Salem Flashcards
colonial witch hunts
At the same time as witch hunting was flourishing in Europe, the British Empire began its rise.
Although the British conquered lands in Africa and Asia, and witchcraft beliefs were widespread in these areas, it is in North America that the greatest fear of witches was to be found.
In the early 17th century, two British colonies emerged on the east coast: in Virginia, where the first British settlement was created at Jamestown in 1607, and in Massachusetts to the north, first settled in 1620.
religious traditions followed in Virginia
In Virginia, and later in the colony of Maryland (founded in 1632), Catholic refugees were welcomed, and the colonies became a haven for those that followed high church traditions.
religious traditions followed in Massachusetts
The first settlers to arrive at Massachusetts on the Mayflower in 1620 were Puritans, and when they established the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1629, it was established on Puritan principles.
Like the Puritans involved in the East Anglian witch-hunt of 1645-47, they were particularly mindful that the Devil was ever-present and attempting to entice people into becoming witches.
The Puritans of Massachusetts
The Puritans of Massachusetts were more militant than those in England, and while asserting their own religious liberties, they refused to tolerate people of other religious denominations.
Every aspect of life in Massachusetts followed strict religious principles, and the clergy were highly respected.
Preachers spoke out against the use of magic, and offered prayers, fasting and deeper religious devotion as solutions. As was the case in Europe, colonists worried about acts of maleficium that caused harm, but there was confusion between this and the diabolic pact.
Alice Young
The first official witch to be executed in the colonies was Alice Young, who was hanged in 1647 on Connecticut.
Twenty-seven more were hanged before the Salem trials of 1692, but many more were subject to whipping, fines or exile.
The importance of Salem
Salem is the most famous, most studied and most deadly of all British colonial witch-hunts.
Twenty people lost their lives as a result of the hunt, but before 1692, witch-hunting was not common in New England.
Only around 100 cases had been heard in the previous 50 years, and only about 25 percent of these had resulted in executions. In the majority of these cases, the suspected witch was someone who was already the subject of resentment from their neighbours, but in Salem anyone could be accused.
The hunt at Salem went out of control in the same way that events in East Anglia, Bamberg and North Berwick had in the preceding century.
More than 200 people were accused of practising witchcraft at Salem and 20 were killed as a result.
The craze has been intensely studied and many historians agree that it came about as a result of fear and scapegoating, but became particularly widespread because the events were acted out in a relatively small, isolated community.
Because the community was so isolated, the people had a heightened sense of fear- particularly of the Devil- and when one woman, Tituba, confessed to practising magic, panic and hysteria ensued.
Tensions between older settlers and newcomers, and between wealthier and poorer residents, fuelled the craze further.
The first settlers to arrive in Salem
The first settlers to arrive in Salem set sail from England in April 1630.
One of the earliest voyages included Governor John Winthrop and nearly 800 colonists.
Winthrop carried with him a colonial charter stating that the colony was a possession of the Crown.
The 1630s were a difficult time for England’s Puritans, as Charles I and his Archbishop of Canterbury, William Laud, were pursuing high church policies and punishing radicals in the Star Chamber.
Perhaps 10,000 Puritans migrated to Massachusetts between 1630 and 1642.
The colony’s economy
The colony’s economy became stronger in the 1640s and 50s, and increasingly successful trade in fur and lumber, as well as a flourishing fishing industry, led to the growth of a merchant class.
the colony became resistant to Charles II’s (1660-85) attempts to allow the Church of England to become established
Puritanism was central to the government and society in places like Salem, and residents were required to pay taxes to the church although it was not compulsory to be a member.
Members of the Puritan church were given the exclusive right to vote for local officials, and non-Puritans could be banished from the colony for spreading dissent.
Charles II was concerned with extending royal influence over his colonies by centralising control in the hands of the royal court
Massachusetts became the most resistant of all colonies.
Attempts were made by Charles to revoke the royal charter in 1678 and 1681 and consolidate all New England colonies into one in order to centralise control, but as a result of resistance from the Puritan authorities, the charter was not formally annulled until 1684.
The reign of James II
Charles II died in 1685 and was succeeded by his Catholic brother, James II.
From 1686, James was able to administer all of the New England colonies as the Dominion of New England, which was governed by Sir Edmund Andros.
Sir Edmund Andros
Although he had experience as a soldier and had acted as bailiff of Guernsey, his high church tendencies and unwillingness to include well-established local Puritans on his council made him unpopular.
A number of Andros’ policies contributed to his fall and the subsequent lack of authority after the Glorious Revolution of 1688
He attempted to fulfil the late Charles II’s wish for Church of England services to be delivered in Puritan churches. Many of the Puritans of Massachusetts suspected him of not only high church Anglicanism, but of having Catholic sympathies.
He introduced new taxes, particularly focusing on import and export duties. Since Massachusetts had no previous tax laws,
