What caused the hysteria among the young puritan girls who caused all those ladies to be tried and hanged?
368161
There have been several theories, some of which have already been posted, i.e., mass hysteria, repressed adolescent sexuality, fear of being hanged for witchcraft themselves.  There was also a political/economic factor.  Some of the girls fathers put them up to accusing their neighbors, so the fathers could cease the land.\n\nThe Salem witch trials is fascinating time.  It is a perfect example of how different societal forces can come together to create a mass hysteria.  It began when two girls started to have convulsions and hysterics in which they would scream blasphemies and go into trances.  The behavior spread to other girls in the village, and soon the girls were naming people who had "afflicted" them.\n\nIt was probably several factors, which came together just right in Salem, Massachusettes in 1692.  For one, the Puritans had very rigid religious and social codes.  The Devil was frighteningly real, blamed for crop failures and illnesses, and was believed to live in the woods, which in those days, was literally in a person's back yard.  God was also a literal presence.  Many things were a sin, and sins were punished immediately by a vengeful god.  So, if your kid got sick, that was punishment from god because you sinned.  Many people accused of witchcraft were those that were on the outskirts of society.  The story goes that the girls were having their fortunes told by a slave woman named Tituba.  If this were the case, the girls were probably feeling guilty about the "sin" they had committed.  They would also feel that they deserved to be punished for this, which could have translated into hysterical seizures and such.  Just living in this kind of punitive environment could have fostered hysterical seizures.  These hysterical fits would have been interpreted as the work of the devil, both by the girls and their parents.  To claim bewitchment would give the girls an easy out, because if they were bewitched, it wouldn't really be their fault.  It would relieve guilt and gain them sympathy.  So they started accusing people.\n\nAs for the economic angle, most of the accusers were poorer farmers, and most of the accused lived in the richer part of Salem.  It was likely that there were long-simmering tensions that were flamed and exploited by the hysteria.  And, if a person was accused of witchcraft and hanged, by Salem law, their property was ceased by the village and put up for auction.  So, neighbors accused neighbors in order to get their property.\n\nAnd, of course, as girl children in Salem, the girls had very little outlet for their energy and imagination, and certainly no kind of power to speak of.  The witch trials made them celebrities in their village.  Once started, why should they stop?
703051
my english teacher (a very old very ornery sort of guy) used to say that the only real witch in the crucible was Abigail.\n\nhe also had some other less than kind names for her, but i'll spare you those.\n\ni think most teachers will agree with him though, abigail williams was a rotten little brat girl who played a game she couldn't bear to lose and was too caught up in herself and her games to ever admit that she lied.\n\ninstead of taking the whipping she deserved she had innocent people murdered.\n\ndoes that sound like a victim to you?
1179855
A bit of both. At the time of the gunpowder plot English Catholics were banned from observing their faith to an extent that would now seem barbaric to all but the most extreme Orange type. While I can understand the frustration Caitsby's group felt we should also take into account the backlash that resulted from this and the way their cause was set back for possibly hundreds of years as a result.
724991
I won't give you a "term paper" but I will give you some sites to look at.  Try the following:\n\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puritanism#From_1660_to_present_day\nhttp://xroads.virginia.edu/~CAP/PURITAN/purrot.html\nhttp://xroads.virginia.edu/~CAP/PURITAN/purtrad.html#moral\n\nGood luck with your assignment!!!
655846
I believe Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin. Robert E. Lee was the head General of the Confederates. Grant the Union head General; Jefferson Davis, I believe was the Confederate President, Lincoln the Union's.  Sojourner Truth was like a Harriet Tubman, she was one of the first women involved in the Underground Railroad and spoke out against slavery (I believe).  Don't know about Mat Turner. John Brown was an extreme abolitionist who was notorious for the massacre at, I believe, Harper's Ferry where they seized munitions for the slaves to rebel against; he was eventually hung.  Harriet Tubman was a black woman fighting slavery through the Underground Railroad, leading escaped slaves to the Canada/Vermont area.  Clara Burton did something, but I can't remember (go to wikipedia and look her up). John Wilkes Booth assassinated Lincoln while in a theater.  And I don't know who Mary Chesnat is either, but you can wikipedia her as well.
724515
It sounds like the Salem Witch trials again.\n\nWe had to kill them to save them...
496593
They were the British, and it is because of \nQueen Elizabet that it is colled so.Virgin like her.
12911
Are you asking if young women understand the term "Jail Bait"? No, they don't...they know they're feeling things and getting second looks they've never before experienced, but are utterly clueless about the significance.
224792
The Mary alluded to in this traditional English nursery rhyme is reputed to be Mary Tudor, or Bloody Mary, who was the daughter of King Henry VIII. Queen Mary was a staunch Catholic and the garden referred to is an allusion to graveyards which were increasing in size with those who dared to continue to adhere to the Protestant faith - Protestant martyrs.\n\nTheres more at the following link: Quite gnarly details!\nInstruments of Torture!\nThe " Maids" or Maiden was the original guillotine!\nExecutions!\nhttp://www.rhymes.org.uk/mary_mary_quite_contrary.htm
677661
Women who were independent, free thinkers and those who did not follow the norm.  Also, any woman that the government/church felt was threatening to them.  Check out "The Crucible", it's a whole movie about witch trials.
1167808
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puritans\n\ngood luck
737129
no witches were "burned at the stake" in the US! Those accused were hung, and one guy was pressed to death with stones.  Not to mention that all of the accused in Salem were puritanical christians at the mercy of some hysterical teenage girls, and a town most likely affected by ergotism or "St Anthony's fire" (by eating ergot tainted grain)  About the only witches were the yoruban slaves, and none of them were accused.\n\nthere is no help for you child! you are about as thick as they come!
1039238
It's because they were told as children they'd be eternally tortured if they dare think a different way. It's abuse and mind control at its finest.
1083566
I don't know but by the reactions from some of the people who answered it seems there are a lot of puritanical killjoys out there. Hope you find one and to all those others, live a little why don't you!
903042
How about this below and here are all the resources for you to write a great essay, good luck.\n\nSalem Witch Trials\n\nSalem Witch Trials FAQ Page\n\nhttp://www.salemwitchtrials.com/faqs.html\n\nhttp://www.17thc.us/\n\nMy link collection currently contains 282 links, which are cross-indexed in the following 25 categories and checked for 404 errors ("File Not Found") on a regular basis. The titles and my descriptions of the sites are searchable.\n\nMap of Salem Village: Witchcraft Accusations\n\nhttp://jefferson.village.virginia.edu/~bcr/salem/salem.html\n\nThis site presents a map of the village and timeline presenting who and where witch accusations occurred in March 1692. Click on the red and blue dots next to the names to find out more about individuals accused. This site may be slow to download.\n\nhttp://www.salemweb.com/memorial/\n\nhttp://etext.virginia.edu/salem/witchcraft/\n\nhttp://www.salemweb.com/guide/witches.shtml\n\nhttp://school.discovery.com/schooladventures/salemwitchtrials/\n\nhttp://etext.lib.virginia.edu/salem/witchcraft/texts/transcripts.html\n\nA small girl fell sick in 1692. Her “fitts”—convulsions, contortions, and outbursts of gibberish—baffled everyone. Other girls soon manifested the same symptoms. Their doctor could suggest but one cause, Witchcraft.\n\nhttp://www.nationalgeographic.com/features/97/salem/\n\nYou may click on the town and city names on the map below to view pictures (where available) and read about the sites in these locations.\n\nhttp://www.salemwitchmuseum.com/\n\nhttp://www.salemwitchtrials.com/\n\nhttp://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/salem/SALEM.HTM\n\nGood luck.\n\nKevin, Liverpool, England.
940781
Salem Witch Trials\n\nSalem Witch Trials FAQ Page\n\nhttp://www.salemwitchtrials.com/faqs.html\n\nhttp://www.17thc.us/\n\nMy link collection currently contains 282 links, which are cross-indexed in the following 25 categories and checked for 404 errors ("File Not Found") on a regular basis. The titles and my descriptions of the sites are searchable.\n\nMap of Salem Village: Witchcraft Accusations\n\nhttp://jefferson.village.virginia.edu/~bcr/salem/salem.html\n\nThis site presents a map of the village and timeline presenting who and where witch accusations occurred in March 1692. Click on the red and blue dots next to the names to find out more about individuals accused. This site may be slow to download.\n\nhttp://www.salemweb.com/memorial/\n\nhttp://etext.virginia.edu/salem/witchcraft/\n\nhttp://www.salemweb.com/guide/witches.shtml\n\nhttp://school.discovery.com/schooladventures/salemwitchtrials/\n\nhttp://etext.lib.virginia.edu/salem/witchcraft/texts/transcripts.html\n\nA small girl fell sick in 1692. Her “fitts”—convulsions, contortions, and outbursts of gibberish—baffled everyone. Other girls soon manifested the same symptoms. Their doctor could suggest but one cause, Witchcraft.\n\nhttp://www.nationalgeographic.com/features/97/salem/\n\nYou may click on the town and city names on the map below to view pictures (where available) and read about the sites in these locations.\n\nhttp://www.salemwitchmuseum.com/\n\nhttp://www.salemwitchtrials.com/\n\nhttp://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/salem/SALEM.HTM\n\nGood luck.\n\nKevin, Liverpool, England.
1085509
The Puritans were not religiously free in England, particularly when Charles I ascended to the throne (his father, James I of "King James Bible" fame was not sympathetic to the Puritans either).  The Puritans longed for religious freedom, but also originally wanted to set up a "new England", which would be modeled on their own theological teachings (in other words, the Puritans weren't supportive of religious freedom for those who disagreed with them, either).