Salem, Massachusetts in 1692 was a terrifying scene. The witchcraft accusations were everywhere. As a result, the whole colony was paranoid about where a case of the devil’s possession may show up. Up to this point, the witch hunts in the thirteen colonies had been small and in only a small amount of places. The Salem Witch Trials were the first full-on hunt for witches. This resulted in mass hysteria in the community. The Puritans led strict religious lives that as a result led them to suppress the people who broke their codes. Many influential people, Rev. Samuel Parris, for example, made the Trials even scarier for the people of Salem. Strong evidence suggests that the incidents of the Salem Witch Trials stemmed from a fear in the practice of another religion besides Christianity. Puritans in Salem grew up being extremely strict people. The very definition of Puritanism is a “pure form of Christianity,” according to TAHPDX. They based their entire society around their religion. Because of this, they believed in God’s wrath coming to punish them all for any rules they may have broken. The devil was also real and prevalent to them. They did everything they could to prevent him from coming to punish them (Religious). “Puritan laws were extremely rigid and the members of society were expected to follow a strict moral code,” (Religious). This source tells about the strict life Puritans in colonial Salem lived. Since the Puritans thought God would be mad at them for breaking any rules, they punished the rule-breakers to show God that they were still loyal to him. The Puritans viewed witchcraft as a major sin against God. Similar to the adults, children in Salem lived strict and uneventful lives. Games and other common childhood activities were considered to invite the devil to the colony. Just being happy or having fun were irreligious in the Puritan religion. The adults of the colony forced every child to act like an adult even though they were not treated like one until they got married. Any free time they had, they had to spend studying the Bible. Life was even harder for Salem girls because they were hardly allowed to leave their houses while the boys were allowed to go hunting in the woods (Religious). As a result, this lifestyle was hard of young people who at that age were supposed to be growing and learning about themselves. When witchcraft started to be relevant in 1692 Salem, everyone became affected by it. According to Richard B. Latner, witchcraft can be defined as the belief and practice of the supernatural, including fortune-telling, astrology, and charms. A “witch” exhibited symptoms such as uncontrollable fits and extreme pain. They were also able to spread these symptoms to other people (Latner). When a doctor examined someone with symptoms like the ones formerly mentioned, the only conclusion they could come to was that the patient
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For example, Sarah Osborne was one of the first people convicted of witchcraft in Salem. She went against the Puritan code through her acts of infidelity. This scared the Puritans a lot as religion was their entire lives and Osborne had thrown that out the window completely. Another example of this is John Willard. He refused to arrest people he thought were innocent. They accused him of witchcraft before hanging him on August 19, 1692. Many of the others who the Puritans tried for witchcraft were people with similar sins. A rule-abiding citizen was not typically accused of witchery. Because of this, there is a strong connection between previous transgressors and those accused of …show more content…
Samuel Parris was a preacher in Salem. He is one of the most notorious people related to the Salem Witch Trials. He sought respect for his position in the church above all else. Rev. Parris thought that anyone who challenged his authority also challenged the church’s authority. His teachings were the ones that drilled the thought into the colonists’ heads that the devil could cause people to perform acts of witchcraft. He was extremely influential in the colony and the people of Salem trusted him with their decisions (Ray). Had he tried to calm the colonists down, he may have been able to prevent some of this death and
For example, Sarah Osborne was one of the first people convicted of witchcraft in Salem. She went against the Puritan code through her acts of infidelity. This scared the Puritans a lot as religion was their entire lives and Osborne had thrown that out the window completely. Another example of this is John Willard. He refused to arrest people he thought were innocent. They accused him of witchcraft before hanging him on August 19, 1692. Many of the others who the Puritans tried for witchcraft were people with similar sins. A rule-abiding citizen was not typically accused of witchery. Because of this, there is a strong connection between previous transgressors and those accused of …show more content…
Samuel Parris was a preacher in Salem. He is one of the most notorious people related to the Salem Witch Trials. He sought respect for his position in the church above all else. Rev. Parris thought that anyone who challenged his authority also challenged the church’s authority. His teachings were the ones that drilled the thought into the colonists’ heads that the devil could cause people to perform acts of witchcraft. He was extremely influential in the colony and the people of Salem trusted him with their decisions (Ray). Had he tried to calm the colonists down, he may have been able to prevent some of this death and