How Did Williams Punish The Puritans

Throughout the course of America’s history there are many events of injustice: the mistreatment of Native Americans, using African Americans as personal property, and accusing men and women in Salem, Massachusetts of witchcraft. The Salem witch trials occurred many years ago in 1692. In the Puritan community, religion was a huge part of life. It controlled most of people’s everyday activities and was a way to find hope in their difficult, unglamourous lives. According to History.com, “Puritans were portrayed by their enemies as hair splitters who slavishly followed their bibles as guides to daily life” (Delbanco).

The lying caused the witch trial hysteria. In 1692,In salem massachusetts. The puritans believed of what they read in the bible and becasue of the fales accusations twenty people died. One of them was a man and he was pressed to death. The three causes of the salem witch trails were the dividing towns,lying,and age.

This was a time of religious revival in the 18th and 19th centuries. In other words, people started to become more religious and started to practice more religious beliefs than they did before. After the Salem Witch Trials, many people were beginning to think that Puritanism was not the right religion to follow and that it was easy to become misguided when trying to follow it. The Puritan ministers, of course, wanted as many people as possible to believe what they did because they were certain that their beliefs were the right ones that God wanted others to follow. They tried their best to get people to realize that the whole religion was not bad; just a few people got the wrong ideas and were mistaken on what the ideas actually meant.

In Salem, Massachusetts, Puritans were strong believers in the Bible. The Bible states, “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.” The Puritans beliefs led to them accusing 20 innocent people of being a witch, this resulted in their deaths in 1692. Even though the Puritans couldn’t see it at the time, their accusations were really based off jealousy, lies, and Salem being divided into two parts. One cause of the Salem witch trial hysteria was jealousy.

The Puritans were Christian Protestants, so they relied heavily on the Bible and interpreted it literally. However, this means their fundamental perception of women comes from the book of Genesis, in which Eve betrays God first. Richard Goodbeer, author and professor at the University of Kansas, says it best: “Eve’s legacy as the female prototype was double-edged: on the one hand, she served as a successful helpmeet in the Garden of Eden; on the other, she was Satan’s first human ally.” When interpreted literally – as Puritans often did – a conclusion pulled from Eve’s actions could be that women are the most likely to succumb to the Devil, as it is in their nature. When put into the time of the Salem Witch Trials, this framing resulted in the idea that women should be the first to blame for witchcraft.

During times of mass hysteria, people will believe what others say no matter the implausibility. In the 1600s, Puritan villages such as the one in Salem, Massachusetts, began to fear the uprising of witchcraft. Puritan beliefs command that one should fear God and fear the unknown, and many things were considered sins. These sins could lead a person to sorcery and the Devil. To save oneself in Salem, one had to lie.

Whatever the bible said the puritans believed, and one subject about the devil. The devil was real and he was clever, one of his trick was to enter a normal person’s body and turn that person into a witch. The Salem witch trials in 1692 were caused by? The Salem witch trials in 1692 were caused by three things marital status, lying girls, and economic differences. Marital status was one because the women who were accused were more married then single.

Mary Warren’s public display of extreme fear of the near future went on to cause a large portion of the population to arrive at a complete outbreak of hysteria. Often times, rumors or threats put an irrational fear into society. In this case, the threat of possible witchcraft caused the mass population to cry out in a confused state of hysteria. Since the idea of witchcraft is a foreign and likewise unwelcome idea in a specifically Puritan based society, the social norm was

These views, in and of themselves, speak to the level of intolerance permeating America and to the level of fear associated with witchcraft. The Religious intolerance and fear experienced in English North America was not a sole construct of Puritanism in New England. These ideas permeated Southwards throughout the length of the thirteen English colonies. Oftentimes, the fear of witchcraft led to colonial governments establishing capital laws against any person entering into communion with Satan.

With the Puritans having strict religious beliefs about the devil and God, it gave them strong feelings about the ways in which women impacted their community. Along with their religious beliefs, their society had certain beliefs about women and the way they should act which led them to suspect anything out of the “norm” as a sign of the devil. While some of this could be on women and the way we speak, the Puritans already had such strong feelings toward the vulnerable mind of women that it wouldn’t matter. The women were represented by weakness in nearly every aspect a person can be judged on and this thought of them as the weaker vessel is what ultimately led to them being accused and persecuted more than men during the Salem Witch

The Puritans ran from persecution but then used the witch hunt to persecute innocent people based on the word of the women and men who had ulterior motives. The women used this opportunity to punish people they long had problems or resentment for. These women- Abigail, Tituba, and Mary- were aware of the power they felt when they were being heard by people in their community who were deemed Godly, upstanding citizens. So, they loved the sense of power they felt. Although the townspeople of Salem used religion as the reason for the witch hunt, the witch hunt created chaos because people started using it a revenge mechanism.

Religion was a very strong influence in the lives of Puritans as they followed a very strict moral code and based their entire lives on their faith. Most Puritans were taught from the Bible that "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live" (Doc. A), which explains why the witch scare was taken so seriously and why the accused were punished so harshly. They believed and feared that "evil spirits were all around" (Doc. C) as noted in Memorable Providences Relating to Witchcraft and Possessions by Cotton Mather, who at that time was a reputable expert in the "invisible world. " It seems strange to 21st-century dwellers that people believed that witches could be identified by marks of the devil, as portrayed in an 1853 painting by T.H. Matteson (Doc. D).

Accusing their neighbors of witchcraft because they were greedy for land or jealous of them. In the “Age of Faith” notes it lists that some visible signs of Puritan Decay was the “Decay in business morality - lying…” (6.1). The Puritan belief really screwed up society, even though it was all about being pure and staying true to God’s word; it only lead to lying cheating and the death of the

From the introduction to the Salem Witch Hunt and the documents in The Salem Witch Hunt: A Brief History with Documents by Richard Godbeer, a lot of information about the scare, hunt and trials during the Witch Panic of 1692 was talked about. When illnesses happened to people, it was explained to them that it was due to witchcraft. Most people thought that witchcraft happened because the natural and supernatural worlds were becoming intertwined with each other. On the other hand, Puritans believed that this was God’s doing; they thought that when they became ill, God sent it to them in order to test or punish them. This showed that people had no understanding of the concept of diseases, germs and even miscarriages yet.

Many practicing Christians, at the time, believed that the Devil could persuade people to use the powers that he gave them to harm others. The Salem Witch Trials occurred because of resource struggles, many women were accused and tortured, and in the end the Governor realized that it was a big mistake. (“Salem Witch Trials”, 1). In 1689, English rulers William and Mary started a war with France in the American colonies which sent many refugees into the Essex County and Salem Village.