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 self- government until the end of Preliminary Arrests February 29, 1692: Arrest warrants are issued for Tituba, Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne.

March 1, 1692: Magistrates John 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. George Beard’s description of medical instruments used include: “examination with pins, all over the body, in order to detect the shriveled, callous and non-sensitive places, which were supposed to be diagnostic signs of bewitchment.[1]”[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.

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 Photograph courtesy of: 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. 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, 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: rshock/salem.html 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.”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

ures/salemwitchtrials/story/story.html 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 well- connected 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…. (text) brivox/macbeth_4_shakespeare_64kb.mp3http://ia 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: 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 ftrials/salem/SALEM.HTM Secrets of the Dead video…after The Crucible