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salem witchcraft trials cause and effect. In 1692 the area of Salem town
and Salem village became very vulnerable to conflict. Severe ...
... Soon, faulty cause-and-effect relationships sparked delirium. ... Many historians today
believe that religion was not the catalyst of the Salem Witchcraft Trials. ...
... In the Salem Witch Trials, the “existing difficulties” that led up to the
witchcraft theory were ordinary stresses of seventeenth century ...
... be tried was Bridget Bishop of Salem who was ... of Judicature, formed to replace the
"witchcraft" court, did ... new court released those awaiting trials and pardoned ...
... be tried was Bridget Bishop of Salem who was ... of Judicature, formed to replace the
"witchcraft" court, did ... new court released those awaiting trials and pardoned ...
Submitted by oppapers on May 2, 2004
Category: American History
Words: 583 | Pages: 3
Views: 3437
Popularity Rank: 341
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In 1692 the area of Salem town and Salem village became very vulnerable to conflict. Severe weather such as hurricanes had damaged land and crops, the effects of King Phillips War began to impact New England society, and colonists were being forced off of the frontiers by Native peoples. The Church and the government were in heavy conflict. And those residing in Salem began to grow suspicious of one another when some prospered and others hadn’t (Marcus, p13).
Suddenly people seemed very paranoid and soon residents were placing blame on one another and accusing each other of witchcraft. In a fifteen month period between 1691 and 1692 nearly twelve dozen people were accused of witchcraft in or near Salem (Norton, p8).
Although witch trials were not uncommon in Puritanical New England, none had reached such epidemic proportions as Salem. In 1691 the mass hysteria began when several young girls dabbled in witchcraft and began acting strange. When villagers took notice the girls were seriously questioned and so they began naming people, mainly woman, who had supposedly bewitched them (Boyer, p66). Several other who had been accused were woman displayed ‘unfeminine’ behavior and those who
stood to inherit more economic power than most men in the area (Boyer, p66). By 1692 the young girls had continued to make false accusations of townspeople. Many of those accused were townspeople who were more prominent than others. Villagers, such as the young girls, who envied others, would often accuse people because of a personal abhorrence.
Eventually, those accused of witchcraft could be anyone regardless of social standing. Relationships between people and families seemed to crumble in the light of hysteria as children accused parents and friends pointed out friends (Boyer, p67). Some confessed to witchcraft and saved their own lives, others refused to tarnish their names and proclaimed innocence to their grave. The fact that these people did not...
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