EXACERBATING FACTORS: Native American attacks and economic crisis

The First Indian War/King Phillip’s War

• Took place between 1675 and 1678, and devastated towns across Massachusetts

• One tenth of all military aged men were killed and in Salem, the constant threat of attack caused residents to become wary

The Second Indian War/King William’s War

• Coincides with the Salem trials

• Both sides made alliances with Indian tribes

Impact of Indian Wars

• A number of outsiders who survived Indian attacks moved to Salem in the years preceding the Salem hunts

• The attacks created a deep-seated paranoia concerning God’s willingness to allow the Devil’s agents in the form of the Indians to punish Puritan settlers

Tituba

• A number of historians have suggested that one of the instigators of the craze, the healer and accused witch Tituba, was Indian

Impact of the First Indian War on the economy

• The war left the economy virtually ruined, with half of New England’s towns attacked and the important Masachusetts settlement of Springfield entirely burnt to the ground

Population growth

• A population growth of three percent per year and the establishment of towns meant the settlers lives weren’t completely ruined

What happened in the 1680s?

• The colonists asked for military assistance from England, and this contributed to a rise in their tax burden

Navigation Acts

• The first was passed in 1651, and stated that goods imported to England and its territories had to be carried on English ships

• This was designed to remove Dutch monopoly

Impact of the Navigation Acts

• It represented the victory of a national trading interest over the separate interests of the various private trading companies and fleets based in the colonies

• The acts reduced the amount of money and resources that flowed into Massachusetts

• It became impossible to ship grain to England