Salem Witch Trials
... Most of the women accused were over 40, with a staggering 66 in Salem, compared to the 57 women who were under 40 living in Salem. Only 1 out of the 57 women under 40 was finally executed for witchcraft, however 12 out of the 66 women over 40 accused in Salem were executed (Karlsen). Women who were accused were also usually either single or widowed, this meant that these women were an easier target to accuse, because they had no men to defend them. Inheritance was also a link between women and witchcraft. Women who were due to soon get their inheritance or had just got inheritance were very often accused, which leads historians to believe that perhaps it was a plot by some of the accusers so that the women would be carried off to jail, and there would be more land for someone to own, hopefully for the person who accused the witch. Some of the accused witches were near to broke, and some of them were still fairly poor, but none of them were very rich. 20% of the accused were impoverished and living at a level of bare substance (Potentially Powerful Witch). Rebecca Nurse was a fairly poor, but well respected church goer who lived on the West side of Salem. The reason why she was accused could be linked to the split of the Salems. In the 1600’s, Salem was split into two halves, the town and the village. The two were “in fact moving along very different economic and social tracks” (Boyer and Nissenbaum). Salem town was a lot more commerical and powerful than the village, which was nearly totally an agicultural community, and the two had many conflicts, mainly over land. The village community really felt the “pressures of overcrowding as mature sons of the second generation...sought lands for themselves” (Fear and Loathing). The village, however, was also split into two distinct sides; the East and the West. The East side of the village was nearer the town and was therefore the most like the town. The people were richer and it was a lot more commerical, and the accusers lived here. The West side of the village was where the farmers lived and was a lot poorer than the East side of the village, and this is where the accused witches lived, which created a large conflict between the two sides of Salem. Rebecca Nurse was one of the unfortunate few who lived on the West side of Salem and was not able to escape the acquisitions, which were growing in numbers every day. She was tried and hanged on suspision of witchcraft, and accused by one of the wealthiest families in Salem village, the Porter’s. The Porter’s and the Putnam’s were the wealthiest families in Salem village and were both working to acheive the total opposites of each other. The Putnams, who lived in the western, more rural part of the village seemed to work endlessly to accuse more and more witches and further the executions of these witches. The Porters, however, who lived in the Eastern part of the village, tried to work “behind the scenes, to save the accused, discredit the accusers, and stop the trials” (Fear and Loathing). This was very unusual because the trend seemed to be that the accusers lived in the eastern part of the village and the accused witches in the western. This was why the Porters had to work very carefully and cautiously as to not draw attention to themselves as suspect witches. Another conflict which the two families faced was that the Porter’s had extremely close ties to the town, whereas the Putnam’s wanted the village to be a completely seperate municipality. This effort, however, never pulled thorough, but a Congregational Meeting House was erected and the Putnam’s were able to choose it’s minister. They chose Samuel Parris. The Porters did not like this man as being the minister of the Meeting House and the Putnams and Porters fought...