The Salem witch trials

Social and Economic Circumstances Leading to the Salem Witch Trials and Their Aftermath

The tense, suspicious, and paranoid period leading up to, and then during and subsequent to the infamous Salem witch trials (from approximately February through September of 1692) began with reports of alleged bodily "afflictions" (i.e., signs of witchcraft "spells") supposedly being intensely suffered by several young girls who happened, also, to be from influential and powerful Salem families, e.g., Ann Putnam Jr.; Mercy Lewis, and their friends ("Salem witch trials"). This paper examines events both before and after the Salem Witchcraft Trials, with an emphasis on the possible true motivations of prosecutors and others. This may shed light on whether the "witch-like behavior" of which 20 individuals were found guilty and executed was real, or merely alleged, for other purposes. I will focus on the potential ulterior motivations of the Salem witchcraft trial community, e.g., the accusers, the prosecutors and judges, and the community itself, from social and economic perspectives.

Clearly, the vast majority of those who were hunted, tried, and convicted of witchcraft in Salem in 1692 were from less than well-off backgrounds, while those who organized and took part most zealously in the witch hunt and witch trials themselves were from wealthier and more powerful backgrounds. Some accusations of witchcraft were likely driven, also, by longstanding animosities among families. For example, one of the accused who was later convicted and hanged, Rebecca Nurse "was one of three Towne sisters, all identified as witches, who were members of a Topsfield family that had a long-standing quarrel with the Putnam family (Linder).

Another Salem woman accused of witchcraft (and the first woman to be tried, convicted, and executed for it) was the fashionable and flamboyant Bridget Bishop, who ran two taverns in town. As Linder points out of Bishop:

Almost sixty years old, owner of a tavern where patrons could drink cider ale and play shuffleboard (even on the Sabbath), critical of her neighbors, and reluctant to pay her bills, Bishop was a likely candidate for an accusation of witchcraft. ("The Witchcraft Trials in Salem: A Commentary").

Further, several of the Salem witch trial judges (who often served as both judge and prosecutor) (Linder; Norton) were themselves friends of the influential Cotton Mather, himself a strong believer in witches and witchcraft, and who had recently published a book,

Memorable Providences describing suspected witchcraft (Linder). As Linder also observes "Only an unfortunate combination of an ongoing frontier war, economic conditions, congregational strife, teenage boredom, and personal jealousies can account for the spiraling accusations, trials, and executions that occurred in the spring and summer of 1692." As the article "Salem witch trials" (Wikipedia, May 18, 2006) further concurs, "It was the result of a period of factional infighting and Puritan witch hysteria which led to the deaths of 20 people (mostly female but also male) and the imprisonment of scores more." Simply put, material losses from a recent war; feelings of guilt, sinfulness, and damnation (as a result of this war failure and material loss); a communal wish to scapegoat others in order to assuage guilt; teenage group-think (and, likely, encouragement in such "groupthink" from parents and others) all played significant roles in the lead-up to the eventual witch trials themselves.

The historically ignominious phenomenon of the Salem witch trials must be viewed, in historical hindsight, from the perspective of the late 17th century (i.e., pre-Enlightenment era) Puritan mind, which was much different from the American (or any other) mind today. Due to their Calvinist beliefs, Puritans in the New World were a self-conscious group that continually sought signs of God's approval as signs of their own salvation (Morgan). This self-conscious attitude, at the time of the Salem witch trials, was underscored (as Norton also notes) by events of the recently-fought King William's War (known to Salem and Essex County Puritans as the Second Indian War) (Norton).

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: