Historiographical approaches to the Salem Witchcraft trials

¶ … mysterious examples of religious persecution early American history is the phenomenon of the Salem Witchcraft trials. How did apparently ordinary young girls, in a relatively stable and well-settled New England community incite adults to do their bidding, merely by breathing the word 'witch?' What satisfaction and social and psychological needs of adults were satisfied by validating their behaviors? Historians still disagree, often based upon their preexisting prejudices about the colonial community, and, as exemplified in a comparative analysis of Paul Boyer and Stephen Nissenbaum's Salem Possessed with the Devil in the Shape of a Woman by Carol Karlsen, the historian's methodological approach. The data which the historian deems relevant also affect the historian's view as to what caused the witch hunts.

Critique 1: Salem Possessed

Paul Boyer and Stephen Nissenbaum take a fundamentally sociological approach to their analysis of the witchcraft trials suggesting that rather than religion, social mobility or a perceived lack thereof was to blame. The community was torn between two rival factions, the more traditional elite of the Putnams of Salem Village who felt dominated by the increasingly affluent mercantile economy of Salem Town. The supporters of the accusers tended to be wealthy and literate church members who were, for a variety of reasons, unable to take advantage of commercial opportunities that were opening up in the town (Boyer & Nissenbaum 99). They felt a threat to their old, established authority in Salem and were joined in their support of the trials with the poorer, disenfranchised members of the village who were also not benefiting from the new commerce of the age. Some of these poorer individuals were not church members at all (Boyer & Nissenbaum 100). To show the economic roots of the conflict, Boyer and Nissenbaum examine the incomes of the different communities, their support of political leaders like Samuel Parris based upon income and rates of taxation, and patterns of property ownership (Boyer & Nissenbaum 82).The nearer someone lived to Salem Town, by a 6-to-1-margin, the more someone was apt to oppose Parris and the leaders of the witchcraft trials.

Inhabitants near the major roads such as Ipswich, entrepreneurs, and all of those located more near the developing mercantile centers of the area were more likely to be accused than accusers, or not support the accusations. Some of them, like John Proctor, even wanted to set up a tavern, which the Puritans of course frowned upon (Boyer & Nissenbaum 101). Economic struggles and tensions were being articulated through religious and cultural vocabulary. The few people who dared to speak up against the accusers of the poor, female, and old, like Rebecca Nurse were anti-Parris mercantilists, almost to a man.

However meticulous their research, however, the authors, however, must explain why so many 'outsiders' or women were accused of witchcraft. If Boyer and Nissenbaum can be said to have a central thesis, perhaps it is best summed up as 'follow the money.' There thesis is not as simplistic as only the rich were against the allegations. Rather it is based upon a question of opportunities -- those residents sampling in the opportunities of Salem's burgeoning new economy were statistically less likely to accuse their fellow residents of witchcraft. The authors shy away of creating a psychological explanation of frustrated social striving, much as they do not even consider other potential psychological or cultural reasons for the witch hunt in their analysis. They focus on what can be documented, such as church membership and taxation.

Conclusion

Salem is so far away from us, historically, economically, and culturally, it is difficult to gain a full human picture of its struggles based upon tables and tax records, but in seeking to paint a picture of the religious psychology of the era, we are more apt to see ourselves and our own gender concerns and assumptions about femininity than those of the time. Did Salem really have the same obsession with constraining gender roles as ourselves? But if economics was the only motivating force, why was it articulated in the discourse of the vocabulary of witchcraft? Neither author provides a satisfactory solution entirely. Perhaps both approaches are taken in consort and necessary to get a better idea of what life was like during this perplexing period of American colonial history.