Searching for Scapegoats in Salem
The Salem trials witch began in Salem Village, Massachusetts during the winter of 1691-1692. The accusations began when the minister’s daughter, Betty Parris became ill along with another girl called Abigail Williams. They girls complained of odd things, like being choked and not to long after three more girls began to have the same symptoms. Doctors began to believe that this was witchcraft and then the girls accused four women, one of them being the Parris’s slave. As time went on more and more people were being accused, even some well respected people of the town. As for the accused they had two options; claim they were innocent and be tortured and killed; or they could confess and give the court officials information on the other witches in the town. In the end, 20 people were accused and killed, and over one hundred accused “witches” were in jail. The causes of the Salem witch trials were; farm sizes were smaller than before, there was hostility between Salem village and Salem town, and the girls wanted attention.
In 1692 Salem Village reached their lowest size for farm per family; according to a chart from Stanford University called “Average Size of Family Farms in Salem Village” (Doc. C) in 1665 each family would have about 240 acres of farming land, but in 1692 they only had about 130 acres of farming land. This shows that people did not have as much money and space as they did before, causing people to want to accuse the wealthier people of the Village and Town. According to “The Geography of Witchcraft” (Doc.D) another cause for the witch trials was the hostility between Salem Village and Salem Town because Salem Village had to pay taxes that went to the town government in Salem Town. This document showed that most of the accusers were from Salem Village and most of the accused were from Salem Town. The poorer people from Salem Village accused the wealthier people from Salem Town, because the accused would be sent to jail and all their belongings would be left behind. Since the wealthier towns’ people were put in jail, the poorer accusers could easily take their belongings. The last cause for the Salem Witch Trials was that the original accusers, the girls, wanted attention. Years after the trials happened, some of the girls apologized for their actions and said that none of the people were actually guilty. Between the low amounts of money being made and the want for attention the Salem witch trials began.
There are still places today dedicated to the people who were killed in this horrific time. One place is The Salem Witch Trials Memorial in Salem Massachusetts. Here there are benches which have the names of the executed and the date in which they were. It is a peaceful area where there are locust trees that represent the unjustness of the trials. Here you can go and remember those who were killed because of the unfair trials. It is important to remember what happened, because it shows that fear can cause people to believe crazy things. (Salemaward, Translating Stone Into Lessons for Today,
(“Witchcraft at Salem Village.” Wikipedia. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Witchcraft_at_Salem_Village.jpg .)
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