Слайд 1The Salem Witchcraft Episode
Слайд 2The Salem Witchcraft Episode
How it began:
West Indian slave, Tituba and girls
in Minister Samuel Parris’s kitchen early 1692
Слайд 3Girls’ strange behavior alarms the community
Saw specters
Felt pinched, choked or kicked
Writhed on floor and screaming
Carried on arguments with invisible spirits
Слайд 4Village pressed girls to name names
Tituba
Sarah Good and Sarah Osbourne
-
two old women unpopular in the village
Слайд 5Results of naming:
All arrested
- Tituba confessed - she said 4
women and a man responsible including the two Sarahs
- Tituba claimed the others had threatened her if she did not aid them
Слайд 6When accused refused to confess, search for corroborating evidence:
voodoo dolls,
pins
physical signs
- mark of allegiance with the devil
Слайд 7Search for evidence of cause and effect
Relationship between witch's malice and
victim's sufferings
Ex. Sarah Good
Слайд 8Most damning evidence
Spectral visions of accused
their likenesses appeared to
the victims
victims reported seeing this during their torments
Слайд 9Accusations against former minister of Salem, George Burroughs
Слайд 10
Testimony of Ann Putnam against George Burroughs –
“he had had three
wives, and that he had bewitched the first two of them to death… he killed Mistress Lawson… He made Abigail Hobbs a witch…”
Слайд 11What proof of these accusations?
“Sheldon testified that Burroughs’ two wives appeared
in their winding sheets, and said that man [Burroughs] killed them.”
Слайд 12What proof of these accusations?
“Mary Lewes deposition going to be read
and he looked upon her, and she fell into a dreadful and tedious fit.”
Слайд 13Testimony of Samuel Webber
“said Burroughs, he coming to our house, we
were in discourse about the same [Burrough’s great strength], and he then told me that he had put his fingers into the bung of a barrel of molasses and lifted it up and carried it round him and set it down again.”
Слайд 14Testimony of Thomas Greenslit
“He saw Mr. Burroughs lift and hold out
a gun of six foot barrel or thereabouts, putting the forefinger of his right hand into the muzzle of said gun, and so held it out at arm’s end, only with that finger.”
Слайд 15Why did some accused confess?
Declaration of Margaret Jacobs –
“They told me
if I would not confess, I should be put down into the dungeon and would be hanged, but if I would confess I should have my life.”
Слайд 16
By September 1692 20 people had been executed
Over 100 people still
remained in jail
Слайд 17Concerns about witchcraft accusations
Ministers started to get nervous about executions and
accusations
Minister Cotton Mather wrote and published a sermon condemning use of spectral evidence
Слайд 18Mather argued that to believe the evidence of a specter was
to take the devil at his own word
"It was better that 10 suspected witches should escape than that one innocent person should be condemned."
Слайд 19Government response to Mather’s criticism
Fall 1692: Governor dismissed the court trying
witchcraft cases
ordered no more arrests be made
January 1693: new court formed to hear remaining cases of those still awaiting trial
majority acquitted, 3 women convicted but received immediate reprieve
Слайд 20Conclusion of the Witchcraft episode
April 1793 remaining prisoners released
150 people accused,
25 people executed or died in prison
Слайд 21Why did these disturbances occur? Why 1690s and why Salem?
Слайд 22Warfare and Politics
1. King Philip’s War
2. Dominion of New England
3. Circumstances
in Salem
Слайд 231. King Philip’s War 1675
Chief of Pokanokets – King Philip
Alliances with
Nipmucks, Narragansetts
25 of 90 Puritan towns destroyed
Слайд 24Results for colonists:
10% adult male population killed or wounded
Interior towns abandoned
Per
capita income reduced
Слайд 252. Dominion of New England 1686
What: One government over all the
New England colonies
Why: the British government wanted more control over its colonies
Слайд 26Why New England?
Smuggling – colonists ignored the Navigation Acts
1. Only English
merchants & ships could engage in trade with the colonies
2. American products could be sold only in England or other English colonies
Слайд 27Smuggling – ignoring the Navigation Acts
3. Foreign goods for colonies had
to be shipped from England (paying import duties)
4. Colonies could not export products that competed with English products
Слайд 28Result
Colonial Charters Revoked in
New Jersey
Connecticut
New York
Rhode Island
Massachusetts
New Hampshire & Maine
Слайд 29New form of government under the Dominion of New England
Sir Edmund
Andros appointed governor
Colonial Assemblies (legislatures) dissolved
Appointed Council became colonial authority
Слайд 30End of the Dominion of New England
King William and Queen Mary
became monarchs of Britain 1688
Dominion dissolved
Colonies again autonomous
Слайд 31But - Consequences for Massachusetts
Massachusetts became a Royal Colony
Governor appointed in
England, not by the colony
2. Religious toleration required
Anglican Church (Ch of England) established in Massachusetts
3. Voting & Office holding open to non-Puritans
Слайд 32Impact of these changes on the witchcraft episode
King Philips war destroyed
communities and orphaned children
Created state of anxiety and uncertainty
Dominion of New England created crisis in colonial government
Threatened Puritan control
Слайд 33But Why Salem? Geography of witchcraft accusations:
Of 14 accused witches living
in the village, 12 lived in eastern section
Of 32 adults who testified against the accused, 30 lived in western section
Слайд 35East-West split in the village - why and what is it?
Salem
Town was original settlement
By 1668 4 outlying areas had become separate towns
Salem farmers in outlying western section wanted to do the same, but Townsmen resisted this
Слайд 361672 General Court of Massachusetts allowed Salem Village to build its
own meeting house, but did not allow it to become independent in other ways
Salem Village still paid taxes to Salem Town
Salem Town chose the constables for Salem Village
Salem Town arranged where new roads would go
Salem Town established selling price for grain
Salem Town continued to oversee new land grants to settlers
Слайд 37Additional tensions:
Split within Salem Village itself
Слайд 38Split within Salem Village
Disputes over who would be minister
What this dispute
was a symptom of:
who had power in Salem Village
Слайд 39Long history of disputes within Salem Village
Lists of petitions, counter-petitions, etc
documenting religious and other quarrels in the village
Same names appear on different sides of quarrels every time
Слайд 40The lists from these disputes coincide closely with the divisions in
1692 between accusers and accused
Слайд 41Analysis
Political, religious and economic conflict was converted into the camouflaged symptoms
of entirely different sort
- threats from the invisible world of demons and spirits