SALEM WITCH TRIALS

SLAVERY

SOCIAL MOBILITY

GREAT AWAKENING

New Social ‘Conventions’

Salem Witch Trials

1641 – Salem, Massachusetts declare witchcraft a capital crime

Teenage girls accused an African servant of practicing witchcraft; she was later hung for being a witch

All crazy behavior was said to be the mark of a witch – either you were one or you had been cursed by one

This led to the Salem Witch Trials If you denied it, you were executed If you admitted it, you were imprisoned

Over a period of 5 years…….

19 witches were hanged1 wizard (male witch) was pressed to deathAround 17 died in prison

The original girls that accused their servant of witchcraft eventually admitted that they made the whole story up.

Slavery

In the beginning, people that were considered slaves were either captured in war or convicted criminals. With hard work, they could buy their freedom or

improve their social status. This was all within AFRICA!

1420s - Akan people (W. Af.) slave to Portugal for gold.

Then to Europe – sugarcane (limited land)

With the increased demand, Africans would be taken from their homes and sold into slavery in order for Africa to make money

Increased Availability of Land

When England began founding colonies in the America, they now had more land to harvest and saw the need for slaves in the colonies.

When the slaves would be purchased, they would be tied together by ropes or chains, sold, branded, and put on ships. Between 1450 and 1870, 10-12 million Africans were

transported to the Americas.

Triangular Trade

The first Africans arrived in Virginia in 1619.They were not seen as different because of

their race at the time. The colonists focused on the fact that they were not Christian. This would change as more and more slaves came into

the area.

Slave codes were a set of laws that formally regulated slavery and defined the relationship between enslaved Africans and free people 1. couldn’t testify against a white person in court 2. couldn’t own property 3. couldn’t assemble in large number

Thinking Changes

Enlightenment – rational thinking in science, math, politics, society (Franklin) Increased gov’t separation from church…pulled church population away from faith When coupled with urbanization and diverse economic conditions = social

mobility!

What happened in Massachusetts in 1691?

Great Awakening, Jonathan Edwards respond to ‘enlightened ideas’ “however you may have reformed your life in many think,”

as a sinner you were destined for hell unless you had a “great change of heart.”

Great Awakening

Need for an emotional experience that brings one closer to God

Denied the Half-Way Covanent

Christian churches increase

Independent denominations (Baptists, Methodists)

Higher Education (Princeton, Brown, Columbia, Dartmouth)

Consequences of new thinking?