The Salem Witch Trials
Massachusetts Colony, 1692
http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/salem/salem.htm
Puritan
-one who seeks to purify the church, as
opposed to a “pilgrim”
-settled in Massachusetts Bay Colony, seeking
religious freedom
-little is known of their daily lives
-they have earned a (perhaps) undeserved
reputation for strictness and hard-heartedness
-their lives were ordered by their doctrine
-ran into sanctification issues
http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/salem/salem.htm
Dissent
-”to disagree”
-disunity meant death, and so persistent
dissent meant exile:
-Roger Williams, a Protestant minister and
free-thinker, who went across the bay to
establish Providence (later Rhode Island) in
1635.
-Anne Hutchinson, a “inner-light” preacher,
was banished in 1638.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:
Roger_Williams_statue_by_Franklin_Simm
http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/salem/salem.htm
Theocracy
-”rule by God”
But who would be God’s mouthpiece?
-Cotton Mather, who warned of God’s
judgment on the Colony should it stray from
the truth?
-Increase Mather, his father, who believed
that sexual sins were rampant and waiting to
be judged by God?
-Samuel Parris, the new pastor whose
daughter and niece listened intently to slave
stories?
http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/salem/salem.htm
The Event
1689 – Cotton Mather writes a
tract about witchcraft and
demon possession.
1692 – A group of girls had
strange sensations and actions:
tingling arms and legs, shaking,
loud shouting, delusions and
strange dreams.
1692 – A special court is
convened to find the cause of
the problems. Their finding?
Cotton Mather was right!
http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/salem/salem.htm
Some of the Witches:
-Tituba, an Arawak slave who
first confessed and cooperated.
-Sarah Good, a homeless
beggarly crone who claimed
innocence until death (hanged).
-Deliverance Hobbs, a broken
old woman (prison).
-Rebecca Nurse, a God-fearing
widow who led an exemplary
life (hanged).
http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/salem/salem.htm
The final result?
-19 people found guilty of
witchcraft, and hanged.
-Another refused to be tried, and
was crushed by stones.
-The Mathers repudiated first
“spectral evidence” and then the
entire process.
-Later the judges and jury would
apologize, and the survivors were
granted a pension and absolution.
-Theocracy died in Massachusetts
http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/salem/salem.htm
So what really happened?
-Demon possession?
-Bad Theology?
-Theocratic cleansing?
-A cover-up of the pastor’s daughter?
-Social repression?
-Something else?
http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/salem/salem.htm