Salem Witch Trials

Between the years 1640 and 1698, different disruptions in the political, social, and eco-nomic systems of the Massachusetts Bay Colony led to the Salem Witch Trials. The English set-tlement began its start as a successful, Puritan-dominated colony since a few years after its founding in 1628. Soon after the Massachusetts Bay Company funded the start of this colony, Puritan families escaped persecution in England through traveling to the New World in what is commonly known as the Great Migration. As a result of the dominant Puritan population, the colony organized all aspects of political, social, and economic life using Puritanical values. These Puritanical values helped the Massachusetts' government to assert strict control over the colonists using various ideologies, hence creating efficient political and economic systems. This theocracy worked through the collaboration between religious reverends and political governors, who both helped to establish social standards for the colonists in order to maintain support for the strategically-used Puritan religion. However, as the 17th century progressed, secularism began to popularize as epidemics, war, and climatic change struck the colonists; wealth became imbalanced as secularists sought independence from Puritan rules, causing land disputes and lack of political control within Massachusetts. The colony grew more hectic as overpopulation became a problem. These various events led to the political and religious leaders' joint efforts to restore the popularity of Puritanism (hence restoring the organized success of the colony), which they did through destroying rebellious, secularist "witches", whom they labeled as enemies of the Puritan faith as well as threats to the safety of the colonists, causing the colonists to regain confidence in the Puritan faith and its leaders.

Puritan doctrine, which was ardently asserted by the rulers in Massachusetts, expressed the idea that God is the primary concern of all people, and that any person who puts their own desires before God is acting evilly. This idea strongly affected the social structure of the Massa-chusetts colony in the 17th century. In fact, all appointed governors of Massachusetts first went through examinations to ensure that they held to Puritan beliefs. These governors, as well as the appointed reverends of the colony, played large social roles. They made public appearances and guided the colonists through Puritan example. This helped to maintain order in the colony of Massachusetts. However, trouble soon arose in the colony despite the orderly system; as a report of the colony in the year 1675 reveals, the original company that funded the colony (Massachu-setts Bay Company) declined, causing Great Britain to revoke the charter of Massachusetts in the year 1684. As this occurred, other problems in both England and New England were also dis-rupting the success of England's new colony; New England colonists attempted and failed inva-sion into neighboring French lands while Native Americans invaded the New England colony. Revolution in England was ongoing as a result of New World-caused inflation and the new reli-gious divides that were connected with the Protestant Revolution. This turmoil, combined with harsh winters and a smallpox epidemic throughout the 1680s and 1690s, began to popularize secularism, which opposed the beliefs of Puritanism, in the Massachusetts colony. Colonists were suddenly more concerned with their own well-being rather than being primarily concerned with God and their Puritan faith. This occurred because people began to be skeptical of God's power during this turmoil, or people no longer believed that success was directly related to following Puritan rules, as they watched their Puritan colony decline both economically and politically as a result of the aforementioned disruptions. Some colonists had to be more concerned with their own economic well-being as Massachusetts, with its mother country's own economic problems and lack of its founding company's aid, declined economically and was unable to support its colonists as well as it had previously. These colonists who began to turn away from Puritanism and towards secularism began to develop their own economic situations more so than they had before, which they typically did by moving near major port areas, such as Boston and Salem, in order to directly profit from the booming fur trade, as well as from the lumber and fishing industries. The leaders of Massachusetts feared the autonomy of these colonists and began to vocalize their disapproval of this independently wealth-seeking behavior. An example of this can be seen in the area of colonial Salem, Massachusetts; Reverend Samuel Parris, who was the rev-erend of Salem in the late 17th century, said of these colonists, "...we must give ourselves wholly up to Christ, and not...prefer farms and merchandise above him and above his ordinances". This created opposition to Reverend Parris throughout the wealthier Salem Town area, while support for the reverend rose throughout the Salem Village area. Those still in support of Puritanism and the reverend (living mostly in Salem Village) were outraged at those who were turning away from Puritanism (who were concentrated more in Salem Town).

As a result of the revolutions and land displacement occurring in England, more people were migrating to New England in order to have more self-rule, religious freedom, and ripe eco-nomic opportunity. These new colonists, who came in the late 17th century as their country faced internal divisions, occupied land in Massachusetts, especially in port areas such as Salem. As these immigrants spilled in, less land became available for the individual colonists of Massachu-setts. In the latter half of the 1600s, the average Salem landowner's landholding decreased from about 225 acres to about 125 acres. This resulted in land and border disputes. The leaders of Massachusetts could not afford to lose more control over the increasingly dissatisfied colonists as this new problem arose.