Jaqueline Alvarez U.S History I Puritan Culture influence in Salem We have all heard about the great tragedy that happened in Salem in the 1690 s. Many people hung because they had been accused of witchcraft. The great hysteria that is still talked about centuries later, the Salem Witch Trials. While in one hand there were people being accused of doing deeds of darkness, in the other hand there are the Puritan people trying to stop those deeds from continuing. The Puritans had a very powerful influence in Salem during 1692 that influence lead to many deaths and persecutions. The Massachusetts Bay Colony was ran by Puritans. The Puritan religion was based on the Bible. Their everyday life was based somehow on the Bible. They were very strict, and religious people. Puritanism was a very influential religion in New England at that time. In 1641, the Massachusetts Bay colony adopted a law, it was a biblical passage. In Exodus 22:18-19 it says, Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live. Whoever lieth with a beast shall surely be put to death. There people had a very strong and powerful belief in the bible. They believed they had to exactly what the Bible said to do so. They did not tolerate witchcraft. As we know puritans hung the women on Gallows Hill, who were found guilty. Because of this law, many lives suffered a scary and painful death. This religion, their law, caused many deaths. (news.lib.uchicago.edu) Along with adopting Exodus 22:18-19, they also included Leviticus 20:27 in their law. The biblical passage said, A man also or woman that hath a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard, shall be put to death. They shall stone them will stones: their blood shall be upon them. These
people believed, that any witch must die. Not only did they believe it, but now it was their law. A law that everyone in Massachusetts had to follow. Anyone who did witchcraft, was committing a crime. The crime was going to receive a horrible punishment that was death. (news.lib.uchicago.edu) During the Salem witch trials, there was a women who had a pretty big influence in the Salem Witch trials, Tituba. She was the town s priest, Samuel Parris, slave. She was accused of afflicting the girls with witchcraft. In the Article, Tituba the slave, by Rebecca Beatrice Brooks, it talks about Tituba during the time of the trials. Parris s daughter Betty, and Parris s niece Abigail started to experience fits. The doctors couldn t find what was wrong with them, so he predicted someone had done witchcraft to them. Tituba wanted to help figure out who was causing this harm to these girls. She did a witch cake, consisting of rye, and the urine of the afflicted girl. She would feed it to a dog to discover who the afflicter of the girl was, but that was also considered witchcraft. She was trying to help the girls find who their afflicter was. When Parris found out he beat her until she confessed. Paris was a respectful figure. He was the town s priest and a man of God. He was allowed to be a respectful figure, but he was also allowed to be a violent person towards Tituba, and the other accused witches. Back in the day when the Bible scriptures were their law, this was okay. The scriptures clearly said to kill witches. It s very different from now because killing is a crime, but back then what he was doing to Tituba, was not a crime. He was following the Massachusetts Law at the time which clearly stated that there should be no witches living, and if there was, kill them. Parris was allowed to do this violent act towards Tituba, and be this respectful town s priest figure at the same time. After violently beating Tituba, he forced her to confess that she had done witchcraft. Parris, a Puritan, influenced Tituba s confession.
The Puritans wanted every way possible to get the women to confess that they had done witchcraft. During Tituba s examination in March 1, 1692, they asked, what familiarity have you with the devil, or w t is itt if you conserve q th all? Tell the truth who itt is that hurt them. (law2.umkc.edu) The man was already assuming that Tituba did works of the devil, or at least he assumed she knew who did them. Not once did he consider her innocent. Before asking that question he had already asked if she had harmed the children or if she had done anything, and all the questions, she answered no. The puritans had a powerful influence during this examination. They wanted every way possible to get these women to confess. They didn t give up until, they got the answers they wanted. Sarah Good had a daughter, Dorcas Good. She was 4 years old. Many girls testified against Dorcas accusing her of witchcraft. (law2.umkc.edu) A 4 year old can t be capable of knowing what witchcraft is, or how to do it. The puritans just wanted as much people they could get to be accused guilty. They found her guilty, and brought to prison. She died there in prison. Dorcas could ve had a great life. She could ve became someone inspiring, but she couldn t. You can see the Puritans weren t trusting the townspeople. They could be suspecting someone, who was totally innocent. They were very worried, and scared of the thought of witches being in their town. They were scared of thought of the girls being afflicted by witches. During the Salem Witch Trials, the court used Spectral evidence. Spectral evidence isn t a real piece of evidence, but evidence based on a vision. It isn t safe, because you do not know whether a person really had that dream or, vision. Because of this kind of evidence many witches were accused guilty. Governor Phipps had a powerful influence during these trials. He created the Court of Oyer, and Terminer (used for the Salem Witch Trials), and he also was the one who allowed Spectral Evidence to be used in the trials. Finally when all the women who were found
guilty were in prison, Phipps realized spectral evidence wasn t enough evidence, so he released them. In October 8, 1692, Governor Phipps orders that spectral evidence no longer be admitted in witchcraft trials. (umkc.edu) If Phipps had realized this sooner, he would have saved people from humiliation. He was so caught up in his religion, and proving a point, he was proving a point in a religious way. Spectral evidence is more of a religious kind of evidence. This is the law, we are talking about real evidence. Evidence that we can actually see. You couldn t show other people your dream. Most of these women were probably innocent, and the Puritans didn t want to admit it because they strongly believed in their religion. They strongly believed in spectral evidence. Later after Governor Phipps s wife started to be questioned about witchcraft he prohibited further arrest dissolved the Court of Oyer and Terminer on October 29. (law2.umkc.edu) At first his goal was to capture all these witches, but after his wife was suspected of doing witchcraft, he realized what he was doing. He realized how many lives were being affected. It looks like Phipps only cared about his wife. He caused so many deaths, arrest and horrible things. This Puritan, did not care about the other being accused. Phipps could make people do the trials, and he could also make them stop. This kind of power is dangerous. He could ve probably caused a death of someone who was innocent. At one point during this time he focused only on his religion, and he didn t care about the lives that were being affected. Once this movement affected his wife, he reacted. Everyone must have treated the same, but they weren t. The Puritan culture had a very strong influence in the Salem witch trials. That influence caused many deaths and persecutions. Their beliefs were the Massachusetts s law. That s pretty
scary. If the Puritan leaders of the Court had reflected in those moments, maybe not that much tragedy would ve happened.