Salem Witch Trials Research Paper

The Salem Witch trials began 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts. Residents of Salem Village were mainly poor farmers who made their living cultivating crops. Salem Town was a wealthy town. Most of the people that lived in Salem Town were wealthy merchants. Young women during that time claimed to be possessed by the devil. Some even accused women within the village for witchcraft. Mainly the younger girls who would accuse older women of being witches. It was usually the vulnerable ones that were accused. “The first convicted witch, Bridget Bishop, was hanged that June of 1692. Eighteen others followed Bishop to Salem’s Gallows Hill, while some 150 more men, women and children were accused over the next several months.” Women were seen as the weaker

So many people were accused. If someone in the Salem Village talked to themselves, were psychologically imbalanced, or had odd behavior, it would lead to a trial. It is was sin for a woman to seem ungovernable and to have lustful natures. People were trying to prove that the witches had a huge impact on the economy. The persecutors did not persecute them for religious reasons. They were performing witchcraft, which resulted in persecution. Playing a role in witchcraft was illegal but it was taking a toll on the economy. Accused witches were using their witchcraft on other people in the town and it was affecting them. When accused, the rest of their family would have to sell their house, which gave the people in the town more acreage. The rich people of Salem accused the poorer people so they could take over their land. “In Salem in 1692, those who were tried as witches were accused for many different reasons, including not going to church, being a recluse or expressing support for others who were accused.” It went against their Puritan religious values. Ministers felt like they were doing the right thing by sending some of the “witches” to trial. They were not acting and speaking Godly words, so it resulted in trial and took place in