The witch-hunts in
Early America took place because of a rise in religious and political
intolerance, not because of a rise in witchcraft. The Puritans’ religion greatly affected their way of life and
government. They were intolerant of
non-Christians and believed it was their duty to cleanse the world of
evil. Witch-hunts often occurred
because of politics. Witch-hunts also
resulted from the Puritan’s superstitious beliefs, paranoia, and hard times of
the 17th century. These were
some of the factors that led to the Puritans’ persecution of “witches”.
Witch-hunts
started in Europe as a way to get rid of Pagans who
refused to convert to Christianity.
Since Pagans believed in many gods and goddesses and often used herbs
for “spells” or healing, Christians said they were performing witchcraft to
harm people. The witch-hunts also
existed as a part of politics. The
devil was considered a political enemy of the state. Witches were looked at as making allegiance with the devil rather
than the king. Millions of accused
“witches” were killed in Europe, while only about forty
or so were killed in America. Very few of these accused were even Wicca or
had any type of healing powers. The
witch-hunts were usually pure politics.
Their goal was to rid their society of these enemies.
The Puritans
believed in predestination. They
believed that God had already decided whether someone would be saved or not,
and one couldn’t do anything about it.
They emphasized Bible reading, prayer, and preaching; stressing grace,
devotion, and self-examination to achieve religious virtue. This idea of predestination was unsettling
for the Puritans because no one could really know for sure if they were going
to be saved, and even if they weren’t, they couldn’t do anything about it. After a while, four rules to get into Heaven
developed: 1) Most importantly, You had to love God 2) You had to enjoy reading
the Bible 3) You had to enjoy attending Church 4) You had to love your
Christian neighbors 5) You had to enjoy saying your prayers. Anyone who didn’t follow these rules
assumedly was not saved by God. The
Puritans believed the Calvinistic doctrine, which said that all humans deserved
damnation. Puritans hunted “witches”
because these people supposedly had rejected God and made a pact with the
devil. The Puritans were so focused on
their goal of a pure, religious commonwealth that they reacted harshly against
anything or anyone who got in the way of their goal.
Politics were
involved in the Salem witch
trials. The Puritans weren’t just
concerned with salvation. They also
wanted to purge evil from their society. When a person was accused of
witchcraft, the accusers could seize her or his property. The only way your land or goods would stay
with your heirs was if the accused stood silent as they were slowly being
executed. If they could not stand
silent, their land and property would be given to their accusers. This private
property inheritance rule was a new American spin on witch hunting. In Europe,
it was the Church that inherited most of the wealth from the accused. The witch-hunts were used to secure the
authority of the Puritans’ church-state form of government in the early New
England colonies. One way
they were able to keep control was to use the colonists’ growing paranoia and
feat to their advantage.
There was a lot of
paranoia in the early colonies. The
year before the Salem witch trials,
there were especially a lot of troubles.
There was not enough food, and there were wars and illnesses plaguing
the population. They were afraid of
unexpected attacks by Indians. The
winter was especially harsh and reinforced their feeling of isolation and
vulnerability. There had just been an
epidemic of smallpox and the harvest had been poor. The “witches” became a common enemy. The witch-hunt served to take the attention away from the real
problems and threats to the colonies.
Everyone was angry and looking for someone to blame for their troubles. The “witches” were a perfect scapegoat.
Almost all 17th
century Puritans believed in the devil.
They thought women who did magic, that is, “The use of charms, spells,
etc. in seeking to control events”, signed a pact with the devil. Puritans thought women were more likely to
be witches than men because they were seen as sensual, impure seducers. A
famous witch-hunter’s handbook called The Malleus Malificarum was
published during the Inquisition in Europe and was used
for nearly a century after it by Catholics and other Christians. It was written by Pope Innocent VIII. In it, he explained why women were more
likely to become witches. "Because the female sex is more concerned with
things of the flesh than men; because being formed from a man's rib, they are
only 'imperfect animals' and 'crooked' whereas man belongs to a privileged sex
from whose midst Christ emerged.” This
has to do with how the Bible says Eve (woman) was made from Adam (man). They interpreted it very literally and took
it to heart. The handbook also declared: “When a woman thinks alone, she thinks
evil.” Witch hunting became a way to
keep women in line with the Puritans’ patriarchal society.
The Puritan’s
religious beliefs influenced the witch-hunts.
They were paranoid with fears of everything new in America,
and they needed someone to blame. It
was natural for them to blame Satan and his so-called followers. Since they believed women who had healing
abilities or who used charms to try to control events were affiliated with the
devil, these “witches” were a good common enemy. The Puritans took their anger out on the accused witches, while
realizing there were political and economic advantages to the hunts. This scenario has been repeated time and
again in our society, whether it’s with Joseph McCarthy leading a Communist
hunt or Americans placing their anger and blame on Muslims, Middle Easterners,
or on Saddam Hussein and Iraq. It’s human nature to look for scapegoats to
blame for your problems and strife.
Ideally, by understanding some of the factors that contributed to Early
America’s witch-hunts, we will learn about ourselves and learn from the
Puritans’ mistakes.