Category: Puritans

During the years 1620-1640 many Puritans left England to come to the “New World”. The Puritans left because of the religious persecution The English Church was not fond of the Puritans which eventually pushed Puritans to leave England. This event affected the culture and society of the early Americas as religion played an important role in many events to come. With the New World emitting a sense a religious freedom, new religions started forming which not makes our “culture” of many religions. Socially due to the fact that now located somewhere where expressing their religion, they would not be persecuted. I agree with the Puritans with wanting to leave the life of religious oppression but I personally would venture as far as to go to a whole different continent. I would either go to a neighboring country but not take the risk of somewhere new, although I would like to.

What I find interesting about the Great Puritan Migration is how Puritans could embark on this boat to a totally new place they have never seen, knowing the risks and dangers but the love for their religion overruled that. What I found interesting was the power that religion held in early culture. Nowadays we have other things that hold power over us like careers and goals but at that time there was none of that so what brought me into this topic was how much power religion held over the Puritans. I would like my audience to know how brave and devoted Puritans were. Religion was the only other thing people were devoted to other than their families and how when they were persecuted for believing in something other than what The Church of England , they decided that even if that meant leaving the only place your whole family has known for their whole life they left. An event that can be connected to the whole idea of mass migration is the Dust Bowl Migration is when southern states were affected by dust storms. What is similar is the idea of mass migration as in both accounts many people did indeed migrate. Although what is different is how Puritans decided to move to a whole unknown continent rather how the southerners did it by moving somewhere else within the country. Another difference is the motive for the migration, while the Puritans moved for religious reasons, the southerns left for health and survival reasons.

In 1789 George Washington was given the position of the first president of the United States of America in Virginia.. Since George Washington was the first president, he set the principles of what it takes to rule the country. His presidency had changed the American culture as we now have a representative democracy and socially as due to our government we are freely allowed rights to express ourselves. In George Washington’s presidency, many people were involved but the most important were John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and Alexander Hamilton. With winning the American Revolution, that showed the Americans that they have the power to make their own government away from monarchy which they had fled. The motive was to create a sustainable government from which people will not be terrified of. If I was president, I would set a specific set of principles to ensure a clean and smooth presidency that would be fairly easy to follow. As we know, George Washington said that he didnt want political parties to form and well that’s exactly what happened.

What I find interesting about George Washington is two things, how he is basically like the dad of the country but also how he actually never lived in Washington D.C nor the white house. I want my audience to know how although George Washington is quite different from our current or recent presidents, he still played a vital role in our whole structure, yes he did not make healthcare or pass anything but he set the example of how to rule a country. A person I would connect to current history is our current president Donald Trump. Trump as we know is part of the republican party and George Washington, well he wasn’t really any party. What both do have in common is the simple fact that they both have or had the title of presidency.

During the years of 1829-1837, Andrew Jackson took the position as the seventh president of the United States of America, during his presidency he did many things that has made him quite memorable. Ever since Englishmen have step foot in the “New World”, there has always been issues with the Native Americas. Many Americans had decided to get rid of the Native Americans but Andrew Jackson proposed the “ Indian Removal”. By 1840, thousands of Native Americans were ripped from the land they grew up in and were forced to painfully walk across to the Mississippi river. A great effect that this had was that the walk across the river was not easy leaving many Native Americans to die on the trail consequently lowering their population to shockingly low numbers. Andrew Jackson and the federal government were the main ones involved and their whole motive was to get the Native Americans out as to them they were different and didn’t belong in “their” land. It’s quite difficult to say what I would do in this position as know we all have a different mentality of dealing with people but I would have just let them stay in their rightful land.

What I find interesting is the ultime fear we have for things that are different from what we are used to. That we have such a fear that people didn’t care if Native Americans died in this trail or not. I would like my audience to know from this topic that this type of mentality that Andrew Jackson had, the type that the federal government still follows us to this day. We love to see how much we have evolved mentally with our decisions but at the end we have still stayed with the same mentality of fearing the different. There is one current event I can connect this topic to, the ICE detention centers. Although we are not stripping them from their land we are again putting a barrier between us and what if different. The way certain people act with immigrants who wants to come into a seemingly “ New World” but we want to stop their entrance for their differences.

Around the year 1818, Federick Douglass was born into slavery. At that time, there were many laws in place to forbid one teaching slaves to read and write, for the main purpose that with a lower education, the lower the chances or rebellion. Douglass’ master had ignored that law and decided to teach him the alphabet at 12. Starting to learn small bits and pieces, he began to learn more and more from white children around his neighborhood. Being able to read allowed him to take his stance agasint slavery as he now understood. Frederick Douglass later became an abolitionist agaisnt slavery. He would then start to teach other slaves, something their owners weren’t very happy about. Douglass was able to escape slavery and flee to Maryland where he marrried and had 5 children. Frederick Douglass’ motive was to end slavery. He was one of the few slaves that could understand the whole concept that fed this strive to end slavery as a whole. I admire what he did with teaching slaves what he knew and I would honestly do the same if I knew what he did. The only thing I would do different is teach slaves secretly. Douglass had taught in class like sceneries and I feel that it is too risky, hence why they would get attacked by slave owners. I would teach at night when it was safer or on Sundays when slaves were allowed to rest. What I find interesting about this topic is how he took the blessing he had of education and used it for good. Many would just flee at the chance since they were more intelligent but Douglass decided to stay, teach others what he knew and fight agaisnt the horror of slavery.

I would like my audience to know and appreciate the bravery of some people. Slave owners were brutal with their slaves. How this woman could forget the laws and teach this small boy something. With him just learning the alphabet and simple fragments, he was able to read and understand concepts. It was quite hard to find something that connects in todays world but connecting to Andrew Jackson and how the Trail of Tears killed off many Native Americans, the small percentage that still know the native language teach it to younger students to preserve the language. Similar to how Douglass taught slaves what he knows to be able to get more and more people to obtain the skills he had.

The Salem witch preliminaries of 1692 occurred in Salem, Massachusetts. Generally speaking, 141 individuals were captured as 19 were hung and one squashed to death. Scientists portray the Salem witch preliminaries as a progression of court preliminaries that were planned for indicting people who had been blamed for black magic. Earlier hearings of the Salem witch preliminaries were done in a few unique towns. The real preliminary was led by the Court of Oyer and Terminer arranged in Salem town. A few colonists were brought together and accused of black magic and witch craft. Of the denounced, 14 ladies and 5 men were hung. There were fears about religious fanatics the same number of advisors saw black magic as being futile. Numerous issues inside the general public were ascribed to the witches living in the town of Salem. At the time of their capture, the majority of them were seen with things accepted as used to engender their exercises.

There were around 600 in Salem town that tangled with one gathering contending that they reserved the option to stay in the town as cultivating families and the other to choose the eastern side of the rich rural town of Salem. The independence was conflicting with the shared idea of Puritanism. The Putnams felt that the enormous cultivating families were totally confined from the remainder of the town and amassed a huge amount of riches. The Putnams were recognized pioneers of a dissenter gathering. This dissenter gathering possessed the greater part of the cultivating land in Salem town. The Putnams wanted to frame an assemblage that would in reality join them inside Salem. In 1689, the religious gathering was framed under the lead of Reverend Parris. This religious assembly just spoke to a little gathering of the people in Salem as a large portion of the individuals were Putnams. Two groups had developed inside the religious gathering. These groups were isolated based on the agreement under which Reverend Parris was utilized to direct the congregation issues. It is accepted that Reverend Parris got this and significantly more, henceforth making inquiries about why he was being concurred such sort of treatment.

Reverend Parris compensation was paid by the neighborhood citizens. Pundits who didn’t bolster this, regularly murmured peacefully thus making and extending the previously existing cleft with the religious association wherein Reverend Parris was the fundamental head. Most Puritans had faith in black magic as the wellspring of capacity to hurt others. They further accepted that the black magic was entering association with the villain in return for certain detestable powers so as to proliferate their insidious exercises. In this way, the religious order who lived in a similar town of Salem was against black magic as they considered it as a wrongdoing. It is likewise accepted that most Puritans were against the Church of England and contradicted the greater part of their regulations. Subsequently, hostility was made between the Puritans and the Church of England at the time. This finished into regular clashes between the Puritans and the congregation individuals who frequently level blames against one another. The puritans didn’t purchase any of the customs that the congregation was directed. It was this religious separation that filled the Salem black magic preliminary of 1692 that prompted the executing of a few witches inside the town, a large portion of who were Puritans. There was an enormous political separation in Salem between the English pilgrims in the east and their adversaries who were huge cultivating families.

They made a few assaults on one another with significant losses being accounted for. In 1692 when the new Governor was chosen, he had numerous issues to settle. He started the commission of unique court known as the court of Oyer and Terminer which was accused of the duty of taking care of the expanding number of individuals who were denounced at the time. Cultivating was frequently the primary driver of debate among neighbors and families. As families developed in size, so did their cultivating land. A large portion of the cultivating area pushed forward into the wild, therefore making strain the contention that was at that point blending. Dry spell or change in climate could undoubtedly crash a year’s yield absent much thought. This brought about pressure. Religious strain aggravated this the same number of Puritans accepted that God had propelled his anger on man because of his wicked nature. This conviction made numerous individuals dread the activities of the individuals who were against God. Along these lines, numerous religious gatherings, for example, the Church of England pushed for the disposal of witches from the Salem society so as to appreciate a decent guard reap and experience downpour. Besides, the economic wellbeing that the Puritans agreed to the ladies didn’t help much as the ladies were accepted to be demon’s workers. The Puritans’ recognition about ladies expanded the pressure that had just worked inside the network prompting strife in convictions, one of the establishments that the Salem preliminaries depended on. Kids were disheartened from playing and for the most part carrying on with a public activity among the Puritans. They were the least esteemed. Correspondingly, young ladies were limited from social groupings and exercises in the conviction that they would be utilized by the fallen angel at a youthful age. Ladies were commonly not permitted to possess land and by and large land returned to the past proprietor if the spouse kicked the bucket.

Witch-chasing turned into a game and an everyday standard among the Puritans so as to gain property. The impacts of this on the general public were broad. The Salem witch trials left a long-lasting effect on the American colonists.

Samuel Parris left the room full of anger. Despite the tax problems he was facing from the visiting Salem village, he now has another difficulty for his daughter of 9, and his niece of 11, have both been diagnosed by the doctor to have been bewitched by someone. The past couple of days, Elizabeth and Abigail have been acting very strangely. Parris heard them scream bloody murder, heave things across the room, make strange abnormal sounds, and find them in strange and weird poses. Paranoid as he was, he took them to the local doctor where he learned the dark truth. His best man came up to him with a worried look. “What would I do help, sir?” – he asked politely. “We will find the ones responsible for this” – he responded. Little did he know he would cause one of the darkest parts of Colonial America, known as the Salem Witch Trials, which resulted in 19 hangings, 1 crushed to death, and many succumbed to jail. Historians for years have been trying to find the reason why so many witchcraft accusations from Salem residents were made to innocent puritans. Now Historians have found the answer. The Salem Witch Trials were caused by mental illness and exacerbation towards the upper class.

While many faked that they were bewitched. Some believed they were. During this period, people didn’t know anything about mental health, or anything of the sort. Especially since Puritans believed in a certain way of life that required them to follow certain attributes, and that anything abnormal happening to them was caused by the devil’s magic. According to an article by Nik Decosta-Klipa, many accusers were “…suffering from psychological ailments”. One specific ailment was Mass Conversion Disorder that plagued a comeback “…more than 300 years later”. In 2012, a group of teenage girls from New York experienced symptoms of twitching, jerking, and even outbursts. According to Dr. Robert Bartholomew, “Most victims are normal, healthy people”. These symptoms are very similar to Parris’s daughter and nieces who were normal, healthy people, and unfortunately had no medication to cure them. Because of the different cultures at the time, the only diagnosis was with superstition.

Going back towards people faking that they are bewitched, many Puritans from Salem did it for one reason. At this time, the tension was building between the village and town folk. The war of 1689, known as William’s war, caused problems with resources in Salem village who depend on their agriculture to pay taxes towards the people of Salem town. The village also grew immense hate towards Samuel Parris who had gained greed towards the tax money he collected from the Puritans. According to an article by Jeff Blumberg, many puritans believe that their lack of resources was because of “…the work of the devil”. Many of the people that faked that they were bewitched probably did it to get back at the townsfolk who were taking all their tax money.

The Salem Witch Trials were one of the most notorious events that took place in colonial America. While many historians for years have come up with theories about why the events happened. Historians have found that they were caused by mental Illness which was never believed to exist at the time of 1692 and that the village folk was angry at the townsfolk for taking all their taxes while they are struggling with their resources.

Salem, a city along the northeast coast of Massachusetts, is infamously known for its dark history of the prosecution of witches during the 17th century. Long before the witch hunt, the Puritian village firmly believed in the supernatural. As their strength in the worship of God was strong, they also believed that the Devil was real. In 1692, Puritan belief in the supernatural exponentially grew to the barrage of witch accusations based upon unearthly evidence. In February of 1692, a couple young girls became very sick and lost control of their actions. They were reported for harsh fits and speaking tongue that was unrecognizable. Three women were quickly accused for the bewitchment of the girls: Tibuta, the slave of one of the families, Sarah Good, a homeless beggar, and Sarah Osborne, an impoverished elderly woman. As the three women were tried, Tibuta confessed to allegedly working with the devil and was immediately arrested and placed in jail. The accusations of the women aroused panic within Salem, infiltrating the minds and hearts of many. Scapegoating on the idea of witchcraft began to be commonly used within Salem, where neighbors were blaming each other for suspicious activities that can be related to witches. Each case was based on hearsay ideals, bringing accusations to be from sources that were given remotely. The town had approximately 200 women accused of witchcraft, in which 19 were killed as punishment, 4 died during their containment in jail, and 1 was tortured to death. Salem was taken under the control of the devil, in which the village was blinded from making humane choices. Men and women were tried and they faced consequences that was deemed inevitable. In the account of Bridget Bishop within preserved transcriptions of her examination, it is shown that Bishop was predetermined by the village to be charged with the counts of witchcraft that was held against her. “To which indictments the said Bridget Bishop pleaded not guilty and for trial thereof put herself upon God and her country, whereupon she was found guilty of felonies and witchcrafts whereof she stood indicted, and sentence of death accordingly passed against her as the law directs”. Through the evidence of the primary source transcribed within the Essex County Court Archives, predetermined punishments were alloted to many people within Salem, making it difficult to avoid being placed in jail or worse, execution.

The Essex County Court Archives have been preserved throughout US history, providing a better understanding of the court rulings during the mass witch hunt. The archives for the village provides different points of views of the scribes of the event. Each transcription contains the dialogue between the examiners conversing with the accused, providing spectral evidence to the court. The judges for these trials had a firm belief of witchcraft, thus they sought out to see punishment for all of the witchcrafting residents within the village. For Bridget Bishop, the records showed that no matter how she pleaded, there was no change in the heart of the examiner. “I never saw these persons before; nor I never was in this place before…. I have no familiarity with the Devil”. Although there were many accusations going against Bishop’s favor, it was apparent that her examiners wanted to see punishment through. There was continuing avoidance of accepting Bishop’s claims as true within her trial. Every time there was an opportunity, her examiners would ask her a question rather than consider her statement. “Why if you have not wrote in the book, yet tell me how far you have gone? Have you not to do with familiar Spirits?…. How is it then, that your appearance doth hurt these?”. Salem appeared to have sought out punishments to those who does not follow the social norms. If people deemed others as nonconforming, it must be in relation of the devil living within then, thus they should not be there. “The witch trials, therefore, may have been attempts to control social behavior and insure conform”. It was made clear through the conversations between examiner and examinee that there was a decision already made out to punish by imprisonment or death, setting precedent for following trials during the period of witch hunts.

In order to better understand the significance of the punishments placed upon “witches” in Salem, it is crucial to understand their religious background of the overall village. Salem was founded as a Calvinist dominant city. Calvinism is the belief in the idea of predestination; where God has decided whether one goes to Heaven or Hell the moment someone is born. The village of Salem was filled with firm believers of this concept, thus they lived a stricter lifestyle in order to prove that they are candidates of Christ and to stay worthy of going to Heaven in their afterlife. Puritans shared similar beliefs with the calvinists, thus also believing in the judgement of God. The Puritan group believed in cleansing their culture of what they regarded as corrupt and sinful. They promoted public morality by creating rules, such as the restrictions on drunkenness, gambling, and swearing. Puritans had a strong parionia against anything they deemed as sinful because it could potentially ruin their possibility of a good afterlife. The Puritan beliefs goes hand in hand with the witch trials in Salem because of the strong fear of extraordinary events. The examiners referenced the Old Testament of the Bible in order to support the predetermined fates for those who were accused and “confirmed as witches”. For example, in Leviticus 20:27, the Lord spoke down to Moses about the children of Israel. He talks about rules that they must follow if they want to remain His children. He mentions how witchcraft and anything else that relates to connecting with spirits who have already died is punishable by death and will have those who are spell casters end in hell. “A man or a woman who is a medium or spiritist among you must be put to death”. Through using scripture in the context of the witch trials, this was a method of scaring the community of having the devil living within those who must be prosecuted. Salem had a strong religious background that made a strong influence on their legal procedure.

To the Puritans, good deeds and prosperity were believed to be the work of God while misfortunes and abnormalities were to be the work of the Devil. In 1692, the infamous Salem Witch Trials began in Salem Village, Massachusetts. After a group of young girls were thought to be possessed by the devil, local women were accused of witchcraft which started a wave of hysteria and panic throughout the colony. A special court was then created in order to put the accused witches on trial for their wrong doings. However, this court system was deeply flawed. The trial proceedings did not have a concrete legal structure or process. Oftentimes, the accused had little to no say in their fate as the accusers held a “guilty until proven innocent” mindset. The Salem Witch Trials also could have stemmed from another mindset that Puritan officials wanted to defend their society from other non-Puritan missionaries and officials who threatened their community. Eventually, the court system was its own downfall as many Puritans began to become skeptical of their own values within their society.

Puritan society and values in the 17th Century were heavily influenced by Christian beliefs and the church. The laws of Puritan society were extremely solidified, and people were expected to abide by the strict moral codes. Furthermore, anything that went against this code was believed to be a sin and ultimately punished. This structure of living is what led to the Salem Witch Trials and the mass panic that it created throughout New England. The witch trials in the grand scheme was not successful for what they intended to do on the surface. The Puritans were not finding real witches and they were blind to the bigger picture. The Witch Trials could have stemmed from another reason. In “Cotton Mather on the Recent History of New England”, Mather talks about the “attacks” on Puritan values from non-Puritan missionary and other unwelcome officials.[footnoteRef:1] These non-Puritan ideals that were coming in were looked at as part of a demonic assault on New England. This leads into the idea that the Salem Witch Trials were really an effort to scare the Puritan society to make sure they continued to conform to the morals code and laws set in place by the Church. The witch scare may have been posed by ministers in the community in order to scare people back to the church. The accusation and conviction of a few witches would be enough to deter others from acting out of place out of fear of being accused along with the other “witches”. Mather goes on to say that the People need to band together and “make a good and right use of the prodigious descent which the Devil in great wrath is making upon our land.”[footnoteRef:2] This is clearly a direct call for the people of New England to declare their faith and values and those that do not are in line with the Devil. This shows the radicalization of their religion in hopes of maintaining order. While the witch trials may have been fostered by the want of a more orderly and unified society, it also had the opposite effect on the people of New England and Puritan society. [1: Cotton Mather, Cotton Mather on the Recent History of New England, (Boston, 1692), 32.] [2: Mather, History of New England, 33.]

While the hidden goal of the Witch Trials was to keep order within the Puritan society, it ended up doing just the opposite. First, its important to note why this happened. Ultimately, this result was caused by the horrible structure of the trials and often times the extreme radical process of convicting the “witches”. For example, in the Sarah Good and Bridget Bishop Trials, there was always little to no concrete evidence and the accusers were pitted against the victim without any say. Questions were asked in a manner that already accused the ladies of witchcraft from the start.[footnoteRef:3] People being convicted and hanged based off of “spectral evidence” seemed unfathomable to those who did not believe in the witch trials. This caused people within the Puritan society to become skeptical of their own values and methods. They began to question what is was they were even doing and what the reason for the completely useless trials were. An example of this can be seen in the letter from Thomas Brattle. Brattle was one of the strongest critics of the trials and he openly condemned the courts and the magistrates that took part in the trials.[footnoteRef:4] His openness about his rejection of the courts was brave and a bad sign that those within the Puritan society were beginning to push back on the values that their community was trying to uphold. While Thomas Brattle was just the loudest voice, it would be naive to think that he was the only one that was opposed to what was going on. Like many things, once one person speaks out others tend to feel a greater sense of will and in turn follow. The increasing competition from other religious groups and the pressure to keep society orderly, subconsciously fed into the extreme obsession over the accusation and condemnation of witches. However, the Puritans own practices led to the downfall of their trial system and a sense of skepticism among their own people which was the opposite of what Puritan officials were trying to achieve. [3: Examination of Sarah Good, Examination of Bridget Bishop, (Essex County Court Archives, 1692). 38-45.] [4: Thomas Brattle, Letter from Thomas Brattle to an Unnamed Clergyman, (1692)]

Puritanism played a big role in how the infamous Salem Witch Trials unfolded. Puritans believed that the witch trials were held in order to cleanse their society of the Devil and bring together a more faithful community. Puritans based the trials off of their own values and beliefs but doing so made them more vulnerable to criticism from people inside their own community. There is no other factor that played such a huge role in how the witch trials started and abruptly ended.

Bibliography

1. Mather, Cotton. Cotton Mather on the Recent History of New England. (Boston, 1692), 32.
2. Examination of Sarah Good, (Essex County Court Archives, 1692).
3. Examination of Bridget Bishop, (Essex County Court Archives, 1692).
4. Thomas Brattle, Letter from Thomas Brattle to an Unnamed Clergyman, (1692)