Starting in the s, many towns that had once produced an agricultural surplus no longer did so. Mixed farming began to give way to pastures and orchards.
Once Massachusetts had exported foodstuffs; by the s it was an importer of corn, wheat, and other cereal crops. Several scholars have noted the high correlation between eras of extreme weather in the Little Ice Age and outbreaks of witchcraft in Europe; Salem continues this pattern.
Salem was very divided due to disagreements between the villagers about local politics, religion and economics. One of the many issues that divided the villagers was who should be the Salem Village minister.
Salem Village had gone through three ministers in sixteen years, due to disputes over who was deemed qualified enough to have the position, and at the time of the trials they were arguing about the current minister Samuel Parris. Rivalries between different families in Salem had also begun to sprout up in the town as did land disputes and other disagreements which was all coupled with the fact that many colonists were also uneasy because the Massachusetts Bay Colony had its charter revoked and then replaced in with a new charter that gave the crown much more control over the colony.
In their book Salem Possessed, Paul Boyer and Stephen Nissenbaum attribute the witch trials to this political, economic, and religious discord in Salem Village:. Boyer and Nissenbaum go on to provide examples, such as the fact that Daniel Andrew and Philip English were accused shortly after they defeated one of the Putnams in an election for Salem Town selectmen.
They also point out that Rebecca Nurse was accused shortly after her husband, Francis, became a member of a village committee that took office in October of that was vehemently against Salem Village minister Samuel Parris, whom the Putnams were supporters of.
Charles Upham suggested this as a major cause and Paul Boyer and Stephen Nissenbaum have provided a brilliant analysis of the Salem community to support that argument. Indian warfare and the uncertainties related to the arrival of a new charter and new Governor in the two years before the witchhunt also added to the level of social stress. But other towns in frontier Massachusetts that experienced the same socio-economic-political difficulties did not spark a similar witchscare.
Several communities suffering from less stress did suffer from contact with Salem as the witchscare virus spread.
This contagion too was a unique aspect of the episode. Baker suggests though that fraud may have been a bigger problem in the witch trials than we realize:. Not surprisingly, there is no agreement on the answer.
Most historians acknowledge that some fakery took place at Salem. A close reading of the surviving court records and related documents suggests that more fraud took place than many cared to admit after the trials ended. In Charles W. Many of the accused also stated that they believed that the afflicted girls were lying or only pretending to be ill. One of the accused, John Alden, later gave an account of his trial during which he described a moment that he believed to reveal fraud:.
The magistrates demanded of them several times, who it was of all the people in the room that hurt them? One of these accusers pointed several times at one Captain Hill, there present, but spake nothing; the same accuser had a man standing at her back to hold her up; he stooped down to her ear, then she cried out. Aldin, Aldin afflicted her; one of the magistrates asked her if she had ever seen Aldin, she answered no, he asked her how she knew it was Aldin?
She said, the man told her so. After the girl made this claim though, a young man stood up in the court and explained that the knife was actually his and that he broke it himself the day before, according Winfield S.
For the most part, the accused came from the same majority ethnic group as the accusers. You are married but have few or no children. Neighbors suffering misfortune might think you were attacking their larger families from jealousy especially if you lacked kin to speak up for you. Unprotected widows were at even more of a risk.
You are contentious and stubborn with a turbulent reputation. Where a man might be considered forceful, a women might have been labeled as contentious. The situation would be worse if you were also at odds with your own family.
After all, the Devil encourages discord. You have been accused of other crimes before such as theft or slander. As John Gaule put it a "lewd and naughty kind of life" was just the sort of thing that attracted devils. You are of a relatively low social position.
Philip English claimed 1, pounds in damages when his property was confiscated by sheriff George Corwin but was denied compensation. English got his revenge in the end, though. After English himself died, the Salem colony paid his heirs pounds in compensation. The payouts seem a little hit-and-miss: some received 70 pounds and up, others got less than 8. An act pardoning only those witches whose families petitioned on their behalf was sent to the governor in , but for unknown reasons he never signed it.
My assistant Bibliophage found just one instance, that of Elizabeth Blanchard of Littleton, Massachusetts. Is she pissed? Has she stopped going to church?. Unfortunately for them, they still have to wear normal lady-shoes, which are usually pretty pointy, so they might limp a little. They have blue saliva. A witch hat is a style of hat worn by witches in popular culture depictions, characterized by a conical crown and a wide brim.
The Trials were unfair, the Government and the townspeople were corrupt, and they had stress from outer threats surrounding the village. The Salem Witch Trials were unfair. It was one of the largest witch hunts. During the trials unusual things happened and innocent people were blamed. What gift does Mary Warren present to Elizabeth? Mary Warren gives Elizabeth a poppet small doll that she made while in court. SeniorCare2Share Care about seniors? Have knowledge?
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