Witch Dbq

Religion, regardless back in the 1600’s or now, is a major aspect of life today. It is something that many people believe and follow, as well as, is taken very seriously. Unfortunately, Religion in England at the time was becoming overpowering and aggressive towards the societies of England. With Queen Elizabeth at rule, she was not over bearing with what religion you practiced, but let Catholics practice Catholicism quietly and hidden since England was under one religion, the Church of England. From the cities of England came a man named John Calvin, a philosopher. John was a thinker and writer around the time Elizabeth became Queen. Calvin’s big idea was over pre-destination which was ultimately explaining how God selects who will be saved

Witchcraft was the ultimate deviancy in Puritan society. Puritans believed that the devil exists and was a very literal being that was watching them all the time waiting for them to mess up or make a mistake. Ministers frequently used this devil idea during service to scare citizens into behaving. Maleficium translates to the power of malice, meaning to give people power to ruin things such as crops, beer, or make hens lay fewer eggs. These supernatural powers were spoken about and very relevant in trial cases that were recorded during this time period. Mostly woman were accused of witchcraft during this time period, however, men could be dragged into the accusations and sometimes persecuted as well. Citizens that were high in the community usually did not bother to believe those who were accused of being witches, however, if someone was accused of being a witch and they were not high up in the community, then they were usually accused and convicted. These types of cases were not fair to the slighted and was a major reason why the Puritan religion had some bad qualities behind

She began talking about hearing voices and seeing ghost. Soon other girls came forward for seeing and hearing the same things. Soon, they blamed the incident on the minister’s slave woman who was from the Caribbean. She confessed to the accusations and then gave up other witches in town who were then put on trial and accused as well. Close to the end of this trial, the Governor of Massachusetts heard about the trial and went to Salem. He took over as the judge of the town and threw out all the ways they accused these woman and men of witchcraft. The Governor changed the way they did trials and saved the town from falsely accusing people of witchcraft and other