Salem Witch Trials Research Paper

What causes us, citizens of the United States of America bicker and fight each other? Is it Money, the difference of being rich or poor or is it politics the constant battle between opposing sides over right and wrong? These are among many examples of issues that plague us today and even centuries before America was formed. Yes, even in the past our ancestors faced the same dividing issues like money, gender, religious freedom. The 17th century Puritans in Salem, Massachusetts also encountered these infectious divisions that only got worse when the Salem witch trials started.
In 17th century puritan Salem everything seemed serene and tranquil, but shockingly that wasn’t the case, and it only got worse with the Salem witch trials. The little

In general puritan believed Money was the grace of god and had no guilt about having money they believed it was a form of stewardship and the puritans believed that being poor is not “Sin within itself” according to apuritansmind.com, they believe the being poor can be a good thing to teach people, lessons and believe being poor is not an eyesore to Christ. But nevertheless 17th century Salem, Massachusetts Puritans was still plagued with economic divisions that divided the rich and poor. Becoming a major part of the Salem witch trials. The Puritans was a hardworking and industrious people believing if they work for it, they earned it, Leaving others who don’t or can’t work behind. The wealthy controlled many aspects of the puritan society, ranging from church support like money, pastors, and even where the church is located. as a result, many poor puritans or farmers faced the with problem on are they getting to church, a lot of the churches were in areas that was too far for many people so they couldn’t make it to church and worship God. Many tried to come up with a solution by asking their government to move or build another church closer to where they live, but the requests were turned down multiple times.The wealthy had abundant amounts of influence on the government Like choosing priest, Church style and location and more. With this influence, this played a role in the Salem witch trials because a lot of hysteria and greed were going around. So the opportunity arose some many people decided claim witchcraft on people they don’t like or a chance to claim their land for them causing many innocent people to get hanged or thrown in jail because of greed. An easy target to get land from was poor families that couldn’t make it church was seen as suspicious or being witches because they didn’t go to church leading many of the witch hanging being poor