The Puritans settled in Massachusetts in the 1620s seeking religious freedom from the Anglican Church of England. They believed in predestination and a strict moral code. In 1692, accusations of witchcraft in Salem Village led to the Salem Witch Trials, where over 200 people were accused and 19 were executed by hanging. The trials ended in 1693 as the validity of the accusations came into question, with many innocent people having been found guilty. The aftermath caused economic and social turmoil in Salem Village.

1. Puritan Beliefs and the
Salem Witch Trials
Junior English

2. Who were the Puritans? – Defined
 Refers to the movement for reform (change)
 During early late 1500s - 1600s
 Occurred within Church of England
 Between time of Elizabeth and Charles I

3. Who were the Puritans?
 Wanted to rid Church of
Catholic influence
 Built upon ideas of John
Calvin
 Meant Church had no
supreme authority over God
 God, alone, decided fate;
church had no control over
destiny
 James and son Charles I
had disputes with
parliament (congress;
make laws)
 Dissolved parliament
 Puritans in favor of
parliament
 Charles I demanded that
those that did not support
Anglican Church be killed
 Religious persecution began
for the Puritans

4. Leaving England
 Severed themselves from new Anglican Church
 Left for new world in 1620
 Established Massachusetts
Bay Colony

5. New World—New Beginning
 City upon a Hill Theory:
 New MA Colony would be a place of complete reform
 God would be found in scripture and a stern work ethic

6. Puritans - Education
 Strong belief in education was established to read
Bible
 First public school founded in 1635
 Harvard College became an icon for educating ministers
 1647: Act passed ensured every town (of 100+
population) would attend grammar school for
free

7. American National Identity:
What do we take away from the Puritans, Planters
and Pilgrims?
 Independence
 Patriotism
 Industry
 Practicality (common
sense)
 Tolerance
 Sense of justice
*All developing as the
villages/colonies
changed politically and
religiously

8. American National Identity:
What do we take away from the Puritans, Planters
and Pilgrims?
 Were first to build upon idea of the American
Dream
 Idea that a new path could be forged and goals
attained
 Inherited emphasis on
 Hard work
 Strong sense of religion
 Duty to country
 Freedom from oppression

9. Puritan Goals, Practices
& Beliefs
 Sought to cleanse culture of corrupt, sinful
practices
 Believed civil government should strictly
enforce public morality by prohibiting vices
 Wished to purge (cleanse) churches of every
vestige of Roman Catholic ritual and practice

10. Puritan Goals, Practices
& Beliefs
 Church had no supreme authority over God
 Worship services were
 Simple
 Often long
 Learned sermons
 Clergy expounded passages from Bible

11. Puritan Goals, Practices
& Beliefs
 Membership was limited to the “visibly godly”
 Those who lead sober (moderate), upright lives
 Strict standards for admission to their churches
 Each person applying for membership had to testify
publicly to his/her experience of
conversion

12. Conversion and Predestination
 Believed human beings were innately sinful;
depraved
 God would spare small number of “elect”
individuals
 Corrupt mankind justly deserved the fate of hellfire

13. Was Predestination Unfair?
 God was a distinctly undemocratic sort of deity
 God offered no incentive for upright moral
behavior
 Calvinist theology denied human beings any
free will
 BUT……….

14. So Why Did So Many Believe?
 Was a “comfortable doctrine”
 If you believed yourself “saved”
 Changes of 15th and 16th centuries
were unsettling and people needed:
 Social order
 Intellectual and moral certainty
 Spiritual consolation

15. Doctrine of Predestination
answered these needs
 Offered a wider message:
 God had a plan for all of human history
 Good would triumph over evil

16. Doctrine of Predestination
answered these needs
 Every person in human history had predestined
role to play
 Life was meaningful
 Strivings and sufferings produced
peace and security (a heaven on earth)

17. How Did Predestination Influence the Lives of
the Puritans?
 Strove to reshape society and government to
agree with the will of God
 Strove to lead godly, disciplined lives
 Believed mastering evil inclinations provided
evidence they ranked among the “elect”

18. How Did Predestination Influence the Lives of
the Puritans?
 Receive salvation through God’s mercy
 Leading godly, moral life was an encouraging
sign of receiving the grace of God, thus
salvation
 BUT behavior was NOT the cause of their salvation
 Gaining greater reassurance of salvation was
important

19. New Englanders and the
“World of Wonder”
 Both the ordinary and the educated believed in:
 Witches
 Power of Satan to assume visible form
 Foretelling power of dreams and portents
(omens/signs)
 Strange prodigies
 “Monstrous” births
 Miraculous deliverances

20. And all of this leaves them ripe for
the mass hysteria we call…..

21. Salem Witch Trials
Salem Politics:
 Salem Town vs. Salem Village:
 Putnam’s wanted to separate from Salem Town
 Establish their own congregation
 Under the Rev. Samuel Parris, Putnam’s began own
meetings
 Over half of the congregation were Putnam's
 Caused strain among members

22. Salem Witch Trials
Salem Politics:
 Rev. Samuel Parris
 Forced to rely solely on volunteer contributions
 Because a faction denied paying him any money due to
the “perks” he was receiving from the Putnam's
 Eventually, faction would demand to be separate from
Putnam's congregation (unsuccessful)

23. Salem Witch Trials
Salem Politics:
 Puritan Play time
 Rev. Parris opposed any games
 Fear that idleness would allow the devil to enter hearts
 Reading was a popular past time
 Bible, books about witch craft, prophecy and fortune
telling
 Children would practice the incantations and divinations for fun

24. Witchcraft
 Puritan definition:
 Entering into compact with
devil in exchange for
certain powers to do evil
 Was a sin because it
denied God’s
superiority
 Was a crime because
the witch could call
up the devil to perform
cruel acts against others
 The determinant:
 Often, the slaves would be
asked to make a “witch
cake”
 Made of rye meal
 Mixed with urine of the
afflicted
 Fed to a dog
 If dog displays similar
sign as the afflicted, then
they were bewitched

25. The Accused
 Group of girls caught
dancing in woods with
Tituba, a slave
 They feign sickness and
possession
 Among the group
 Daughter of Rev. Parris
 Daughter of Tomas and
Anne Putnam
 Who demands that
the possessors be
found and punished

26. The Accused
Sarah Osbourne – An elderly,
non-church going woman
Sarah Good – A
homeless woman who
begged door to door
Tituba – A slave from
Barbados
Martha Corey – Accused
because of poor standing in
the community
Rebecca Nurse – 71, a
kind and generous lady, sher
esponded when accused “What sin
has God found in me un-repented
of that He should lay such an
affliction upon me in my old age?”
John and Elizabeth
Proctor Farmers
whose servant, Mary
Warren accused them
of witchcraft because
John knew the girls
were lying and
requested that the girls
be harshly punished
Rev. John
Burroughs – Accused
because left position
over a salary dispute.
Called the “Black
Minister”
The following are the first accused by the girls:

27. The First Hangings
 End of 1692, over 200 people
jailed and standing accused of
witchcraft
 Bridget Bishop – Found poppets
with missing head in her home
 Sarah Good, Sarah Wilds,
Elizabeth How, Susannah
Martin and Rebecca Nurse
Nurse states to Rev. Nayes, “I am
no more a witch than you a
wizard, and if you take away my
life God will give you blood to
drink”
 George Burroughs – Able
to recite the Lord’s prayer
 John Proctor, George
Jacobs, John Willard
and Martha Carrier –
were all hanged
 Elizabeth Proctor was not
hanged because she was
pregnant

28. The Madness Begins to Die
 Eventually, town begins to
question validity of trials and
girls accusations
 Began when people of good
standing in community are put to
death
 George Burroughs prayer
 Mary Easty’s letter
 Giles Corey’s refusal to stand trail
 Giles Corey – Is crushed to
death and says “more weight”
when he dies
 Mary Easty – Writes letter to
court demanding innocence and
questioning girls authority over
the court
 Mather states, “It were better
that ten suspected witches
should escape than that one
innocent person should be
dissolved.”
 Last trial was held in January
1693
 Total – 19 people were hung and
one crushed to death

29. The Aftermath
 The few remaining –
 Many left in jail because they could not afford to pay fine to
be released
 Crops, fields, livestock, homes, meeting houses all fell, due
to abandonment
 Many felt that God was punishing them for executing
innocent people
 Joseph Green – Once Rev. Parris is thrown out of Salem, Green
manages to bring everyone back together
 The accused sat down with accuser
 Many were excommunicated, many returned to the church