Salem. While many of the accused were just victims of an overzealous society, the Salem Witch Trials remain as part of an unforgettable part of American history. Richard Godbeer's Escaping Salem: The Other Witch Hunt of 1692, take another look at the events of 1692 Salem, but from a different, refreshing perspective.
The book notes of the dramatic change in early New England's legal system because of the witch trials. The people's faith-based beliefs came in direct conflict with a legal system that at its base was reason and logic. But because of the paranoia of the people of the time, and their fear… Continue Reading...
material. Historians too often buy into prevailing paradigms, which are grounded in biases and assumptions. Using the examples of the Salem witch trials, Craker shows how trial evidence should be revisited to promote broader understanding of the political and social contexts in which the events took place. That non-spectral evidence proved far more important than the sensationalistic, and legally limited, spectral evidence, shows that politics and maintaining social order were far more important than the religious overtones touted during the trials and in subsequent historiography. Spectral evidence was significant, in that it served to discount the character of the accused and added emotional weight to each case. Yet spectral evidence… Continue Reading...
in combination with religious fervor, led to the so-called crimes of the Salem Witch Trials, in which a variety of members of the Massachusetts colony were accused of witchcraft (p.43).
How did the growth of the colonies affect crime?
When societies grow and become more diverse and more economically stratified, crime often increases. The American colonies were no different. Property thefts such as robberies and housebreakings in particular were on the rise, perhaps because certain individuals showed notably greater profits in their enterprises than other individuals, inspiring jealously and dissent between citizens of different means. There had also been an influx of… Continue Reading...
