1. Religion in the Colonies

2. The Salem Witch Trials
Background

3. O Christian Martyr Who for Truth could die When all about thee Owned the hideous lie! The world, redeemed from superstition's sway, Is breathing freer for thy sake today.
Words written by John Greenleaf Whittier and inscribed on a monument marking the grave of Rebecca Nurse, one of the condemned "witches" of Salem.

4. Synopsis of the Trials
From June through September of 1692, nineteen men and women, all having been convicted of witchcraft, were carted to Gallows Hill, a barren slope near Salem Village, for hanging.
Another man of over eighty years was pressed to death under heavy stones for refusing to submit to a trial on witchcraft charges.

5. Synopsis of the Trials
Hundreds of others faced accusations of witchcraft. Dozens languished in jail for months without trials.  Then, almost as soon as it had begun, the hysteria that swept through Puritan Massachusetts ended.

6. Causes of the Witch Hysteria
Governmental Instability
The provincial government was in transition because of the removal of Sir Edmund Andros, (who was appointed by the king to rule over the newly-created Dominion of New England) due to discontent with his methods and beliefs,
The government responded too slowly to prevent the executions of twenty due to this hysteria.

7. Causes of the Witch Hysteria
This incident displayed the everyday tensions that existed in the colonies at the time and reflected a growing fear of one’s neighbors as the trials built to a fever pitch

8. Causes of the Witch Hysteria
Many other factors contributed to this hysteria:
Generational strife
Tensions between agricultural Salem Village and commercial Salem Town
Possibly an outbreak of food poisoning that may have caused hallucinations
The Salem Witch trials were indicative of the times, which was marked by war, economic and political disruption, and erosion of the society’s utopian vision

9. Salem Witch Video

10. The Great Awakening

11. Great Awakening Before:
After:
7:00

12. “How did the Great Awakening help pave the way for the American Revolution?”

13. Great Awakening - 1730-1740 gave colonists a shared national religious experience

14. Reasons : People felt that religion was dry, dull and distant
Feeling like they had lost their religious faith.
People in New England can read and interpret the Bible on their own

15. Outcomes : Birth of deep religious convictions in the colonies
New churches built to accommodate new members
Colleges founded found to train new ministers

16. Outcomes :
Encouraged ideas of equality and right to challenge authority
Birth of charity and charitable organizations
Helped set off American Revolution.

17. George Whitefield
Puritan Minster who used raw emotional sermons to reach all classes of colonists
Preached that “good works” and “godly lives” would bring you salvation
Forced to give sermons in open areas (revivals)

18. “How did the Great Awakening help pave the way for the American Revolution?”

19. Notes There was a feeling that people had lost religious faith.
Great Awakening began in colonies in 1730s.
Spread new ideas: everyone equal in God's eyes, we should think for ourselves.
Churches gained thousands of members. Religious colleges created to train leaders (Princeton, Brown).
Ideas strengthened principles of liberty, equality, and self-reliance.
Helped set off American Revolution.

20. Jonathan Edwards a Puritan Minster terrified listeners with his sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”
18:48