Salem Witchcraft Trials

Historical Context Essay

Marion Spies (Bergische Universität-GHS Wuppertal)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.1: American (US) Writing and Culture: The Colonial Period, 1604-1783.
Vol. editors: Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University), Scott Slawinski (Western Michigan University)

Domains

Trials and major cases

Dates

Date of occurrence 1691-1692

Places

United States (Location)

Resources

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In Massachusetts in the last decades of the seventeenth century, sectarian disputes and religious indifference were on the rise. On the one hand, there was the Protestant emphasis on a direct accountability to God (individual conscience), which led believers challenge authority. In Massachusetts, such ‘heresies’ (mainly of Quakers and Baptists) had been suppressed by the Puritans since the 1630s. On the other hand, society was growing more worldly; many children of the ‘visible saints’ could not give the required testimony of regeneration, which was required to become a full member of the congregation. A further setback to Puritan control was the royal charter of 1691, which required toleration of dissenters and based the right to vote in public elections on property rather…

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748 words

Citation: Spies, Marion. "Salem Witchcraft Trials". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 06 May 2004 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=983, accessed 16 April 2024.]

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