The Salem Witch Trials
Course Syllabus
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Rutgers University, Camden
Department of History
Format: Online
Email Address: [email protected]
Office Hours: Online Only62:00 to 3:00PM on Tuesday & 8:00 to 9:00 on Friday
Course Overview:
The Salem Witch Trials is a detailed survey of religion, spirituality, superstition, and
witchcraft in colonial New England, culminating in a comprehensive study of the Salem
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occurrence of the trials at Salem.
The Salem witchcraft trials of 1692 and 1693 did not occur in a vacuum. Although
extreme in their scope and intensity, the witch trials fit within a broader religious and
cultural context in seventeenth century New England. In this course, we will pursue a
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broader religious/spiritual/cultural contexts of the period. We begin with a close reading
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popular spiritual and supernatural worldview, as well as the variety of religiously-infused
public rituals, common to New Englanders. We will then move to an examination of
E"+)#!2'F,2@**!7%'()*'A*B"$7%'Dominion to illustrate and evaluate the relationship
between magic and religion at the time. Through the works of Professors Hall and
Godbeer we will come to a richer and more nuanced understanding of the relationships
between orthodox theology, popular religion, spirituality, ritual, magic, the supernatural,
and witchcraft as it was understood by Puritan New Englanders in the seventeenth
century.
With the context laid out before us, we will move to a detailed examination of the witch
trials at Salem thems*$B*%&''D*'5"$$'@*1"/'5"0)'#/'#%%*%%=*/0',.'G#!,$'H#!$%*/7%'The
Devil in the Shape of a Woman. We will evaluate the economic and demographic
patterns apparent during the events of 1692 and 1693 and document the relationship
between witchcraft accusations, gender, and inheritance practices. We then proceed to
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relationship between the witchcraft trials and the traumas faced by New Englanders,
often at the hands of Nativ*'M=*!"+#/%>'2-!"/1'H"/1'L)"$"?7%'#/2'H"/1'D"$$"#=7%'5#!%&
Interpretations of the Salem Witch Trials are many and varied. The events of 1692 and
1693 are simultaneously some of the most popular and also misunderstood
occurrences in early American history. In this course we will seek to dispel some of the
myths surrounding the period and come to understand the Salem Witch Trials from the
perspectives of New England Puritans. In the process, we will come to see the greater
significance of the Witch Trials to early American history.
Required Readings:
Secondary SourcesNTextbooks
1. Godbeer, Richard. ()*'A*B"$7%'A,="/",/O''I#1"+'#/2'E*$"1",/'"/'6#!$<'4*5'
England. Cambridge University Press, 1994.
ISBN: 9780521466707
2. Hall, David. Worlds of Wonder, Days of Judgment: Popular Religious Belief in
Early New England. Harvard University Press, 1990.
ISBN: 9780674962163
3. Karlsen, Carol F. The Devil in the Shape of a Woman: Witchcraft in Colonial
New England. W. W. Norton & Company, 1998,
ISBN: 978-0-393-31759-6
4. Norton, Mary Beth. K/'0)*'A*B"$7%';/#!*O''()*';#$*='D"0+)+!#.0'G!"%"%',.'PQRS&
Vintage, 2003.
ISBN: 9780375706905
Secondary SourcesNArticles (available through Jstor)
Elaine G. Breslaw>'8("0-@#7%'G,/.*%%",/O''()*'I-$0"+-$0-!#$'A"=*/%",/%',.'0)*'PQRS'
Salem Witch-C-/0>:'Ethnohistory, Vol. 44, No. 3 (Summer, 1997), pp. 535-556.
A#B"2'C#!$*<>'863?$#"/"/1';#$*=O''G#$B"/"%0'L%<+),$,1<'#/2'0)*'A"#1/,%"%',.'
L,%%*%%",/>:'The American Historical Review, Vol. 101, No. 2 (Apr., 1996), pp. 307330.
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U"$$#1*'#/2'M/2,B*!>:'The New England Quarterly, Vol. 79, No. 1 (Mar., 2006), pp. 92122.
Primary Sources
**Additional primary sources will be assigned within some lessons and will be made
available to students through elearning. Some of the additional primary sources will be
located within the Secondary Sources listed above.
EVALUATION AND ASSESSMENT
Grading Distribution
Midterm Exam
Final Exam
Lessons 1-8
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20%
20%
60%
CLASS PARTICIPATION: Each student is required to read all online instructor
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EXAMS: Each student will be responsible for the completion of two online
objective exams. Students must logon to take their exams during the EXAM
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the course itself.
LESSONS: This course consists of eight separate lessons, or parts. Each lesson
runs for, or is the equivalent to, two calendar weeks during a regular fifteen week
semester. To successfully conclude a lesson, students must complete one
online assignment: the answer to a Discussion Question (DQ).
! Discussion Question: Each student will be responsible for submitting an
original short essay for each of the eight lessons. Essays will be based on
questions posted by the instructor for each lesson. Essays must be a
minimum of 500 words in length (roughly two typed, double-spaced
pages). Essays must be based on assigned textbook or article readingsN
DO NOT USE ONLINE OR OUTSIDE SOURCES. Proper citations must
be included in each Discussion Question assignment. ESSAYS MUST
BE SUBMITTED BY 11:59PM ON THEIR DUE DATES.
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CLASS POLICIES
ATTENDANCE POLICY: G$#%%'8#00*/2#/+*:'#/2'?#!0"+"?#0",/'"/'+$#%%'2"%+-%%",/%'#!*'
essential to this course. Students must meet all expectations outlined above under
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PLAGIARISM:
Students are required to properly cite all written assignments.
Footnotes or parenthetical references and a works cited page are required for each
assignment. Whether paraphrasing or directly quoting the work of another author,
students must include a citation. Further instructions for citations will be provided within
the instructions for each written assignment. Written assignments submitted without
citations or that evidence plagiarism will receive no credit.
LATE/MISSED WORK: A key to taking any college course is time management. There
are many reading and writing assignments in this course; all have clear, firm deadlines.
All assignments must be submitted by 11:59pm on their respective due dates. Late
work will be accepted up to one calendar week after its due date at a 5% grade
reduction for the assignment. Plan accordingly!
GRADING POLICIES:
The instructor typically grades all required assignments within one calendar week of
their respective due dates. Delays do occasionally occur, depending on the number of
students in a given course. Please be patient. Please note that late assignments are
graded last.
COMMUNICATION POLICY:
The instructor typically responds to all student emails within twenty-four to forty-eight
hours after they are received. Please contact the professor by using the Rutgers email
address listed on the first page of this syllabus. More prompt responses to emails will
be available during the online office hours listed above. Please do not hesitate to
contact me with questions or concerns. I am more than happy to help.
ONLINE ETIQUETTE: Students are to conduct themselves in a respectful and
professional manner at all times within the online environment. All communications and
postingsNpublic, between students, or between student and professorNare to be
considered the same as communication within a regular, on-campus classroom.
Students are not to use vulgar, discriminatory, insulting, threatening, or otherwise
derogatory language. Essentially, students should not write anything they would not
say in a regular, on-campus class. Additionally, please remember that the user names
you are looking atNthose of your professor and other studentsNare, in fact, other
people. Please use the same discretion you would use in face-to-face communications.
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TOPICAL OUTLINE *
LESSONS
LESSON 1
TOPICS
Course Orientation
READINGS **
Welcome Message/Lesson 1
LESSON 2
Literacy and a World of Wonders
Hall: Introduction-Chap. 2
LESSON 3
The Meetinghouse and Ritual
Hall: Chap. 3-5
Breslaw article
LESSON 4
Magic and Religion
Godbeer: whole book
LESSON 5
Demography and Economics of
Witchcraft
Karlsen: Chap. 1-3
Latner article
LESSON 6
Gender and Witchcraft
Karlsen: Chap. 4-7
LESSON 7
War and Witchcraft, Part 1
Norton: Introduction-Chap. 4
Harley article
LESSON 8
War and Witchcraft, Part 2
Norton: Chap. 5-Conclusion
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lesson.
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document located in Lesson 1.
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** The readings listed in the topical outline refer to the books and articles listed above
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