Social and Economic Circumstances Leading Term Paper

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Salem and the surrounding Essex County (the witch hunt itself went beyond merely Salem) (Norton; Linder) viewed the results of the First, and now the Second Indian War, and their own loss of material prosperity from these wars, as God's punishment for their sins (Norton). It was at about this time that several of Salem's teenage girls began having fits on which they (and their parents and others) blamed the devil, witches and Indians (Norton). When the mysterious fits began, according to Norton, Salem and Essex County Puritans started believing that now both visible spirits (i.e., Indians) and invisible spirits (i.e., the devil) were punishing them, simultaneously (Norton). Consequently, given this grim community mood, the politically-appointed judges took seriously the (often-unreliable and inconsistent) testimony of a group of similarly "afflicted" teenagers in order to then put dozens of supposed witches on trial. As Norton further suggests, the Salem judges and prosecutors may also have been using the chance to scapegoat the accused, consciously or not, in order assuage their own guilt (and that of their political superiors and peers) over recent military, political, and economic failures in the First and Second Indian Wars.

Further, Salem during the time leading up to the witchcraft trials was an early American community that was in the process of experiencing a great deal of economic, social, and other changes, all of which affected the power structure; atmosphere, and suspicious moods of Salem dwellers themselves, especially the wealthiest, most powerful, and most influential of them. By the time a new pastor named Samuel Parris (who soon grew unpopular with the Salem Community) came to town accompanied by two of his slaves as a new and inexperienced young preacher, from the island of Barbados where Putnam owned land, Salem itself:

was in the midst of change: a mercantile elite was beginning to develop, prominent people were becoming less willing to assume positions as town leaders, two clans (the Putnams and the Porters) were competing for control of the village and its pulpit, and a debate was raging over how independent

Salem Village, tied more to the interior agricultural regions, should be from Salem, a center of sea trade.

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(Linder)

In the aftermath of the Salem witch trials, a period of atonement and reflection took place. One of the Salem witch trial judges, Samuel Sewall "issued a public confession of guilt and an apology" (Linder). Pastor Samuel Parris, whose Indian slave Tituba had inadvertently started the whole crisis, left Salem, replaced by Thomas Green, "who devoted his career to putting his torn congregation back together" (Linder). The exit of Parris made some feuding Salem families happy. However, there was still plenty of finger-pointing among the principals. For example: "Governor Phips blamed the entire affair on William Stoughton. Stoughton, clearly more to blame than anyone for the tragic episode, refused to apologize or explain himself" (Linder).

Amidst the new social and economic transitions that took place in Salem in the years after the trials, the trials themselves eventually began fading from memory. Even now, however, centuries later, the Salem witch trials of 1692 remain a permanent stain on American history and consciousness.

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