The Salem Witch Trials In March 1692, Rebecca Nurse, an elderly woman and respected member of Salem Village, was arrested on suspicion of witchcraft. She was accused based solely on the testimony of four young girls who claimed that the apparition of Rebecca Nurse had severely harmed them. Many witnesses testified in favor of her, but ultimately the "afflicted girls" prevailed. Nurse was executed on July 19, 1692. She was one of twenty people executed in Salem in 1692 on witchcraft allegations. While it is clear that this witch hysteria had a profound impact on the community of Salem, what is unclear is why this event occurred, and more specifically, why did it occur in 1692? The main cause behind the Salem Witch Trials was the Puritan Religion which led to beliefs in the supernatural, strong associations with the Devil, as well as an a strong divide between …show more content…
Puritans believed that God was constantly at work within their lives, tempting them as well as rewarding them (Winthrop). When God chose to warn people, he either chose to inflict the warning himself or he chose to do it through the Devil. For example, when Minister Cotton Mather’s infant son died suddenly, Mather knew that either the devil was acting in a witch who in turn harmed his child or it was the will of God to directly harm his son (Godbeer Document 3). Mather himself states, “I made little use of, and laid little stress on, this conjecture, desiring to submit unto the will of my heavenly father, without which not a sparrow falls unto the ground.” Another example of the devil working in the lives of the Puritans was interactions with Native Americans. Many colonists were convinced that Native Americans worshiped the devil and practiced witchcraft. (INSERT EXAMPLE OF TESTIMONY INVOLVING NATIVE
In Defense of Rebecca Nurse Your Majesties, Judge Corwin and Judge Hathorne, our defendant Rebecca Nurse, a highly respected member of the Salem community, has been wrongly accused of practicing witchcraft. We believe that these profound accusations against, the honest and trustworthy, Rebecca Nurse were fabricated by those who are trying to cause harm to the Nurse family. This accusation of practicing witchcraft is serious and is not to be taken lightly. A warrant for the arrest of Rebecca Nurse was issued on March 24, 1692 (Salem Witch Trials Notable Persons). This warrant was issued due to the Putnams accusation that our defendant practices witchcraft.
The Salem witchcraft trials of 1692 ended almost as soon as it began. Why did this happen, and why did it happen in Salem? Between June and September of 1692, over 20 men and women were hanged, an 81 year old man got pressed to death under heavy rocks and hundreds of others faced accusations of witchcraft. In 1689 Samuel Parris moved to Salem as the village minister.
In 1692, A town in Massachusetts by the name of Salem Village became known for one most documented cases of mass hysteria in history. This saga started with three girls: Abigail Williams, Elizabeth Parris, and Ann Putnam a neighborhood friend. Abigail Williams, the niece of the town’s minister, began to display weird and questionable behavior. The town’s physician,William Greggs, was called to determine the cause of this sporadic behavior. The town’s physician determined that the three girls were under “the Devil’s influence” and they had been bewitched.
Between the month of June 10 and September 22, 1692, the Salem witch trial which took place in Salem Massachusetts, claimed 20 residents life’s from Salem. This event shook the American History and left historians with one question decades after, what caused the Salem witch trial hysteria of 1692? In a Christian community this must have seemed strange, but superstition causing religious role to intervene and also social/economic class fueled the witch hunt. The Salem witch trial of 1692 all started when two young girls (Betty Parris and Abigail Williams) in Salem village Massachusetts claimed to have been possessed by the devil, accusing three women who had possessed them. As this hysteria continued, a special court was built just to hear
In the year of 1630, a group of people known as the Puritans arrived to America and settled in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in Boston. The Puritans were similar to the Pilgrims in which they were Protestants from England who thought that their reforms of their church were “too Catholic” and needed to be changed further. The Puritans being unhappy with their reforms was the primary reason for leaving England and settling in America, while the Pilgrims stayed behind and were determined to change their reforms. When they came to America, they decided to keep some of their strict rules. For example, church was mandatory and if someone missed a day,
During the Salem Witch Trials, which were a series of witchcraft trials that took place in 1692 in Massachusetts, nearly 19 people were executed by hanging and 200 people were accused of witchcraft with various consequences. There are several theories surrounding the causes of the Witch Trials, but most historians agree that they were a result of mass hysteria within the population of Salem and other surrounding towns. The circumstances that contributed to the mass hysteria surrounding the Massachusetts Salem Witch Trials of 1692 include ergot poisoning, family rivalries, and a strong belief in the occult. Each of these theories are very real explanations which could have contributed to the events in Salem, although none of these events have
As their puzzled father ,Samuel Parris, observed the two mysterious little girls creep under chairs and spin around on the ground he pondered where this weird behavior was coming from. In Salem there were two little girls who were envious of the rich, so they made it clear that they could make people tremble in fear if they did not like you or wanted what you had. Everyone in Salem was terrified because there were so many people being accused of witchcraft. 22 people were hanged because the two little girls were pretending to be afflicted. The Salem witch trial Hysteria of 1692 was caused by two poor, young girls who claimed to be afflicted because of jealousy.
To add, Puritans were fundamentalists; they believed that every word in the Bible was the true word of God. For example, they hung witches because they believed that was what God had wanted. Exodus 22:18, King James’s version of the Bible, the scripture Puritans read and lived by, includes the quote, “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.” The quote was interpreted literally by the Puritans leading them to want to hang all alleged witches. Moreover, Puritans also strongly believed in Satan and believed that the devil could unwillingly enter the body of a weak-willed person leading them to become a witch.
They had to follow a strict code, and if they went against that code, they would be considered sinning and be punished. The Puritans believed the devil was as real as God. The women accused of doing witchcraft were an easy target for the devil, according to Puritan
The Salem witch trials of 1692 realized the execution by hanging of fourteen women and five men reprimanded for being witches. one man was pressed to death by overpowering weights for declining to enter a supplication and more than one hundred and fifty individuals were detained while foreseeing trial. In light of the survival of various critical records, including notes, articulations, and power choices, the essential truths of the claims, catches, trials, and executions are known. On January 20, 1692, in Salem, the Reverend Samuel Parris' daughter, Elizabeth, and his niece, Abigail Williams, began show bizarre behavior, including thundering joke and going into trances. Sarah and Osborne maintained that they were exemplary and stayed unconscious of
According to Richard Sibbes, a Puritan Minister, "The whole life of a Christian should be nothing but praises and thanks to God, we should neither eat nor sleep, but eat to God and work to God and talk to God, do all to His glory and praise" (Faiza,2008). Their belief that the devil could be amongst them was one of the main factors of the start of the Salem witch trials. The Puritans wanted their communities to only be made up with believers and followers of God and they thought that by hanging anyone suspicious of being "touched" by the devil they would accomplish that goal. According to Faiza (2008), one theory remains that ministers spread the rumor of witchcraft to bring more people into the churches.
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.
The Salem Witch Trials occurred in colonial Massachusetts between 1692 and 1693, it affected the entire town of Salem, but personally affected approximately 150 accused witches (women) and warlocks (men), about 30 of which were executed. When one was convicted of witchcraft it was believed that they had supernatural powers that were given by the devil (in return for being loyal to him), to harm innocent people. As a wave of hysteria spread throughout Massachusetts, a special court was assembled to hear the cases. The first person, Bridget Bishop, was accused in and executed (by hanging) in June 1692. The local justice system was overwhelmed, in some cases, the judge sentenced them to drowning, in this method, they would throw the alleged witch into a deep pond or lake and if they drowned they were pure and not a witch, if they floated, they were a witch and would be burned at the stake.
Did you know that you had to believe in God and the Devil and if you only believed in the devil they considered you as a witch. In 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts people were accused of witchcraft and some were hanged. A respected man named Cotton Mather wrote something about devils and witches walking the earth.
Rebecca Nurse was highly respected throughout Salem and most people think that she shouldn’t have been hung or that she could be a witch, in her original trial she was not accused of being a witch but then the jury was forced to reconsider. Many villagers wrote petitions stating Rebecca Nurse’s innocence but they didn’t accomplish anything. During her trial Rebecca Nurse was not asked to speak first instead Abigail Williams spoke of how Nurse had just sent her spirt to hurt the girls just that morning then Ann Putnam accused Nurse after Abigail Williams. Rebecca Nurse was married to Francis Nurse who was a land owner who had disputes with Thomas Putnam.