Sjovold
History 310
September 24, 2014
Salem Witch Hunt The accusations of witchcraft occurring in New England started in the late-16th century. The Puritans were fairly new to their settlements. They fled from Europe to America to ensure that the Christian Church was maintained. In England they received a threat from King James I to leave the land or pay the consequences. Many of the Puritans went to Holland and a good handful was led by William Bradford to America. The Puritans established their colonies and went through many hardships such as famine and disease while trying to keep their colony a float. Throughout the constant struggle, the Puritans maintained strong religious values to keep them going. During the time the …show more content…
Salem town was fairly close to Salem village but operated completely different. The village was older and lived a very particular way. As shown in the previous paragraph everyone was close to one another and looked out for each other when it came to witchcraft. Salem town was the exact opposite and was mainly into making money. They were growing rapidly just like the outside world. The townsmen worked business with the Indians in the Fur Trade to make the big bucks. Therefore the village people viewed the town as an outside evil because the villagers saw the Indians as “evil” as well. Furthermore, the townsmen were looked down upon the villagers as a threat. These “evil” threats led the Puritans to continue believing that witchcraft existed for a longer period of time than the other …show more content…
Everyone in the village was close and helped each other out, almost like one huge family. It was not usual for neighbors to be in each other’s business all the time. People often did not act out because of the very reason that there was always someone watching. Therefore the accusations of people being witches or sorcerers were often by their close neighbors who they had conflicts with. An example is shown in document twenty two. The document is explaining a small quarrel that Sarah Gadge and Sarah Good had between each other. Gadge would not let Good into her house because she had heard a rumor of Good having smallpox. Good said some things under her breath in spite and the next day one of the Gadge’s cows died without a known cause. Good was then blamed for the cow that died just a day after the misunderstanding. Sarah Good’s case is just one of many examples for how the neighborly relationships affected how many got accused of witchcraft. A neighborly argument was not the only way to get accused for being a witch. People would be accused of witchcraft for just about any suspicious behavior. For example, in document sixty eight, George Burroughs had shown that he had some type of super strength and that made others very suspicious. Also, that night “Captain William Wormall sworn to the above and that he saw him raise it from the ground