How We Can Learn From History: A Look at the Salem Witch Trials. The Salem Witch Trials event remains one of the most controversial topics to date.

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1 Bretado 1 Leo Bretado History 1301 November 2, 2017 Mr. Love How We Can Learn From History: A Look at the Salem Witch Trials The Salem Witch Trials event remains one of the most controversial topics to date. Questions related to this topic go along the lines of Why did this happen? and How did this go on for so long? The main conflict brought up at this time and to this day is what caused the witch trials? Perspectives on this topic vary tremendously and can be interpreted as being cruel, or being just and giving the culprits their just desserts. Like any controversial topic, the trials can be seen from a variety of viewpoints involving; politics, culture, economy, and socially. The Salem Witch Trials started in Salem, Massachusetts, and lasted from February 1692 all the way to May What this event consisted of was an effort to rid the area of witches which were around doing the devil s work. It started off as a simple spark which turned into an immense event in American history. Sinners who were accused of witchcraft vary from female children, to devil oriented dogs. Through cleansing the population over time, necessary and numerous changes were made to better the world and follow down God s path. In the trials, over twenty felons were rinsed out of society by ways like being hanged, harsh conditions in prison, and crushed by stones. Everything began in the Salem village when a couple of young girls were said to have been possessed. This was the actual beginning, which led to more and more citizens being accused of committing a crime by performing witchcraft. The very first convicted witch,

2 Bretado 2 Bridget Bishop, was hung in June since hysteria was spreading like wildfire throughout colonial Massachusetts (Salem witch Trials). Citizens at the time going through accusations, were thought to be possessed by the devil and were slowly giving their fellow witch comrades away. A common belief as to why the witches were acting the way they were was because of strong Puritan belief. According to the Gale Encyclopedia of American Law, the Puritans built a theocracy which most resembled medieval Roman Catholicism (476). It states that the Trials were lit up even more because of its political and religious environment. The Puritans in no way built a complete theocracy, but the political leaders were all Puritans. The witch at fault who was the core of all problems was Tituba, the devil s right hand. The conflict started in part when a new minister was named in Salem whose name was Samuel Parris. Back in the 17 th century, Salem was divided into two parts; the West consisted of the poor labor farmers, and the East was wealthy entrepreneur farmers. The East part was known as Salem Village while the west was known as Salem Town. After Parris was named the minister in October of 1691, the villagers from the East vowed to drive him out and to stop feeding his mouth money (Linder). What Linder wants to get across, is that the people revolted against the wealthy out of jealousy and resentment. The devil touched the town s heart and turned everyone against each other which resulted in a battle between good and evil. The witch Tituba from Barbados was a slave of reverend Samuel Parris. The South American Indian Tituba was requested to make a witch cake, which was a biscuit made of rye flour containing urine from the afflicted person. The witch cake was made to counteract the witchcraft placed on Elizabeth Parris (minister s daughter) and Abigail Williams (minister s niece) as said so by Linder. Linder states that the cake would be fed to a dog because it is a familiar with the devil. Knowing the information

3 Bretado 3 about Tituba, Elizabeth, who was currently possessed, gave Tituba out to the public which got Tituba imprisoned. Later when Tituba was asked who her collaborators were didn t hesitate to give her accomplices away. After the event with Tituba, justice started coming to the witches as they all slowly ratted each other out. In The Dominion of New England, Brooks talks about the merging of the British colonies in New England. She states that the reason they merged was primarily to enforce the Navigation Acts which prohibited colonists trading with countries not ruled by the British crown. By merging, conflict occurred between colonists buying land directly from the Indians which resulted in lacking proof or evidence of ownership. The colonists started a glorious revolution because of the wrongful terms which resulted negatively for Massachusetts because the governor was appointed by the crown; so there was already a lot of stress politically in Salem. Another reason thought to be the cause of the witch uprising is because of a misjudgment by the doctor William Griggs, who claimed that the girls acting weird were being possessed. His medicine had failed in the beginning so he suggested the girls condition had to do with the supernatural (Leventhal). By Griggs being prideful of such a high honor, he probably reached the wrong conclusion which would kill twenty citizens in the future due to his conclusion. Griggs not only made enemies of the dead, but as stated in Salem witch Trials, Through the court accused were granted indemnities to their families. Giving the families who lost their loved ones money is sure to only make them even more mad not only at Griggs, but at the government. Leventhal brings up the possibility that the legal system was very faulty as well as the effect the continuing Indian Wars had on the people as a whole along with the people who lost their loved ones.

4 Bretado 4 The point of the legal system being faulty was primarily due to the fact that William Stoughton, a world-wide hero, was appointed chief justice. William Stoughton was an enthusiastic witch hunter (Leventhal). The faultiness comes in because the legal system shouldn t have let the hysteria pass through the courts so easily just because of a rumor. At the time since Massachusetts was already Puritan, what the Indian Wars caused was the belief of the devil having to do with the hardships that they were currently going through. Saxon brings up the point that the trials might have occurred because of an economic downturn caused by the little ice age era. The ice age era is pretty self explanatory, happening from 1680 to As Saxon mentions, the poor West side of the village was under harsh conditions and grew jealous of the wealthy people in the East. The western side experienced crop failure due to its arid weather. Like any person at that time, the poor wanted a piece of the good life and would be willing to do anything to at least even out the playing field. A famous play in 1952 called The Crucible was made by Arthur Miller to portray the trials. Miller was very liberal when making his play and based it on the affair between Abigail Williams and Arthur Kennedy. Miller later states that his purpose of writing the play was to get his important theme out there and connect how harming the people in the Salem Witch Trials could be compared to the mass hysteria about communism which was going on in the present time involving Senator Joseph McCarthy during the Second Red Scare. At the time, Miller thought that McCarthy treating the communist sympathizers like enemies by discriminating against them was no different than letting innocent witches die. The play was also made into a movie which depicts Tituba as a slave woman. In the movie, it shows Tituba and teen girls performing a ritualistic dance for their god. Tituba and the girls were pleasing their god and who knows how many times they did this, or if it ever had anything to do with human sacrifice!

5 Bretado 5 A unique cause that came about after some research was that the girls at the time were just bored and were looking for some form of entertainment (Listing of 5 probable causes). Since Salem was a very religious place, and had very strict outlooks on everything, none of the citizens could really be able to have any fun. The reading doesn t specify whether they were actually witches or not, but it does mention fun activities along with witchcraft. It also mentions the two families that were most known on the East and West side of Salem; the Porters and the Putnams. The Putnam family was one of the main accusers of witches that brought about the trials. This family strongly supported the minister/ reverend Samuel Parris, who was the initiator of the witch hunt. While the Putnams (East) were accusing, their rival family, the Porters (West), were trying to organize villagers against the trials. These two families were the biggest families in each side of Salem and had a big impact socially on their citizens and were decently wealthy. In Purdy s journal, he talks about Tituba bringing up other witches and says that if she hadn t brought that up, many problems could have been avoided (1). Although Tituba might have killed innocent citizens, it doesn t change the fact that the term witches had been brought up as well as their existence was brought into light. If Tituba hadn t ratted anyone out, the citizens would have been left with knowing the existence of witches and would have been on the lookout for more witches. Massachusetts being full of biased people at the time, wouldn t have let the existence of witches just die out. After the citizens had found out that there was one witch, the statement If there s one there should be more, would have been brought up. Purdy also brings up the legal system and that spectral evidence was allowed back then and was treated as legitimate evidence (2). To summarize what spectral evidence was, it is evidence consisting of a person s outside force. Spectral evidence today isn t even taken into

6 Bretado 6 consideration because it is not legitimate proof to say that someone used an outside force. After letting things go on for quite some time, Phips wife was accused of witchcraft which brought him into reality. The governor finally in late October 1692, had decided that further imprisonments were unnecessary. If this happened today, the public would automatically drive out the governor for opposing the people and only realizing the current problem only after things turned personal. Another great interpretation Purdy gives is when he references Chadwick Hansen s Witchcraft at Salem and presents the view that actual witchcraft was going on (3). The first victim (Bridget Bishop) had a pseudo-voodoo doll which was brought up as well as the witch cake Tituba was working on. Purdy mentions that Hansen used 1692 s view on witchcraft and referred to Cotton Mather (Puritan minister) who was merely advocating a crackdown on crime (3). Cotton Mather is another accuser who got many individuals in trouble as well as converted many people to become Puritans. King made an article which focused on how the minister used the trials as a means to increase personal wealth (Religiosity 678). The citizens did drive out the minister Samuel Parris eventually which led to some peace to society at the time. King discusses how Massachusetts slowly started shifting from a religion based area, into a business oriented area. After the trials the people decided that their narrow mindedness blurred reality, so they shifted towards business to help with their economic problems. The belief which most stands out from the rest is that given by Johnson. Johnson tells that God s providence removes evil and that it is more of a duty to keep the area clean. If someone lives in holy land, the worst thing that can happen is getting it dirty because of sinners intoxicating the land. Johnson stated that the land is God s providence raises the question What

7 Bretado 7 isn t God s providence? come to mind. Throughout the entire world, it is our duty as inhabitants of the world to serve and protect one another. What most people learned from the trials is that people will believe anything the government wants them to believe. In a matter of panic and hysteria, with rampage going on everywhere, we as greedy people are into anything with the mindset of how can I gain something from this? and there is an attempt to attain what is going on in society. By having events such as the trials occur in history, it makes learning history even more valuable because of the morals and themes learned from the event. By learning history and analyzing what happens in events, we grow as individuals and really do cleanse God s providence. Although from personal experiences we learn best, when one stops and thinks about past events we can either predict what will happen after we make a decision or what action is best to make in certain situations. What all these sources had in common was that they provided useful information and interpretations of an event which can be seen in so many different ways, and whether they thought witches were real or that teens were just bored, the writers provided good background information to support their interpretations and make them believable. By having different interpretations and learning something from the past, history becomes useful to anyone no matter what the lesson they learned be.

8 Bretado 8 Works Cited Brooks, Rebecca B. What Was the Dominion of New England? History of Massachusetts. Org, 11 Jan. 2016,historyofmassachusetts.org/what-was-the-dominion-of-new-england. Accessed 2 Nov Johnson, H. Mark and MA. Amherst Coll. God's Providence in Puritan New England: An Inquiry into the Nature of Ideas. Teacher and Student Manuals. 01 Jan EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&an=ed032340&site=ehost-live. King, Ernest W. and Franklin G. Mixon. "Religiosity and the Political Economy of the Salem Witch Trials." Social Science Journal, vol. 47, no. 3, Sept. 2010, pp EBSCOhost, doi: /j.soscij Leventhal, Asa K. Finding the True Cause of the Salem Witchcraft Trials. 2015, 015, Linder, Douglas O. Chronology of Events Relating To The Salem Witchcraft Trials. Famous Trials,

9 Bretado 9 List of 5 Possible Causes of the Salem Witch Trials. History Lists, Miller, Arthur. The Crucible (1952). Famous Trials, Purdy, Sean. Conjuring History: The Many Interpretations of the Salem Witchcraft Trials. Conjuring History: The Many Interpretations of the Salem Witchcraft Trials, vol. 3, no.1, 2007, pp , doi: /bhl.title "Salem Witch Trials." Gale Encyclopedia of American Law, edited by Donna Batten, 3rd ed., vol. 8, Gale, 2010, pp Opposing Viewpoints in Context, link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/cx /ovic?u=font62502&xid=b09136a8. Salem Witch Trials. History.com Saxon, Vicki. What Caused The Salem Witch Trials? Jstor Daily, 27 Oct. 2015,