simple and austere lifestyle of traditional Puritans. They, along with other farmers in Salem Village, believed that the thriving economy of Salem Town, and the thriving merchants, made people too individualistic, which was in opposition to the communal nature that Puritanism mandated. They also had a personal rivalry with the Porters they derived most of their wealth from agricultural operations, they were also entrepreneurs who developed commercial interests in Salem Towne as well as other areas and were active in the governmental affairs of the larger

Salem seems to fit this pattern and its possible cold weather may have spurred the infamous Salem witch trials. The Salem witch trials fell within an extreme cold spell that lasted from 1680 and 1730 one of the chilliest segments of the little ice age. The mass hysteria that gripped Salem may have sprung from dire economic conditions caused by the little ice age, the ice age led to crop failures and shortages of fish, and according to Emily Oster when crops failed, “people would have searched for a scapegoat in the face of deadly changes in weather patterns,”. Thus, desperate people traced their troubles to unpopular neighbors and social outcasts who they believed were allied to the devil. Certainly, the Salem Witch trails seem to fit this pattern of scapegoating, the economic hardships and slowdown of population growth could be the cause of widespread scapegoating which, due to the widely accepted belief that witches were real and were capable of causing physical harm to others and could control natural forces manifested as a wide spread witch