Murry Bergtraum High School

Grace Julian, Principal

Gail Reisin, AP English

Part II Task, Texts and Questions

Created by Rachel Sanchez

Included in a unit on The Crucible by Arthur Miller

 Part II Task, Texts and Question

 Directions: Read the text and study the graphs on the following pages, answer the multiple choice questions and write a response based on the situation described below. You may used the margins to take notes as you read. You may use scrap paper to plan your response.

 Your Task:

 After you have read the passage and answered the multiple-choice questions, write a unified essay about the causes of the Salem Witchcraft Trials and discuss the factors that influenced people to believe in the malevolence of others. In your essay, use ideas from both passages to establish a controlling idea about the factors that led to twenty innocent people being killed. Use relevant information from the text and the map provided. Discuss the factors that influenced people to believe in witches and the implication of these factors on our society today.

Guidelines:

 * Tell your audience what they need to know about the factors that influenced the Salem Witchtrials

* Discuss the implications of these factors that may affect our society today

* Use specific, accurate and relevant information from the text and map to develop your discussion.

* Use a tone and level of language appropriate for a report for a history class

* Organize your ideas in a logical and coherent manner

* Be sure to indicate any words taken directly from the article by using quotation marks or referring to the author

* Follow the conventions of standard written English

 The Salem Witchtrials of 1692 stands out as a brutal and backward looking mistake in the course of American History. Medieval witchcraft beliefs, powerful sexism, Village rivalries and a society in flux are all partial answers to the question, but for the true cause of the Salem witchtrials, one must fit all these strands together like a jigsaw puzzle. In doing this, it becomes obvious that this unfortunate episode is one of the most complex in American History.

 Going back to the medieval period, witchcraft was traditionally defined as misfortune caused by a magical adult agency, overwhelmingly women. The types of misfortunes cause range from causing beer or cheese to spoil, to the family cow drying up, to actually causing the deaths of people. Many people believed that witches made a covenent with the Devil, from whom they acquired their magic powers. It was possible for common folk to find some sort of mark on a witch's body which indicated alliance with the devil.

 A New England witch tended to be woman who was middle aged and of "humble" social status. She was either married or widowed. One of the most important aspects of the woman-witch was that she owned property. Despite several New England laws that clearly specified male inheritance of property, several women in Salem owned property. The female property owner upset the Puritan social order, and made these women vulnerable to witchcraft accusations. All over New England, but in Salem in particular, conflicts between sons who believed that the real property of their deceased fathers was theirs, and widows who held that property caused a great deal of resentment.

 To begin to fit the pieces of the puzzle together, the afflicted people were believed to be possessed. Afflicted girls would claim to be tempted to sign the Devil's "Book," they asserted that the touch of the accused witch would halt their fits, they said they could see the witches' familiars when no one else could. The adults observing the afflicted girls assumed almost from the beginning that it was witchcraft. It is possible that it those adults had been given a different interpretation of these events, the whole episode might never have happened.

 The world of Salem was a place where the existence and powers of demons and devils was rarely questioned. Events that at one time were unexplainable were often attributed to witchcraft. Clinical hysteria exhibits many of the same kinds of behavior reported by the people of Salem. These kinds of behaviors (feelings of being choked, being biten, strange postures) can emerge in times of severe stress, which Salem Village was experiencing at the time.

 To understand the important piece of the puzzle, one must first realize that Salem was a divided community. It was divided into Salem Town which was a port Town to the Southeast, and Salem Village, bordering the Town, was a farm Town to the west. Founded in the 1630's, by 1672 the two communitites were different socially and economically, but politically they were considered one unit. To worship, the Villagers had to travel to the Town, as the Village had no meeting house of its own. For many years the Village agitated for independence. The Town, however, which collected taxes from the Village, constantly managed to prevent it. By 1672, a compormise was reached: the Village could have its own meeting house and pastor, but it was still politically connected to the Town. This situation bred serious tension which would erupt witha vegeance twenty years later in 1692.

 By 1692 Salem Village was poisoned by factionalism. Samuel Parris arrived in Salem Village in 1691 to be its new minister, and two weeks later, he manage to gain the support of one faction, and the enmity of another. In a question over taxes for his support, and other issues, the Village took either Pro-Parris sides or Anti-Parris sides. For most of 1692, the supporters of Parris held political control of the Village, and it was they who were in charge of the witchcraft trials. What began as a political controversy soon became a search for witches.

 The pace of the Salem witchtrials was extraordinary. Although there had been witchcraft trials in New England since 1647, only about 15 people reached the hangman's noose. When the first three witches were accused in February, 1692, it appeared that it would just be a continuation of the pattern. While the accusers were still predominantly afflicted girls, it is clear that they were not acquainted with many of the people they were accusing. Often an adult would suggest a name to a possessed girl, and she would confirm that name. With this in mind, a geographic pattern begins to emerge. In Salem Village itself, there were 14 accused witches, 12 of them lived in the eastern part of it. 32 adult Villagers supplied testimony against them. Of these, only two lived in the eastern part of the Village. 29 Villagers either publicly showed skepticism about the trials or defended some of the witches. 24 of them lived in the eastern section of the Village. The pattern that emerges is: for the most part, the western half of the Village was accusing the eastern half of the Village of witchcraft.

 Why would the factionalism present in Salem lead to an outbreak of witchcraft accusations? While Salem Village and Salem Town were extremely dependent on each other, the cultures of both areas by 1692 were diverging. The western part of the Village had much more rural base than the eastern part, which was becoming more aligned with the commercial center of Salem Town. As the eastern end of the Village was becoming more involved with the commerical world of the seventeenth century, the Village was not. In fact, land became more scarce in the western part of the Village, as fathers continued to divide their lands among their children. In effect, the later generations of Villagers had much less of a chance of acquiring economic prosperity than their fathers. The resentment of the western end of the Village was only exacerbated by the presence of the Ipswich road, which was the boundary between the Village and the Town. The Villagers living along the road had important commercial interests with the town. These Villagers were the solid base of the Anti-Parris faction. Meanwhile, the Village church was the basis of the Pro-Parris sentiment, and a hotbed of resentment towards the Town.

 The residents of Salem were Puritans, and to Puritans, a community was an entire living organism living under a covenant with G-d. If a person were to pursue a private interest, they were not behaving properly. The development of Salem town represented a moral threat the entire community. In recognizing the changes taking place, the true nature of the bitterness and animosity finally emerges. The western group of Villagers were involved in an ultimately doomed attempt to preserve and rural and Puritan ideal.

 Directions: Answer the following questions. The questions may help you think about ideas and information you might use in your writing. you may return to the questions anytime your wish.

 1. In order to determine the causes of the Salem Witchtrials, one must understand

 1. The time period in history

2. The way in which witches were viewed

3. The complex interweaving of many different events

4. The lifestyles of the Puritans

 2. In the Seventeenth Century witchcraft was viewed as:

 1. Someone who made an agreement with the Devil

2. An acceptable idea that people rarely questioned

3. The reason why someone's baby died

4. A means of seeking revenge

3. A witch in New England was:

1. An attractive young woman

2. A widow or widower

3. A man who disagreed with the reverend

4. A wealthy middle aged woman

 4. Most New England laws clearly stated that

 1. A woman could own property if her husband died

2. A woman could only own property if her eldest son agreed

3. Only males could inherit property

4. Female property owners upset the Puritan social order

 5. The people afflicted by witchcraft in Salem were predominantly

 1. jealous husbands

2. sons who did not receieve their deceased fathers' land

3. elderly women

4. young girls

 6. The major difference between Salem Town and Salem Village was that:

 1. The Village didn't have its own meeting house

2. Neither accepted Reverend Parris

3. The Town like reverend while the Village didn't

4. The Village accepted Reverend Parris while the Town didn't

 7. The major difference between the eastern village and the western village was that:

 1. The western village believed in witchcraft and the eastern didn't

2. The eastern village was becoming more commercial while the western part remained a rural based community

3. The western part of the village was more commericial while the eastern remained rural

4. The eastern village believed in witchcraft and the western didn't

 8. Based on your understanding of the map which of the following is true?

 1. Accused witches were predominantly located onthe western half

2. The defenders were on the western half

3. The accusers were on the western side of Salem

4. The defenders had little to do with the eastern side of Salem

 9. According to the map, Salem Village is located which part of Massachusettes?

 1. The central part of Massachusettes

2. The southeastern part of Massachusettes

3.. The northeastern part of Massachusettes above Andover

4. The midwestern part of Massachusettes below Andover

 10. According to the map,which of the following is true?

 1. The prison, place of execution and courthouse are all the in the same area

2. The schoolhouse, prison, and meeting house are divided by Ipswitch Rd.

3. The tavern, meetinghouse and courthouse are in the western part of Salem

4. Wooleston River divided Salem Town from Salem Village