GoddessofWisdom
October 10th, 2001, 12:34 PM
SALEM WITCH TRIALS
Many colonists in late-seventeenth-century New England combined their Puritan faith with a belief in witchcraft, and charges that one or another person was one of Satan's agents, bent on bringing harm to the community, were common. By far the greatest concentration of these charges occurred in Salem Village, Massachusetts, in 1692. In February, a group of teenaged girls in Salem began experiencing spectacular fits, during which they thrashed about, wincing and shrieking. At first the girls blamed no one, but under repeated questioning by adults, they began to identify a widening circle of local residents as witches and wizards - mostly middle-aged women but also men and even one four-year-old child. Arrest followed arrest, but the fits increased. By the end of the summer, hundreds had been accused, twenty-seven put on trial, and nineteen executed.
Meanwhile, however, discomfort over the trials had been growing, both within Salem Village and in the wider community, including, among others, the Boston clergyman Increase Mather and the new governor, William Phips. Although few questioned the reality of witchcraft, many were troubled with the chaotic proceedings in Salem. In early October, the governor forbade further trials. In January 1693, he formed a new court, which, working under stricter evidentiary guidelines, acquitted forty-nine out of fifty-two prisoners; the rest were discharged by spring. Accusations of witchcraft decreased dramatically thereafter throughout New England.
A number of historians have linked the witch trials to the painful changes that Puritan society was experiencing at the time. Torn between the communal asceticism of their original goals and the commercial individualism fast overtaking them, some Puritans, the historians argue, responded with guilt and fear, seeking scapegoats on whom they could blame their sense of moral loss. Within Salem Village, a history of bitter factionalism (as well as resentment toward the more prosperous Salem Town, which controlled the village politically and ecclesiastically) may have helped make the witch-hunt in Salem Village the most virulent in New England.
Many colonists in late-seventeenth-century New England combined their Puritan faith with a belief in witchcraft, and charges that one or another person was one of Satan's agents, bent on bringing harm to the community, were common. By far the greatest concentration of these charges occurred in Salem Village, Massachusetts, in 1692. In February, a group of teenaged girls in Salem began experiencing spectacular fits, during which they thrashed about, wincing and shrieking. At first the girls blamed no one, but under repeated questioning by adults, they began to identify a widening circle of local residents as witches and wizards - mostly middle-aged women but also men and even one four-year-old child. Arrest followed arrest, but the fits increased. By the end of the summer, hundreds had been accused, twenty-seven put on trial, and nineteen executed.
Meanwhile, however, discomfort over the trials had been growing, both within Salem Village and in the wider community, including, among others, the Boston clergyman Increase Mather and the new governor, William Phips. Although few questioned the reality of witchcraft, many were troubled with the chaotic proceedings in Salem. In early October, the governor forbade further trials. In January 1693, he formed a new court, which, working under stricter evidentiary guidelines, acquitted forty-nine out of fifty-two prisoners; the rest were discharged by spring. Accusations of witchcraft decreased dramatically thereafter throughout New England.
A number of historians have linked the witch trials to the painful changes that Puritan society was experiencing at the time. Torn between the communal asceticism of their original goals and the commercial individualism fast overtaking them, some Puritans, the historians argue, responded with guilt and fear, seeking scapegoats on whom they could blame their sense of moral loss. Within Salem Village, a history of bitter factionalism (as well as resentment toward the more prosperous Salem Town, which controlled the village politically and ecclesiastically) may have helped make the witch-hunt in Salem Village the most virulent in New England.