HISTORY - Witchcraft : The Salem Witch Trials 1692-93

Where in the States is Salem?

Massachusetts

Where did the settlers in Massachusettes come from and when did they settle?

• England

• Arrived on the Mayflower 1620

• They were Puritans!

When was the Massachusetts Bay Colony established and on what principles?

• 1629

• Established on Puritan principles

• Meant they were mindful that the Devil was present and attempting to lure people into being witches

What was different about the Puritans in Massachusetts than those in England?

• More militant

• Refused to tolerate beliefs of other denominations

• Followed strict religious principles

• Preachers spoke out against magic

Who was the first witch to be executed in the colonies and when?

• Alice Young

• 1646

• 27 more hung before the Salem trials 1692

Was witch hunting common before 1692 in New England?

• No

• Only 100 cases heard in last 50 years

• Only 25% of those resulted in execution

How many died in the Salem witch hunts?

20

How many accused in the Salem witch hunts?

200

What are some of the potential causes of the witch hunt?

• Fear

• Scapegoating

• Community isolated = heightened fear of the Devil

• Tituba’s confession

• Tensions between old settles and newcomers

• Tension between rich and poor

What happened April 1630?

• First to arrive in Salem

• Included Governor John Winthrop and 800 other colonists

• Carried a colonial charter saying the colony was a possession of the crown

Why were the 1630’s a difficult time for English Puritans?

Charles I and Laud pursuing high church policies and punishing religious radicals (like them)

How many Puritans migrated to Massachusetts 1630-42?

approx. 10,000

Who governed Massachusetts and what did they resist?

• Government of Mas. was dominated by Puritans

• Colony became resistant to Charles II’s attempts to allow the CoE to be established

How was Puritanism evidently central to Salem’s government and society?

• Residents had to pay taxes to the church

• Not compulsory to be a member of the church

• However members were given the exclusive right to vote for local officials

• Non-Puritans could be banished for spreading dissent

What was Charles II most concerned with and how did he attempt to tackle this?

• Wanted to extend royal influence over his colonies by centralising control in the hands of the court

• Massachusetts was most resistant colony

• He attempted to revoke the royal charter in 1678

• Then tried to consolidate all New England colonies into 1 in 1681

How did the Puritans resist Charles’ attempts?

Their resistance meant the charter wasn’t formally annulled till 1684

Who took control after Charles II and what did he do?

• James II, his Catholic brother

• He could administer all NE colonies as the Dominion of New England

• Gave governance of this to Sir Edmund Andros

Who was Sir Edmund Andros?

• Had experience as a soldier

• Also had high church tendencies = unpopular amongst the Puritans on his council

What were some of Andros’ unpopular policies that contributed to his fall?

• Attempted to impose CoE services on Puritan churches - he was suspected of Catholic sympathies

• Introduced new taxes focused on import and export duties - there hadn’t been tax laws prior so cultivated resentment

• Landownership of the Puritans was void and they had to pay to take back ownership

• Restricted number of town meetings held as they bred discontent

When did James issue a Declaration of Indulgence?

• April 1687

• It removed the penal laws against Catholics

• This was unpopular and lead to his removal and the invitation of William III

When did William III arrive in England?

• Dec 1688

• It is decided he will rule with James’ protestant daughter Mary

When did news of the Glorious Revolution arrive in Massachusetts?

• April 1689

• People revolted against Governor Andros

What did William pressure parliament into?

• Passing a Toleration Act May 1689

• This granted most religious groups, but not Catholics, religious freedom

Who led the rebels in the revolt against Andros?

• Increase (father) and Cotton (son) Mather

• Both were well-known ministers

What did Increase Mather do 1688-92?

• Went to England to negotiate new charter

• He advocated on behalf of the colony

• Returned May 1692 with a new governor Sir William Phips

• By then the witch hunts had begun

When was Massachusetts given a new charter?

October 1691

What was William fearful of?

• Massachusetts falling into religious rule

• Enforced the following:

• Voting eligibility based on property ownership not religious denomination

• All officials appt by Crown

• Governor could block any laws passed by council

Why did the authority in Salem lend itself to witch-hunting?

The massive shifts in authority meant there was a lack of central control thus meaning people could speculate and accuse more freely

When was the first Indian War? What effect did it have on Salem?

• Was called King Philip’s War

• 1675-1678

• 1/10 all military aged men were killed in Salem

• Constant threat of attack made residents wary

What did Andros’ overthrow do to colonial defences?

• Weakened = attacks more common

• Girls giving evidence said they’d witnessed these attacks

What did Puritans think of the Indians?

• They were Devil worshippers

• They also allied with the French and Spanish that the Puritans hated

• Treated as subhuman

Who was associated with the Indians?

Tituba

What was the economic impact of the 1st Indian War?

• Left Massachusetts ruined

• Half of New England towns were attacked and some burnt to the ground

• However population grew 3% every year and establishment of new towns meant livelihood wasn’t destroyed

What were the Navigation Acts?

• 1651, 1660, 1662

• Prioritised national trading interests over interests of the colonies

• All goods going to the colonies had to pass through England first

• Everything had to travel on English ships

What is the impact of the Navigation Acts on the colonies?

• Reduces money and resources

• Higher fees for shipping

• Became impossible to sell grain

How is Salem run?

As a theocracy

What did the religious beliefs of the people in Salem mean regarding their belief in witchcraft?

• Saw themselves as God’s chosen people , sought God’s approval

• Believed Devil is real and trying to ruin their lives in the form of economic issues, war and political turmoil

What did the Puritans ignore lending to their belief in witchcraft?

• Ignored the scientific revolution

• They interpreted crop failures and illnesses as the Devil’s work

Who did the Puritans accuse mostly and how did this link to their religious beliefs?

• Women

• They believed them to be inferior

• Used ideas of original sin to justify this

• Anyone who didn’t conform to Puritan ideals eg: women and Indians were viewed with suspicion

Who was there tensions between in Salem?

• Salem town and Salem village

• Together made up 600 people

• Those in town had more contact with the outside world so were less reliant on religious beliefs

• Jealousy arose in the villages when harvests were poor because the townspeople weren’t reliant on agriculture

How did the towns and village conflict?

• Village focused on public good-will and old fashioned Puritanism

• Town concerned with private interests

Where were most of the accusers from?

• The village

• They attempted to be independent of the town but town relied on their agriculture so was resisted

Who were the prominent accusers?

• The Putnams

• Heavily involved with accusations

• They were also leaders in the movement towards separation, were opposed by the Porters

Who was Cotton Mather?

• High profile Puritan clergyman in Massachusetts

• Extensive author - many works concerning witchcraft

• Both grandfathers travelled from England

• Both were Puritan and escaped religious persecution

When did Cotton Mather write The Goodwin Possessions?

1688

What initiated the accusations of the Goodwin Possessions?

• John Goodwin had 6 puritan children

• 1688 one of them Martha accused their laundress of stealing bed linen who was daughter of Mary Glover

Who was Mary Glover? What did she do?

• Typical outsider

• Only spoke gaelic and was Catholic

• When confronted about her daughter’s theft she swore at Martha who began having fits along with her siblings

• Doctor called in who said fits due to witchcraft because all children had pains in same parts of their body

What happened to Glover and what did they find?

• Arrested and house searched

• Found dolls which she admitted to using for witchcraft - when one was given to her in trial one of the children fell into fits

• She couldn’t recite the Lord’s prayer and confessed to being in league with Devil

How was Mather involved in the Goodwin possessions?

• He interviewed Glover

• Failed to convert her to Puritanism and she was hung

• Despite this children’s fits still continued but eventually all were cured

How were the Goodwin Possessions 1688 linked to the Salem trials in 1692?

• Pattern of accusations and symptoms were similar

• As was use of child evidence

Who initiated the Salem Witch hunts?

• Samuel Parris

• Was a Puritan minister

• Owned Tituba

• Jan 1692 said his child Elizabeth and friends had been bewitched

• Had tensions with his community over wages etc, could have done this to deflect from that

Who was Elizabeth Parris?

• 9, Daughter of Samuel

• She experimented with fortune telling using a venus glass

• Then started to lose concentration and forgot prayers, had fits

Who was Abigail Williams?

• 11

• Also showed strange behaviour

• Doctor William Griggs said witchcraft was to blame and ordered prayer and fasting

• Had no effect

Who was Ann Putnam?

• Eldest child of Putnam family = most influential in Salem village

• Instrumental in spreading accusations, name mentioned over 400 times in court documents

• Was friends w Elizabeth and Abigail

• Claimed similar symptoms

• Apologised 1706 saying she was deceived by the Devil

Who was Mary Walcott?

• 18

• First to suffer fits

• Aunt Mary Sibley used counter-magic against some of the suspects esp Tituba

• Remained calm during trial unlike others

Who was Mercy Lewis?

• 19

• Accused 8 people and gave evidence against them

• Parents killed in Indian attacks, potentially witnessed them

Who was Elizabeth Habbard?

• 17

• Testified against 29 people, 13 hung

• Had fits in court room like the other girls

What do some people suggest were the causes of the girls’ accusations?

• Girls had psychological disorders

• The Indian Attacks had scared them

• They were bored

Who was Tituba?

Servant/ slave for the Parrises

What happened to Tituba?

• Samuel Parris was suspicious so filed charges against her

• This instigated the witch hunt

Why was Tituba an easy target?

• Mixed Caribbean and African heritage

• Was purchased in Barbados

• Linked her to the Indians, Sibley said she’s brought magical practices from West Indies

How was Tituba implicated?

• It’s likely she looked after Elizabeth and other children

• She told them stories from her homeland of demonic possession and woodoo which influenced the fantasies of the girls

How did Tituba react to her accusations?

• Confessed to pact with Devil after being beaten by Samuel Parris

• Named other witches

• Said Devil was white man dressed in black and you had to sign his book

Who was accused at the Salem witch trials? How many?

• mostly women

• 20% were men

• 165 accused total

Who was Sarah Good?

• 2nd witch to be accused

• Social outcast

• Accused of hurting children

• At trial husband and daughter testified against her

Who was Sarah Osborne?

• Behaviour questioned

• Lived openly with unmarried Irish man

• Well-est widow

• Easily associated with the devil

What kind of evidence was taken at the trials?

• Spectral evidence

• This was use of dreams and visions to accuse someone

• Said the witches forced them to sign devil’s book, had familiars and caused fits

What happened to the number of accused people?

• More began to be accused including respectable figures eg: Rebecca Nurse

• As more were named more confessed eg: Abigail Hobbs confessed to attending a meeting of witches planning to bewitch all of Salem village

What was different about the Salem witch trials?

Confession meant higher chance of suspect as over 50 who confessed were freed

What did Gov Phips establish?

• Court of Oyer and Terminer May 1692

• These were designed to investigate cases that had already been judged

What were early signs of scepticism?

• Searches for devil’s marks were half-hearted

• After a month one judge resigned out of suspicion as to legitimacy of proceedings

Why were convictions easily made?

• Spectral evidence accepted

• Neighbours testifying to the good of the characters of the accused was ignored

• Long standing gossip accepted as evidence

Who was Increase Mather?

• Father of Cotton Mather

• Puritan Minister

• Went to negotiate charter in England

What impact did Increase have on the Salem witch hunt?

• Published sceptical work

• Didn’t reject witchcraft but used extensive knowledge of scripture and recent history to argue genuine cases of it were rare

• Held sermons in support of trials

• Critical of spectral evidence

• Widely followed, influential on public opinion

Who was Governor Phips

• Born to prosperous family

• Influence by the Mather’s interest in witchcraft

• Was made Governor

What impact did Phips have on the Salem witch hunt?

• Initially supported them

• Est Courts of Oyer and Terminer

• Appt William Stoughton as chief judge who sought to accuse many witches and demanded spectral evidence be heard

• Phips was influenced to close courts by Mather 1692, released those under investigation

• However those imprisoned had to pay fees to leave

Who was William Stoughton?

• Studied at Harvard

• Godly Puritan

What impact did Stoughton have on the Salem witch hunt?

• Remembered as an unforgiving religious zealot who intended to convict many people

• Many blame Phips because he appt Stoughton

• Extensive power = acted as judge and prosecutor

• Convinced of usefulness of spectral evidence and refused to admit mistakes