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Katie Buntic
Mr Bowe
US History Honors
Period 4
May 14th, 2018
The Causes of Chaos
In January, 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts, Betty Parris and Abigail Williams, the daughter and niece of minister Samuel Parris, began acting strangely. Their symptoms included convulsions, hallucinations, screaming fits, dashing about, falling down in contorted poses, diving under furniture, experiencing hallucinations, and feeling like they were being pinched or bitten. As the weeks continued, various friends of Betty’s fell ill with the same symptoms. The doctors, unable to link the bizarre cases to any medicinal cause, turned to their only other trusted resource apart from medicine- his religion, which told him that all things unexplainable either came from God or the devil. The doctors then diagnosed the girls as bewitched, leading the town to hysteria. Strongly believing that the devil exists and that his work is carried out through witchcraft, the Puritans were quick to point fingers at possible witches who gained their powers of sorcery by making a pact with the devil. The bewitched
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girls set off a frenzy in salem, leading to the trial of over 200 colonists and the deaths of 24 people. Those who were accused of witchcraft had two choices: go to trial, or confess and be saved. If one of the accused chose to go to court, the
odds were stacked against them, seeing as there were no defense lawyers, the accused were not allowed to call witnesses, and the only available evidence was the claim of the afflicted person to have seen the spirit of the accused witch. The frenzy sent people as young as four years old to jail, and prominent people, including the governor’s wife, were also imprisoned for witchcraft. In the end, 19 people were hanged on Gallows Hill outside of Salem, one person was sentenced to death by crushing, and at least four others died in jail. A general pardon was finally issued in 1693, releasing the accused. The reason for the delirium has long been debated by historians, but there are two likely causes of the events in Salem: rivalries between citizens, or a true belief in witchcraft.
Due to Puritan beliefs being deeply ingrained in Salem’s society, it is possible that the trials were purely caused by the people’s belief in witchcraft and their belief that sorcery exists as a means of the devil inflicting his power. Because the Puritans held such strong beliefs, they thought that bringing suspected witches to trial was necessary to rid the devil before he destroyed their community.
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Before the witch trials began, Parris, the minister, had voiced a desire to be paid more. The villagers attempted to withhold his salary, and in retaliation, Parris began to preach about a conspiracy set against him and the church led by satan (1). While this was happening, Betty and Abigail began to show symptoms similar to those described in a book written by Cotton Mather. (1). His book, Memorable Providences, published in 1689, described the apparent afflictions of the Goodwin children in Boston. Mather detailed the symptoms of the children, and documented the trial which led to the execution of Goody Glover, the woman accused of bewitching the children. Mather claimed that witches appear as themselves, and he denied any natural explanations for the strange symptoms of the children. Thinking that he was locked in a conflict with the devil which could only be won by strict adherance to puritan beliefs, he focused on threats of witchcraft in his preaching leading up to the trials. (3) Robert Calef, a cloth merchant in Boston who witnessed the Salem Witch Trials, wrote More Wonders of the Invisible World in 1697. In this book, he describes what he saw of the trials, and explains how he believes Mather set the scene for the witch trials, stating, “Mr Cotton Mather, was the most active and forward of any Minister in the Country in those matters, taking home one of the Children, and managing such Intreagues with that Child, and after printing such an
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account of the whole, in his Memorable Providences, as conduced much to the kindling of those Flames, that in Sir Williams time threatened the devouring of this Country” (4). Josiah Quincy, politician and educator, also supported the idea that Mather played a key role in propagating belief in witches. In History of Harvard University, Quincy wrote that Mather "incurred the responsibility of being [the Salem Witch Trials’] chief cause and promoter… In the progress of the superstitious fear, which amounted to frenzy, and could only be satisfied with blood, he neither blenched nor halted; but attended the courts, watched the progress of invisible agency in the prisons, and joined the multitude in witnessing the executions" (5). Mather placed an image of afflicted victims in the people’s minds, and when the symptoms of Abigail and Betty matched those of the Goodwin children, the Puritans were quick to believe that witchcraft was at hand. Between the widespread reading of Mather’s book and the preaching of the Presence of Satan by Parris, it is understandable to conclude that the Salem Witch Trials were caused by belief in witchcraft combined with fear of being in the presence of the devil.
Another contributing factor to belief in witchcraft is that the Puritans believed in a strict interpretation of the Bible, and denying the presence of witches would have amounted to denying the text of the Bible. In the King James version of the Bible, the
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book of exodus states; “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live” (2). Believing that it was their duty to root out the devil and destroy his presence, the townspeople engaged in a frenzy of accusations. When the accused were brought to trial, they were faced with the Chief Justice, who possessed a degree in theology, not law, and turned to the Bible and the preaching of Parris and Mather to guide his decisions about whether the devil was evident in the accused. Thomas Brattle- Boston merchant, treasurer of Harvard University, and witness of the trials- wrote a letter to a clergyman in 1692, stating, "There are two or three other things I have observed in and by these afflicted persons, which make me strongly suspect that the Devill imposes upon their brains, and deludes their fancye and imagination; and that the Devill's book (which they say has been offered them) is a mere fancye of theirs, and no reality… I am very apt to think, that, did you know the circumstances of the said Confessours, you would not be swayed thereby, any otherwise than to be confirmed, that all is perfect Devilism, and an Hellish design to ruine and destroy this poor land." (1) Brattle perfectly exemplifies the beliefs of the majority of the townspeople, trusting that the symptoms of the afflicted must have been caused by witchcraft gifted by Satan. Few others in Salem didn’t believe in witchcraft, but instead were convinced that the afflicted were tricked by the Devil into believing that they were
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victims of witchcraft, further proving that the Puritans’ intense beliefs motivated the Salem Witch Trials.
Another possible cause of the Salem witch trials was the rivalry among the two towns of Salem. In the late seventeenth century, there were two Salems: Salem town, and Salem village. Salem Town consisted of a port community with a thriving economy, while Salem village held the poorer residents who were typically farmers. The Porters, the head family of Salem Town, led the families who desired to keep salem as one town. In contrast, the Putnams, the head family of Salem Village, encouraged the families who desired to branch off from Salem town because they felt it was too prosperous and individualistic to follow the Puritan religion (8). These two families partook in a long standing feud, beginning in the 1670s when a Porter sawmill flooded a Putnam farm (7). Their long-standing hatred further intensified when the Putnams chose to begin a congregation solely for those who supported Salem Village. The Putnams brought in Reverend Parris, who raised objection from some residents of salem town who thought he was being paid too large of a sum, so the residents stopped paying the taxes which fueled his salary, thus placing Parris’ family in a difficult financial situation, possibly causing stress which contributed to the change in Abigail and Betty’s behavior (8).
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When the accusations began, they tended to be between the two groups (7). One group tended to accuse those of other groups and not their own, and vice versa, showing that the trails could have been the culmination of intense political conflict. Instead of accusing people they believed were witches, the townspeople may have solely accused people whom they previously conflicted with or possibly accused people whose land or money or social status they desired to possess (7). Once the accusations began, many villagers saw the trails as a chance to get back at others, viewing the trials as an easy way to get rid of someone. Those afflicted were usually from salem village and felt threatened by the new social classes and structures emerging in salem town, and accused people as a means to stop the developing structure and attempt to freeze Salem in a less-developed state, believing that the more economically diverse Salem conflicted with the Puritan religion (8).
As historians continue to analyze the events in Salem, they uncover new sources which provide further evidence for one cause versus another. Although a true consensus may never be reached, historians have narrowed the causes down to two likely theories: Town rivalries, or true belief in the devil. The theory that town rivalries spurred the trials is supported by facts that show that those who accused others of witchcraft were usually from salem village, and the accusers usually
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accused people from Salem town. The theory for true belief in the devil is supported by strict Puritan beliefs and Cotton Mather’s book causing widespread suspicion of the devil’s presence in the town.
Another time in history that events similar to the ongoings in salem have occured is during the red scare in the 1950s. Just like in Salem, fear gripped the country and led to irrational trials, executions, and jailings. Senator McCarthy highly contributed to a national fear of the presence of communism in the United States. Similar to Salem being on alert for signs of witchcraft, the nation kept its collective eyes peeled for potential communists all throughout the red scare. The excessive defense against both communism in the 1950s and Salem in the late 1600s led to tragic loss of innocent lives and undeserving years spent in jails. Between these two events, there is hope that in the future the nation may be able to avoid another event by keeping a tight grip on fears, instead of allowing the fear to take over.