Transcript Puritan Beliefs and the Salem Witch Trials

 They wanted to reform their national church by
eliminating every shred of Catholic influence
 Their attempt to “purify” the Church of England
and their own lives was based on the teachings of
John Calvin
 Left for the new world in 1620 to escape religious
persecution and established the Massachusetts
Bay Colony.
 Total depravity: “In Adam’s fall we sinned all”
Humankind is totally sinful through the fall of
Adam and Eve and damned for eternity.
 Predestination: You are “elect” (saved) or
“unregenerate” (damned). Salvation belongs to
the “elect”, or God’s chosen. No good works will
help you become saved.
 Limited atonement: Christ died only for the
“elect”.
 Grace: You could feel God’s grace in an intense
emotional fashion. After receiving grace, you were
“reborn” have thenceforth full power to do the will
of God and the ability to live uprightly to the end.
 The Puritan community was a theocracy, a
government which blends church and state.
The church’s officials were the government’s
officials. Thus, church and state were not
separate.
 City upon a Hill Theory: That the new MA
Colony would be a place of complete reform
(utopia) where God would be found in scripture
and a strong work ethic.
 Education: A strong belief in education was
established in order to read the Word of God.
The first public school was founded in 1635 and
Harvard College became an icon for educating
ministers
 .
What do we take away from the Puritans?
 Independence, patriotism, industry, practicality,
tolerance,
 These people were the first to build upon the idea
of the American Dream. The idea that a new path
could be forged and goals attained.
 We inherited an emphasis on hard work, a strong
sense of religion, duty to country and freedom
from oppression.
 1620: The Mayflower lands at Plymouth Rock.
 1630: John Winthrop is elected the first governor.
 1641: English law makes witchcraft a capital crime
 November, 1689: Samuel Parris is named the new
minister of Salem, and Salem Village Church is
formed.
Betty Parris became strangely ill. She dashed about, dove under
furniture, contorted in pain, and complained of fever. The cause
of her symptoms may have been some combination of stress,
asthma, guilt, boredom, child abuse, epilepsy, and delusional
psychosis.
Talk of witchcraft increased when other playmates of Betty,
including eleven-year-old Ann Putnam, seventeen-year-old Mercy
Lewis, and Mary Walcott, began to exhibit similar unusual
behavior.
A doctor called to examine the girls, suggested that the girls'
problems might have a supernatural origin. The widespread
belief that witches targeted children made the doctor's diagnosis
seem increasingly likely.
-Douglas Linder
 January
 Parris’ daughter, Betty, and niece, Abigail Williams
begin acting strangely and babbling incoherently.
The village physician documents their ailments as
hysteria.
 Hysteria is characterized as having severe fits and
seizures.
 1. Strong belief that Satan is acting in the world.
---------"The invisible world": disease, natural catastrophes, and bad
fortune
 2. A belief that Satan actively recruits witches and wizards
---------Prior witchcraft cases
 3. A belief that a person afflicted by witchcraft exhibits certain
symptoms.

4. A time of troubles, making it seem likely that Satan was active.
---------Congregational strife in Salem Village
---------Frontier wars with Indians
 5. Stimulation of imaginations by Tituba (slave).
 6. Teenage boredom.
 7. Confessing "witches" adding credibility to earlier charges.
 8. Old feuds (disputes within congregation, property disputes)
between the accusers and the accused spurring charges of witchcraft.
 February 25, 1692:
 Parris’ Caribbean Indian slaves, Tituba and John Indian,
bake a “witch cake” with the girls’ urine to feed to the
village dog.
 Tituba, at the request of neighbor Mary Sibley, bakes the
"witch cake" and feeds it to a dog.
 According to English folk remedy, feeding a dog this kind
of cake, which contained the urine of the afflicted, would
counteract the spell put on Elizabeth and Abigail.
 The reason the cake is fed to a dog is because the dog is
believed a "familiar" of the Devil.
 A witch cake is composed of rye meal mixed with
urine from the afflicted children. It is then fed to
a dog. The person is considered bewitched if the
dog displays similar symptoms as the afflicted.
“The girls contorted into grotesque poses, fell down into frozen
postures, and complained of biting and pinching sensations. In
a village where everyone believed that the devil was real, close
at hand, and acted in the real world, the suspected affliction of
the girls became an obsession.” Douglas Linder
 Early March:
 Samuel Parris files a complaint to the governor for a
court to be issued. The colony operated in selfgovernment until the end of 1693.
 Preliminary Arrests
 February 29, 1692: Arrest warrants are issued for
Tituba, Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne.
 March 1, 1692:
 George Beard’s description of
 Magistrates John
 “examination with pins, all over the
Hathorne and Jonathan
Corwin:
 physically examine Tituba,
Sarah Good, and Sarah
Osborne for "witch’s teats."
 “Witches teats” are
imperfections on the
bodies of afflicted or
possessed persons.
medical instruments used include:
body, in order to detect the
shriveled, callous and non-sensitive
places, which were supposed to be
diagnostic signs of
bewitchment.[1]”

1. Bound Submersion-- In this “test,” the supposed witch would be bound by her hands and feet
with heavy rocks attached to her body, then thrown into a body of water. A witch’s body would
presumably float, and an innocent woman would sink to the bottom. It was pretty much a lose-lose
situation.

2. The Lord’s Prayer Test-- If the accused could not recite the Lord’s Prayer without any errors,
she was most certainly a witch.

3. The Witch’s Teat Test-- In this test, the accused would be pricked in any type of mole or blemish
they may happen to have on their body. If it didn’t bleed, she was definitely a witch.

4. Making a Witch Cake-- Sounds tasty, right? Eh, not so much. This cake was made with rye and
the supposed victim’s urine. They would feed it to a dog, and if the accused felt pain, she was a witch.
Think of it as a confectionary voodoo doll.

5. Pressing-- This was another way to torture the accused into admitting she was a witch. The
problem was that the victim couldn’t really speak under the weight of the heavy stones, so that didn’t
work out too well.

6. Sarcasm-- A famous constable in Salem once said jokingly and out of frustration, “Hang them all,
they’re all witches.” Unfortunately, nobody else shared his sense of sarcasm.

7. Bad Hearing-- In the case of Salem’s 71-year-old Rebecca Nurse, her hearing was the death of
her. When asked to respond to allegations of witchcraft, Nurse failed to respond, because she didn’t
even hear the question. That’s all it took!

8. Talking to Yourself--Accusers assumed this was the “witch” muttering spells.

9. Weighing Them Against a Stack of Bibles--If the suspected witch was heavier or lighter than
the stack, she was presumed to be a witch. If she balanced the Bibles perfectly, she wasn’t. Totally
sensical.

10. Owning a Lot of Pets--Animals and witches were, apparently, two peas in a pod. If a fly landed
in the accused cell while she awaited trial, it would often be assumed that it was because of her
witchcraft.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/h2/fbsp/salemwgna/gruesome-things-about-the-salem-witch-trials
 March 21, 1692: Magistrates
Hathorne and Corwin examine
Martha Corey. She is sent to
prison.
 They accuse 71-year-old
Rebecca Nurse of bewitching
them. Rebecca Nurse is the
area nurse; she attended Parris’
daughter bedside early in 1692.
 Photograph courtesy of:
http://www.iath.virginia.edu/s
alem/people/nursepics.html
 March 23, 1692:
 Marshal Deputy Samuel
Bradbrook arrests 4-year-old
Dorcas Good because of
physical impairments.
 The arrest questioned the
imprisonment of the mentally
and physically disabled.
 Many of those accused of
witchery awaited their
fates inside small prison
cells, approximately 6 by 4
feet.
 http://www.geocities.com/laug
htershock/salem.html
 May 14, 1692:
 Sir William Phipps, the newly elected governor of the
colony, arrives from England with a new provincial
charter.
 The charter rescinds the 1684 prohibition of self-
governance within the colony.
 June 11: Arrests and examinations continue;
Accused in neighboring communities of Andover,
Ipswich, Gloucester, are tried and hanged on
heretical charges.
 In Salem:
 Twenty-three suspected Salem witches are in jail.
 These include John and Elizabeth Proctor, Bridget
Bishop, and Giles Corey.
 Bridget Bishop is the first to be hanged on Gallows Hill.
 June 10: Nathaniel Saltonstall resigns and Phipps
advises caution in the witchcraft proceedings but also
“speed and vigour.”
 Many of the actions in Salem, Mass. are precedent
cases for the framers of the constitution in the 1700s.
 July 23, 1692. Several convicted “witches” write
petitions to the magistrates for release.
 John Proctor writes of about the atrocities that
led to their confessions.
 An excerpt reads,
 “my son, William Proctor, when he was
examined, because he would not confess that he
was guilty, when he was innocent, they tied him
neck and heels till the blood gushed out of his
nose, and would have kept him so 24 hours.”
 Some of those admitted that they were in league with
the devil; that they had signed the devil’s book.
 “These confessions, were mostly insincere, and were
wrung and pressed out of the victims in order that
they might save their lives.” ~George Beard
 August 19: George Burroughs, John Proctor, John
Willard, George Jacobs, and Martha Carrier are
hanged. Elizabeth Proctor is spared because she is
pregnant.
 September 9: Six more tried and sentenced to death,
including Martha Corey.
 September 17: Nine more are tried and sentenced to
death. Giles Corey refuses to stand trial.
 September 19: Corey is pressed to death. This
tortuous and inhuman punishment involves a stone
to be placed on the chest of a man. As a result, the
stone crushes a man’s heart and cavity.
 Giles Corey refused to give
testimony at the 1692 Witch Trials.
 He would neither confess nor deny
the charges brought upon him.
 So, in order to obtain a statement,
he was taken outside, a board
placed across his body, and heavy
stones piled on top.
It
is said that his only words before
he was crushed to death were:
"More weight!"
 Web excerpt from:
http://www.geocities.com/laughte
rshock/salem.html
(left-bottom) a mysterious light
illuminates Corey’s grave marker
 October 3:
 Increase Mather delivers a sermon
called “Cases of Conscience
Concerning Evil Spirits
Impersonating Men.”
 The speech casts serious doubt on
the validity of spectral evidence—
the girl’s ghoulish visions—and
says, “It were better that ten
suspected witches could escape,
than that one innocent person
should be condemned.”
 Lady Phipps is the object of the
speech.
 January 1693: 49 of the 52 surviving people
brought into court on witchcraft charges are
released because their arrests were based on
spectral evidence.
 April 25: The court sits in Boston. None found
guilty.
 May: Sir William Phipps orders the release of all
accused witches remaining in jail, on payment of
their fees.
 A total of 19 townspeople are hanged; 156
imprisoned.
Many languished in jail for months without
trials
At least four died in prison
 http://school.discoveryeducation.com/schooladvent
ures/salemwitchtrials/story/story.html
 1. Doubts grow when respected citizens are convicted and executed.
-------Rebecca Nurse (jury first acquits, then told to reconsider)
-------George Burroughs (recites Lord's Prayer perfectly at hanging)
2. Accusations of witchcraft include the powerful and wellconnected.
-------Wife of Governor Phips (and others)
3. The educated elite of Boston pressure Gov. Phips to exclude
spectral evidence.
-------Increase Mather points out the Devil could take the shape of
an innocent person: "It were better that 10 suspected witches should
escape than one innocent person should be condemned."
4. Gov. Phips bars spectral evidence and disbands the Court
 1697: Samuel Parris is ousted from Salem Village
Church and leaves the village.
 Proctor’s petition before death:
 The innocency of our case with the enmity of our accusers and our
judges and jury, whom nothing but our innocent blood will serve
their turn, having condemned us already before our trials…makes us
bold to beg and implore favourable assistance of this our humble
petition to his Excellency, that if it be possible our innocent blood
may be spared.”
~The Salem Witch Trial: Reader
Let’s look at Shakespeare for a moment….
http://www.potw.org/archive/potw283.html (text)
http://ia700301.us.archive.org/9/items/macbeth_0810_li
brivox/macbeth_4_shakespeare_64kb.mp3 (audio)
We begin with a play, set in colonial
America.

Arthur Miller’s drama The Crucible has its
feet in two eras of time, Puritanical New
England of 1692 and Cold War Washington
of the 1950’s. Miller presents America’s
deepest past in order to make a modern
point. He saw that, as the saying goes,
“Those who do not learn from history are
doomed to repeat it.”

 Many scholars associate
the Salem witch trials with
Miller’s play.
 Click here to hear the
Lincoln Center’s
interpretation of Arthur
Miller’s 1953 play:
http://town.hall.org/
Archives/radio/IMS/
HarperAudio/5356_h
arp_00_ITH.html
 A group of girls is caught dancing in woods with Tituba
 Among the group is the Daughter of Rev. Parris and the daughter of
Thomas and Anne Putnam
 The girls feign sickness and possession
 Both families demand that the possessors be found and punished
 Famous American Trials. Salem Witchcraft Trials
1692 http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/
ftrials/salem/SALEM.HTM
Secrets of the Dead video…after The Crucible