The Salem witchcraft scare

¶ … Salem Witchcraft Scare

The social tensions that influenced the Salem Witchcraft Scare were based in politics and social class. Among the group that wanted Salem Village to be independent from Salem proper, were the Putmans, who formed their own church with Samuel Parris as its minister. Many of the wealthiest members of the village were among those who refused to attend meetings at Parris' church, and "refused even to assess taxes for the payment of Parris' 1692 salary" (Pestana 63).

The gender role had particular significance in the Witchcraft Scare. Seventy-eight percent of those accused of witchcraft in New England between 1620 and 1725 were female, and roughly half of the accused males were "suspect by association," meaning that they were the "husbands, sons, other kin, or public supporters of female witches" (Pestana 66). While, women who incriminated themselves were generally punished by death, men who incriminated themselves were whipped or fined "for telling a lie" (Pestana 66). Moreover, a substantial majority of the accused females were women without brothers, sons, or no children at all, thus "as women without brothers or women without sons, they stood in the way of the orderly transmission of property from one generation of males to another" (Pestana 68).