Stoughton was a man with several years of theological training but no legal training. Upon his arrival, Phips instituted a Court of Oyer and Terminer (to "hear and determine") and simultaneously appointed William Stoughton as the Chief Justice of the court. The accusations, the trials, and the convictions continued. Mather, a minister of Boston's North Church (not to be confused with the Episcopalian Old North Church of Paul Revere), was a prolific publisher of pamphlets and a firm believer in witchcraft. What the Salem witch trials can teach us in 2020 As Halloween approaches, many people’s thoughts turn to witches, demons, and devils. Thus, when the accusers claimed that they had seen the person, then that person could be charged with consorting with the devil himself. However, this idea does not have much historical merit. In February of 1692, frightened by events, the residents of Salem held regular fasts and prayers for the afflicted. In fact, the trials led to such widespread revulsion that the word Puritan has negative connotations that continue to this day. These women easily fit the mold of being different in their society, and thus were vulnerable targets. He wrote to one of the judges, John Richards, supporting the prosecutions, but cautioning him of the dangers of relying on spectral evidence and advising the court on how to proceed. Alot of innocent people were killed because someone made up what was basically a vicious rumor. She died in jail on May 10. Mass hysteria explains the waves of popular medical problems that "everyone gets" in response to news articles. The Salem Witch Trials demonstrated the weakness of a judicial system that relied on hearsay testimony and encouraged accusations, while providing no adequate means of rebuttal. The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693. The trials also served as an allegory for McCarthyism in Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible. Senator Joseph McCarthy during the Red Scare of the 1950s, famously in the form of Arthur Miller’s allegorical play The Crucible (1953). [11], Many of the relatives and descendants of those wrongfully accused sought closure through petitions filed that demanded monetary restitution to those convicted. The magistrates would then decide if the complaint had any merit. Samuel Willard, and twelve jurors who served in the trials confessed to "the guilt of innocent blood." https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/p/index.php?title=Salem_Witch_Trials&oldid=1023934, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. The torture was also called "pressing" and was carried out by resting a board on the man's chest and then piling stones on the board slowly until the man was slowly crushed to death. Legacy. Outraged at the unjust accusations she argued that the girls who were accusing her were not to be believed. By 1957, descendants of the accused were still demanding that the names of their ancestors be cleared. Modern analysis of the Salem Witch Trials regards the children's bizarre allegations and the townspeople's credulity as an example of mass hysteria, when mass public near-panic reactions surface around an unexplained phenomenon. When the Court of Oyer and Terminer convened at the end of May 1692, this brought the total number of accused and arrested to 62.[3]. While the points of condemning those we dont understand are very valid- the Salem Witch Trials were also about peer pressure and backstabbing. Even Rev. The judicial environment offered those charged with witchcraft few protections against fabricated allegations. Through the loss of 20 lives, the episode continues to warn of the dangers of insularity and … What was the legacy of the Salem Witch Trials in colonial British America and the United States in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries? She was executed on June 10, 1692. The Salem trials also went on to become a powerful metaphor for the anticommunist hearings led by U.S. The court finally concluded that the devil needed the permission of the specific person. An example is the case of Bridget Bishop, the first person indicted and tried, on June 2. The first three people arrested for allegedly afflicting a girl by the name of Ann Putnam, age 12, were Sarah Good, a beggar, Sarah Osburne, a bedridden old woman, and Rev. In the village of Salem in 1692, Betty Parris, age nine, and her cousin, Abigail Williams, age 11, the daughter and niece of Reverend Samuel Parris, fell victim to what was recorded as fits "beyond the power of Epileptic Fits or natural disease to effect," according to John Hale, minister in Beverly, in his book, A Modest Enquiry into the Nature of Witchcraft (1702). If it did they would issue an arrest warrant. The fact remains that none of the witchcraft cases were tried until late May with the arrival of Governor Sir William Phips. It was thought that perhaps Corey did not enter a plea in order to keep his possessions from being taken by the state. In the town of Stamford, Connecticut in the year of 1692 resided a young girl name Katherine Branch who served as a responsible house servant for Daniel and Abigail Wescot. [7] There were basically two indictments: That of afflicting witchcraft or that of making an unlawful covenant with the devil. [5] The arrested person would then be brought before the magistrates and receive a public interrogations/examination. Program Overview. The afflicted claimed to see various apparitions or shapes of the person who was causing their pain. Innumerable other popular depictions, including episodes of Star Trek and the Simpsons, have led to the ongoing recognition of the Salem Witch Trials as a notable, iconic incident in American history. Cases of Conscience Concerning Evil Spirits. Sarah Osburne had already been marked as an outcast when she married her indentured servant. In 1704 and 1709, another petition was filed in hopes of a monetary settlement. Gallows Hill by Lois Duncan is a young adult fiction book in which the main character Sarah, and many others, turn out to be reincarnations of those accused and killed during the Trials. In March, Martha Corey, Rebecca Nurse, Dorothy Good (incorrectly called Dorcas Good on her arrest warrant), and Rachel Clinton were condemned. After a medical examination and a review by Puritan clergy, the girls were judged to be victims of witchcraft. Many accounts of the history of the hysteria claim that Tituba often told witch stories and spells to the girls while she was working. George Burroughs was arrested. However, only those who had initially filed petitions were given reversal of attainder. We can learn alot by seeing what people do today. Eventually, the Massachusetts House of Representatives passed a bill disallowing spectral evidence. A recent example of mass hysteria with remarkable similarities to the Salem Witch Trials was the rash of allegations of sexual and ritual abuse in day care centers in the 1980s and 1990s, which resulted in numerous convictions that were later overturned. Since 1692, the Salem witch trials have been dramatized, mythologized, and reimagined in popular memory. Best Answer 100% (1 rating) A copy of this letter was printed in Increase Mather's "Cases of Conscience," published in 1692. These petitions were filed up until 1711. A sum of 150 pounds was given to the Proctor family for John and Elizabeth, by far the largest amount awarded. The town of Salem, Massachusetts, is best known for its role in American History as the site of the Witch Trials of 1692. Finally an act was passed that pronounced all the accused as being exonerated. Griggs may have been influenced in his diagnosis by Cotton Mather's work, Memorable Providences Relating to Witchcrafts and Possessions (1689). [12] This applied to only three people, who had been convicted but not executed: Abigail Faulkner Sr., Elizabeth Proctor, and Sarah Wardwell.[13]. Public opinion was also changing, and without the admission of spectral evidence the trials soon came to an end. Centuries before the Salem trials, many people, both Christians and other religions, believed that there existed a powerful supernatural being (the devil) who gave people evil powers, such as the powers of witchcraft to hurt others in return for being loyal to him. The Salem Witch Trials were a notorious episode in New England colonial history that led to the execution of 14 women and 6 men, in 1692, for charges of witchcraft. In 1711, a compensation of 578 pounds and 12 shillings was divided among the survivors and relatives of those accused. In 1992, The Danvers Tercentennial Committee persuaded the Massachusetts House of Representatives to issue a resolution honoring those who had died. Participants in this three-week summer seminar will engage in an in-depth and collaborative study of the origin, development, and legacy of the Salem witch trials—a foundational event in American history that continues to attract scholarly attention and widespread popular interest. Centuries ago, the Salem witch trials targeted those most vulnerable in colonial society, forcing women like Bishop to pay the highest possible price … This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3.0 License (CC-by-sa), which may be used and disseminated with proper attribution. In the novel Escaping Salem: The Other Witch Hunt of 1692 by Richard Godbeer depicted a tale of fascinating events that took place. Mather had access to the official records of the Salem trials, upon which his account of the affair, Wonders of the Invisible World, was based. The Salem witch trials have a special place in our national identity and vocabulary. Years later, in 1706, Ann Putnam, Jr, one of the most active accusers, stood in her pew before the Salem Village church while the Rev. The trials resulted in four execution dates: One person was executed on June 10, 1692, five were executed on July 19, another five were executed on August 19 , and eight on September 22. Professor Baker shows us a spot behind his house that contributed to the feeling of fear in Salem that preceded the crisis. Easily coerced into saying untrue things about her mother's behavior and her own status as a witch, she was placed in prison with her mother. The fact that none of the three attended church also made them more susceptible to the accusations of witchcraft. The exhibition sets Salem’s trials against this historical backdrop, displaying a 1494 copy of the German witch-hunting manual Malleus Maleficarum alongside British diagnostic texts. Like the Salem hysteria, these allegations of sexual abuse were fueled by accusations from impressionable children who were coached by figures of authority, and resulted in destroying the lives and reputations of innocent people. The girls were experiencing several bizarre symptoms, particularly, convulsions, muscle spasms, and hallucinations. On that day, Samuel Sewall, a magistrate on the court, publicly confessed his "blame and shame" in a statement read by Rev. The Legacy Imperative believes that now, more than ever, we must invest in our children and grandkids. Thirty were found guilty, nineteen of whom were … Many possessions of those convicted during the trials were confiscated by the state. The trials began as a result of the bizarre and inexplicable behavior of two young girls, afflicted by violent convulsions and strange fits that seemingly rendered them unable to hear, speak, or see. Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive and Transcription Project, Art, Music, Literature, Sports and leisure. Among other clerics who expressed concern with the trials, Increase Mather wrote in "Cases of Conscience Concerning Evil Spirits" (1692) that "It were better that Ten Suspected Witches should escape, than that the Innocent Person should be Condemned.". It was most notably used to describe and discredit the McCarthy Hearings in the U.S. Senate in the 1950s, which sought to identify communists or communist sympathizers in government and other public positions. Lois the Witch by Elizabeth Gaskell is a novella based on the Salem witch hunts and shows how jealousy and sexual desire can lead to hysteria. The memorial serves as a reminder that each generation must confront intolerance and "witch hunts" with integrity, clear vision, and courage.[14]. Salem Village Witchcraft Victims' Memorial of Danvers. [10] Several others, including Elizabeth (Bassett) Proctor and Abigail Faulkner were convicted and sentenced to death, but the sentence could not be carried out immediately because the women were pregnant. Many of the dead were not given proper burials, often being placed in shallow graves after the hangings. On a fine day in January 1692, a set of events would unfold that would change the course of history. In many ways the trials were the final chapter of a dying belief system, and the people who were killed in Salem were the last people to be executed for witchcraft in America. The Salem Witch Trials: An unflattering legacy. The accuser entered an official complaint with the town magistrates.[4]. Parris's slave, Tituba. Ever since those dark days ended, the trials have become synonymous with mass hysteria and scapegoating. However, what was it that made the event so important? We ruin peoples careers by starting rumors about their work. The Salem Witch Trials offered a salutary lesson not only to the colony of Massachusetts Bay but also to the new nation that would be forged in the following century. In contrast, there were only 20 executions in colonial American courts from 1647 to 1691 and the sensational trials at Salem.[1]. She was quick to anger and often muttered under her breath. Escaping Salem Witch Trials Analysis. More than two hundred people were accused. By then tragedies had already occurred, including Sarah Osborne's death before trial of natural causes. Longfellow's play, which follows the form of a Shakespearean tragedy, is a commentary on the attitudes prevalent in nineteenth century New England. The haphazard fashion in which the Salem witch trials were conducted contributed to changes in U.S. court procedures, including rights to legal representation and cross-examination of accusers as well as the presumption that one is innocent until proven guilty. The Salem Witch Trials occurred in Salem during the 1600’s. What is the legacy of the Salem witch trials? The Salem Witch Trials May Have All Started with a Bad Loaf of Bread Sam Benson Smith Updated: Oct. 27, 2017 The Salem witch trials represented a dark time in the U.S.'s colonial history. In 1706, Ann Putnam, one of the girls responsible for accusing various people of witchcraft issued a written apology. The Salem witch trials threatened the very core of the early Massachusetts Bay Colony. Wanting the influence of the devil to be removed from their community they pressured the girls into providing names. But the trials have another important legacy: For almost a century, the records they left have been a key resource in our study of early American English. Although the Salem Witch Trials are conventionally cited as an example of religious zealotry in New England, the trials were exceptional in the American colonies, with charges of witchcraft far more commonplace in Europe—particularly Germany, Switzerland, and the Low Countries—during this period. When a doctor, historically believed to be William Griggs, could not explain what was happening to them, he said that the girls were bewitched. In 1692 this meant several months of imprisonment before the new governor arrived and establish a Court of Oyer and Terminer to handle these cases. The final trials during the witch hysteria took place in May of 1693, after this time, all those still in jail were set free. They complained of being pricked with pins or cut with knives, and when Reverend Samuel Parris would preach, the girls would cover their ears, as if dreading to hear the sermons. The Salem witch trials have cast a long shadow. A theological dispute arose about the use of this kind of evidence because it was supposed that the devil could not take the shape of a person without that person's permission. The Salem Witch Trials of 1692 were a dark time in American history. This proved true when the arrests continued during the month of April. More than three hundred years after the trials, all the accused were proclaimed innocent. pem.org PEMcast 019: The Legacy of Salem's Witch Trials . It was at this time that many were forced to confess to witchcraft. Sarah Good's infant child also died in jail. We discuss the shame and the legacy of the trials with Emerson “Tad” Baker, assistant provost of Salem State University, who consulted on PEM’s exhibition. Three of the five judges appointed to the Court of Oyer and Terminer were friends of his and members of his congregation. More than two hundred people were accused. Only 250 people died during the witch hunts. It was the deadliest witch hunt in the history of colonial North America and Titbua’s false confession started it all. The Salem Witch Hunt Introduction The Salem Witch Trials is a term that is used to refer to a series of different witchcraft cases that were taken to the local magistrates of a region known as Salem that happened to be considered as a part of the Massachusetts Bay colony … It was the first such memorial to honor all of the 1692 witchcraft victims, and is located across the street from the site of the original Salem Village Meeting House where many of the witch examinations took place. The Salem witch trial madness began when two young girls, Abigail Williams and Betty Parris, became afflicted by an unexplainable disease. The witchcraft idea spread throughout Europe from the 1300s to the 1600s, and thousands of people who were accused of witchcraft were executed in Europe. The trials rested purely on testimony of those who were afflicted, or "spectral evidence." More than 200 people were accused of practicing witchcraft and 20 were killed during the hysteria. In a letter of explanation Phips sent to England, Phips said he stopped the trials because "I saw many innocent persons might otherwise perish. An example is Wicca. Others in the village began to exhibit the same symptoms. The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693. The Salem Witch Trials, although a minor incident in the far more extensive persecution of religious and social nonconformists as "witches" in Europe from the Middle Ages, is a vivid, cautionary episode in American history. In both events, innocent people were accused and mass hysteria was generated through public trials. The extraordinary hysteria involved more than 400 people and led to the deaths of 25 innocents — men, women and children — between June 1692 and March 1693. In the ensuing hysteria during the summer of 1692, nearly 200 people were accused of witchcraft and imprisoned. Look it up now! Therefore there wasn’t an overwhelming amount of deaths. The process of arresting and trying an individual in 1692 began with the accusation that some loss, illness, or even death had been caused by the practice of witchcraft. Police cars are adorned with witch logos, a local public school is known as the Witchcraft Heights Elementary School, the Salem High School football team is named The Witches, and Gallows Hill, a site of numerous public hangings, is currently used as a playing field for various sports. Salem Witchcraft Papers from the Essex Institute 1. What is the legacy of the Salem witch trials. Yet, after a time conscientious magistrates did step in to stop the trials, and in subsequent years the reputations, if not the lives, of those falsely accused had been rehabilitated. The Salem trials also went on to become a powerful metaphor for the anticommunist hearings led by U.S. None of the accused were given the right to legal counsel, the magistrates often asked leading questions that presumed guilt, and only those who confessed were saved from execution upon conviction.[9]. It took Corey two days to die. Even in New England, which accepted the reality of the supernatural, the trials at Salem were repudiated by leading Puritans. What is the legacy of the Salem witch trials? Sarah Good was often seen begging for food. Since 1692, the Salem witch trials have been repeatedly dramatized, mythologized and re-imagined in popular memory. The Salem Witch Trials, although a minor incident in the far more extensive persecution of religious and social nonconformists as "witches" in Europe from the Middle Ages, is a vivid, cautionary episode in American history. Although the Salem Witch Trials and McCarthyism are differed in the fact that one was based on religion and the other was politically based, both events had striking similarities. The women would still be hanged, but not until they had given birth. These events would collectively come to be known as ‘The Salem Witch Trials‘. Credit is due under the terms of this license that can reference both the New World Encyclopedia contributors and the selfless volunteer contributors of the Wikimedia Foundation. In total, 30 people were found guilty of witchcraft and 19 people were executed by hanging. Some 327 years later, few cities are more infamous than Salem. On March 1, 1692, the three accused were held in prison and then brought before the magistrates. In the end, there were twenty executions that took place because of the Salem Witch Trials. Many people believed these mutterings to be curses that she was placing upon them. It was not until ten years later, in 1702, the Salem Witch Trials were deemed unlawful. Increase Mather and other ministers sent a letter to the court, "The Return of Several Ministers Consulted," urging the magistrates not to convict on spectral evidence alone. With the case appearing before the superior court, it was necessary to summon various witnesses to testify before the grand jury. The resolution was finally signed on October 31, 2001, by Governor Jane Swift. Remembered largely because of its anomalous character, the trials exemplify the threat to American founding ideals of freedom, justice, and religious tolerance and … In the book he describes the strange behavior exhibited by the four children of a Boston mason, John Goodwin, and attributed it to witchcraft practiced upon them by an Irish washerwoman, Mary Glover. Almost 325 years ago, i.e., in February,1692, the Salem Witch Trials racked fear and hysteria in the small Massachusetts Bay settlement. In the town of Salem, two girls named Elizabeth, aged 9, and Abigail, aged 11, started showing extremely strange behavior. Miller's play is a commentary on the McCarthy Hearings. Moreover, the specter of Salem has been invoked in times of national anxiety, representing Americans' fear of the Other, and … The term "witch hunt" has entered the American lexicon to describe the search for and harassment of people or members of groups who hold politically unpopular views. On July 19th, Good was executed along with Rebecca Nurse and Susannah Martin. To cite this article click here for a list of acceptable citing formats.The history of earlier contributions by wikipedians is accessible to researchers here: The history of this article since it was imported to New World Encyclopedia: Note: Some restrictions may apply to use of individual images which are separately licensed. She scoffed at the trials and only brought unfavorable attention to herself in the process. ", In 1697, a Day of Repentance was declared in Boston. [6] If no confession was offered then the accused was turned over to the superior court. Mather was present at the execution of Reverend George Burroughs for witchcraft and intervened after the condemned man had successfully recited the Lord's Prayer (supposedly a sign of innocence) to remind the crowd that the man had been convicted before a jury. In this apology, Ann stated that she had been deluded by Satan into the denouncing of several innocent people, in particular, Rebecca Nurse. A dark spot in the name of humanity. Documentary Archive and Transcription Project. The girls screamed, threw things about the room, uttered strange sounds, crawled under furniture, and contorted themselves into peculiar positions. In 1712, Nurse's excommunication was canceled by the very pastor who had cast her out. Five other women were convicted in 1692, but sentences were never carried out: Ann Foster (who later died in prison), her daughter Mary Lacy Sr., Abigail Hobbs, Dorcas Hoar, and Mary Bradbury. The Salem Witch Trials began in February 1692 and concluded in May 1693. During the Salem Witch Trials, respected and well-known minister Cotton Mather continuously wanted the people of the dubious value of spectral evidence, which included testimony about dreams or visions, often used as evidence against the accused. in accordance with New World Encyclopedia standards. The trials have also provided the background for two of America's great works of drama, the play Giles Corey in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's New England Tragedies and Arthur Miller's classic play, The Crucible. The most outspoken of the group of women was Martha Corey. One of the men, Giles Corey, an 80-year-old farmer from Salem Farms, endured a form of torture called peine fort et dure because he refused to enter a plea. Joseph Green read her confession of "delusion" by the devil. She was inspired by the story of Rebecca Nurse whose accusation, trial, and execution are described in Lectures on Witchcraft by Charles Upham, the Unitarian minister in Salem in the 1830s. Tituba was an easy and obvious target as she was a slave and of a different ethnicity than that of her Puritan neighbors. The women were accused of witchcraft, and soon many other women and children joined the ranks of the accused. Scholars have attributed the lack of trials for the accused to the fact that there was no legitimate form of government at the time available to try the cases. Eventually, Salem, Ipswich, Charlestown, Cambridge, and Boston all had jails filled to capacity. On May 9, 1992, the Salem Village Witchcraft Victims' Memorial of Danvers was dedicated before an audience of over three thousand people. Many more were arrested: Sarah Cloyce (Nurse's sister), Elizabeth (Bassett) Proctor and her husband John Proctor, Giles Corey (Martha's husband, and a covenanted church member in Salem Town), Abigail Hobbs, Bridget Bishop, Mary Warren (a servant in the Proctor household and sometime accuser herself), Deliverance Hobbs (step-mother of Abigail Hobbs), Sarah Wilds, William Hobbs (husband of Deliverance and father of Abigail), Nehemiah Abbott Jr., Mary Esty (sister of Cloyce and Nurse), Edward Bishop Jr. and his wife Sarah Bishop, Mary English, Lydia Dustin, Susannah Martin, Dorcas Hoar, Sarah Morey and Philip English (Mary's husband).

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