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Y312: Popular Culture and the Witchcraze of the 16th and 17th Centuries

Depth study: The Salem witch trials — the crisis of 1692 and the accusations

  • 3 things to know
  • Unit group 3

Overview

Recall questions on the setting of Salem, the political and legal crisis, the colony’s charter, religious anxiety, Samuel Parris, frontier war, the first accusations, Tituba’s confession, the spread of accusation and spectral evidence.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started
Who and when

What role did frontier warfare play?

Who and when

How did Samuel Parris contribute to the crisis?

Who and when

At what point did the pattern of accusation break down?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    State where and when the Salem persecution took place.

    Model answer

    In Salem Village and the surrounding towns of Essex County in Massachusetts, over the course of 1692.

  2. 2

    What political crisis preceded the trials?

    Model answer

    Massachusetts had lost its original charter in 1684, endured direct rule under the Dominion of New England, overthrown its governor in 1689 and then had no securely lawful government until the new charter and Governor Phips arrived in May 1692.

  3. 3

    Why did the legal position matter so much in 1692?

    Model answer

    There was no properly constituted court to try capital cases when the accusations began, so Phips created a special Court of Oyer and Terminer under William Stoughton whose procedures were improvised.

  4. 4

    What was Salem's constitutional relationship with England at this point?

    Model answer

    It was a royal colony under the charter of 1691 with a Crown-appointed governor and the framework of English law, and its acts and judgments were ultimately answerable to authority in London.

  5. 5

    Describe the religious anxiety of the colony in 1692.

    Model answer

    Puritan New England believed itself under covenant with God, and declining church membership, compromises such as the Halfway Covenant and repeated disasters were preached as signs that the colony had failed and was being punished.

  6. 6

    How did Samuel Parris contribute to the crisis?

    Model answer

    The minister of Salem Village was in bitter dispute with part of his congregation over salary and firewood, and the accusations began in his household and reinforced the village's existing factional split.

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