CCD HISTORY 201 - History of United States 1
William and Mary, at first, had little time to deal with the provincial rebellions. Warfare had broken out in Europe (the War of the League of Augsburg, 1689-1697). Spilling over into America, this contest caused havoc in the lives of frontier settlers like Hannah Dustan. French and Indian raiding parties made orphans of many children, including a few who ended up in Salem Village (now Danvers), Massachusetts, the center of the 1692 witchcraft episode.
Puritans, like most Europeans and colonists elsewhere, believed in witchcraft. They thought the devil could materialize in various shapes and forms, damaging lives at will. Satan's agents included witches and wizards, women and men possessed by his evil spirits. Eighty-one New Englanders had faced accusations of practicing witchcraft before 1692, 16 of whom were put to death. These numbers were insignificant in comparison to accused witches hunted down and executed in Europe.
Reasons abound for the outbreak of the witchcraft hysteria. By the early 1690s
These unsettled conditions may have made the populace overly suspicious and anxious about evil influences in their midst.
In addition, specific tensions affected the Salem area. Salem Town, the port, was caught up in New England's commercial life while outlying settlers around Salem Village remained traditional in seeking God's grace before material wealth. Resentment by the villagers was growing, described even before 1690 as "uncharitable expressions and uncomely reflections tossed to and fro."
These tensions came out in the pattern of accusations when in early 1692 a few adolescent girls, among them some of the war orphans from Maine, started having their "fits." Anxious about their own lives, the girls had asked Tituba, a local slave woman from the West Indies, to tell them their fortunes. She did so. Soon thereafter the girls started acting hysterically, observers claimed, as if possessed by Satan's demons. When asked to name possible witches, the girls did not stop with Tituba.
|
Before the hysteria ended, the "afflicted" girls made hundreds of accusations before a special court appointed to root the devil out of Massachusetts. With increasing frequency they pointed to more urbane, prospering citizens like those of Salem Town. The penalty for practicing witchcraft was death. Some 50 defendants, among them Tituba, saved themselves by admitting their guilt; but 20 men and women were executed (19 by hanging and 1 by the crushing weight of stones) after steadfastly refusing to admit that they had practiced witchcraft. |
By the end of 1692 the craze was over, probably because too many citizens of rank and influence, including the wife of the new royal governor, Sir William Phips, had been accused of doing the devil's work. In time, most participants in the Salem witchcraft trials admitted to being deluded. While victims could not be brought back to life, the episode stood as a warning in the colonies about the dangers of mass hysteria at a time when Europeans were still actively ferreting out and prosecuting alleged witches. The playing out of events also helped sustain New England's transition to a commercial society by making traditional folk beliefs—and those who espoused them—appear foolish.