Blog #5: Puritan or Persecutor?

This week's reading from The Salem Witch Hunt: A Brief History with Documents focused on providing context for the Salem witch trials. As I was reading, I found a large connection between the Puritan beliefs of the seventeenth-century New Englanders and what went on in Salem. Puritan beliefs appeared to be at the root of the hysteria that was occurring during this time. I wanted to highlight three beliefs in the Puritan faith I witnessed throughout this reading that fueled this hysteria which eventually led to the Salem witch trials.

The first belief was that God was constantly testing Puritans. The Puritans thought that nothing was accidental and that anything that occurred or happened to an individual whether that be good or bad was willed by God. This connected to what occurred in Salem because it allowed New Englanders to believe that being affected by witchcraft was a sign from God that they were being punished. This had the effect of increasing hysteria throughout New England because being punished by God through witchcraft meant that the individual would not receive salvation.

The second Puritan belief that fueled the Salem witch trials was the belief that new and old settlers in the area, whether that be Quakers, Anglicans, or the local Indian nations posed a threat to the morals that New England’s was founded upon. These groups threatened the godly society the Puritans had created and their different views and opinions were considered to be those of the Devil. The biases against these groups caused the Puritan settlers to accuse the other settlers of witchcraft. This can be seen through the large number of witchcraft accusations that were against Quakers, Agnlicans, and the local Indian settlers.

The final Puritan belief that impacted what occurred in Salem was the belief that neighbors had to support one another because neighborly love was linked to spirituality. Many witchcraft accusations stemmed from individuals accusing their neighbor of witchcraft after a negative interaction between the two had occurred. Using claims of witchcraft to convict a neighbor for something that normally was non-convictable allowed Puritans a loophole for this neighborly love they were supposed to sport. They could cite witchcraft for the tensions they had with their neighbor and resolve their conflict while still upholding the Puritan belief of neighborly love. 

These three beliefs and so many others that the Puritans sported generated a group that was quick to turn in others for witchcraft. When examining these beliefs more closely, it is easier to understand how an event such as the Salem witch trials could have occurred. This group was using their connection to God and the witch's connection to the devil to develop a divide between themselves and those practicing witchcraft. The Puritans were simply following what they believed God wanted them to do in order to achieve salvation and persecuting witches became involved in their pursuit of salvation.