Dbq Salem Witch Trial Hysteria Of 1692

As we suspected, the majority of female defendants were accused of inflicting their sorceries on only female victims. Out of twenty cases (the gender of the victims was unclear in one of our selected cases, so the population is reduced for this figure), nine female defendants had only female victims. Five were accused of attacking only men, and the other six were accused of affecting members of both gender. Because there were so few values for this particular variable, we did not find it relevant to graph or chart this information. We did, however, feel it necessary to create a frequency chart for this set of data, as it directly addresses one of our hypotheses.

Another purpose as to the root cause of the Salem Witch Hysteria is because economic dislocation. Documents 5, 4, and 3 are charts representing the location of thing that occurred and were there placed. The charts are socially stratified. They were separated economically, also if you look closely the people who are like leaders of the village are actually more richer. Document 9 is a photograph of Matthew Hopkins the witchfinder.

In colonial New England and Europe, belief in the supernatural, specifically in the devil’s procedure of giving some humans –witches –the power to impair others in return for their faith, was unfolded in the early 14th century. People who were thought to be different were accused of witchcraft and apprehended for trials. One of the first trials of Salem was in January 1962, when one of Reverend Samuels Parris’s slaves, called Tituba, would gather a bunch of teenage girls every day. Later in spring, the townspeople were shocked at the girls’ behaviors. It was believed that they danced a black magic dance in nearby woods, and some girls would fall on the floor and hysterically scream.

Norton discusses the many witch-hunts that took place before 1692 and writes that "with very few exceptions, [early New Englanders] believed unhesitatingly in the existence of witchcraft. " Norton attempts to explain this tendency by pointing out that "In the world of 1692, many events lacked obvious explanations: Children suddenly sickened and died, farm animals suffered mysterious ailments, strange noises were heard and ghostly visions seen." After indicating the psychological vulnerability of 1692 Salem by proclaiming that "during the early 1690s, residents of [Massachusetts] were experiencing many setbacks that needed explanation," Norton highlights some of the unique aspects of the Trials. The staggering number of accusers and accused, exponentially greater than in any previous witchcraft case, "cry out for explanation. " The geographic reach of the case, she argues, is significant as well-—whereas prior cases were based on accusations coming from one or two different towns, the Salem Trials involved victims and "witches" from over 22 different locations.

In the May of 1692, Increase Mather returned to New England with Sir William Phipps. By the time of their arrival, the witch trials were already taking place, having started a few months prior in February. As the witch hunt in Salem escalated, the prison cells started to fill up with individuals accused of witchcraft. The confusing political situation following the ascension on William and Mary and the new charter allowed for a court Oyer and Terminer to be put in place on the 27th of May 1692. The lieutenant governor, William Stoughton, became the chief magistrate for this newly appointed court.

In a town called salem there was a huge rumor going around. That rumor was that people were doing witchcraft. Many innocent people were being blamed for the action of doing witchcraft that had nothing to do with it. These people were being hung for doing absolutely nothing but telling the truth. In times like this their are many grudges and personal rivalries going on.

In addition, one cause of the Salem Witch Trial hysteria was sexism. Evidence of this is from the Salem Court Records where out of 20 people executed for witchcraft 14 were women and six were men(Doc A). This evidence shows that there were more women than men being executed and accused of witchcraft. The people were sexist against women because they weren’t as many men being executed and accused. The accusers, who were mostly women, were being sexist against other women that were being accused.

Nineteen men and women hung from the tree of destruction, for they were the ornaments of hysteria. New England was supposed to be a land of opportunity for the Puritans. During the summer of 1692, Salem Village proved to a wretched example of this; twenty people were falsely accused of witchcraft and were accordingly jailed and executed. Salem’s infamy has bewildered many, for nobody truly knows in entirety what caused the hysteria of the Salem Witch Trials in 1692. Clearly, there were a few possible causes of the hysteria; however, envious, young, single women; sexism; and lying little girls stand out as the main causes.

"There are such strange people in the world, when a fly walks over their body, it must be witchcraft. " Anna Roleffes said this quote during her trial after she was accused of witchcraft. It verifies that people were accused of being witches and wizards with very little and inconsistent evidence. However, more than 150 people were indicted, and 20 were executed. The chilling havoc spread during the winter of 1692 in Salem Village when a doctor "diagnosed" three ladies with peculiar visions and fits, with bewitchment.

Document E shows us that thirty-two out of thirty-four accusers lived on the west side of town. This would mean that almost all of the accused lived on the east side of town. According to the note on Document E, the people living on the east side of town tended to be more affluent and had more political power. In the contrast, the accusers that lived on the west side had very little to no wealth, and they had no political power. This evidence helps explain the hysteria because it shows that loss of wealth and power can cause resentment.

In total, the process of his execution took two full days (Findling 162-163). Executions consumed the summer of 1692 for Salem Village. Finally realizing how awful the court system and executions were, the Salem Witch Trials came to an end. Although the chaos caused by the trials had started to resolve, some of the same original fits occurred in the years following (“Salem Witch Trials” n. pag.). Salem Village was ready to move on, so the victims were ignored.

For example, Annika L of the Salem Times states, “A fourth theory is that the girls behavior was caused by physical illness.” Despite the fact that such points could be defended with some logic, most of the support would be weak and loose. On the other hand, it can be concluded that the claim made by this essay is more logical and well supported if anything. All in all, it can be determined that the cause of the Salem Witch Trials was the attempt of Salem citizens to either defend or create family ties and enter or sustain continued community safety within the

Salem was a town divided into two sides, the west side being poor, and the east side being where wealthy people stayed. Document E shows that the accusers were mainly on the west side, and the accused witches were mostly on the east side, this showing that the poor were the ones mainly accusing the rich and wealthy. Document E’s evidence is backing up the theory that another cause of the Salem witch `trial hysteria was Salem being divided, with one side accusing the other. “Although” statement where you agree there might be other contributing causes. It is true that other causes may help explain the hysteria.

The Salem witch trial hysteria of 1692 may have been instigated by religious, social, geographic and even biological factors. During these trials, 134 people were condemned as witches and 19 were hanged. These statistics also include 5 more deaths that occurred prior to their execution date. It is interesting to look into the causes of this stain on American History, when as shown in document B, eight citizens were hanged in only one day.

The Salem witch trial was a time about accusing your fellow neighbor or being accused yourself, this all began in 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts. During this time many people were being accused of being a witch, a majority of the time it was because either someone truly believed that you were a witch and were reeking havoc or they were trying to find someone to take the blame if they were to being accused. So this leads us to question, what began the Salem Witch Trials? There were at least three causes of the Salem witch trials hysteria. These were Betty Parris and Abigail Williams story, Ergotism, and the acknowledgment of hysteria.