The Salem Witch Trials

Do Now

• With your small groups, answer the questions:

1) When you think of witches, what comes to mind?

2) What were the Salem Witch Trials? (Summarize)

The Salem Witch Trials

• 1692

Which Witch is Which?Witches and Witch-Hunts

Witch-Hunts

• Historical and International Context– http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/sale

m/witchhistory.html

– http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/news/witch-trials-21st-century/?ar_a=1

– http://www.livescience.com/47981-witchcraft-killings-men-papua-new-guinea.html

Essential Questions

• Why did the Salem Witch Trials occur?• Why does mass hysteria occur?

• Hysteria- (noun)- behavior exhibiting overwhelming or unmanageable fear or emotional excess (Merriam-Webster)

Our Goal

• Analyze and interpret primary and secondary source documents in order to come up with our own theory as to why the Salem Witch Trials occurred. – Historians are still debating this

Historical Thinking Skills

• Contextualization– Connecting developments to specific

circumstances

• Historical argumentation and use of evidence

“A Brief History of the Salem Witch Trials”

• Subtitle: “One town’s strange journey from paranoia to pardon.”

How does this help us understand the author’s point of view of the Salem Witch Trials?

What do we know?

• 1689 -King William’s War; Rev. Samuel Parris becomes minister of Salem

• Jan. 1692- Elizabeth Parris (9), Abigail Williams (11) and Ann Putnam (11) begin having unexplained fits

• Mar. 1692- Girls accuse Tituba, Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne

• May 1692- Governor Phipps establishes Special Court of Oyer (to hear)

• June 1692- First accused witch, Bridget Bishop is executed

• Oct. 1692- Increase Mather (President of Harvard) denounces the use of spectral evidence.– -Gov. Phipps prohibits further arrests and

disbands the special court• May 1693- Gov. Phipps pardons all accused

who are still in prison

Why did this occur?

• Let’s begin analyzing our clues.

“Examination of a Witch”Painted 1853

“The Trial of George Jacobs”Painted 1855

Rev. Samuel Parris

Arrest Warrant for Elizabeth Proctor and Sarah Cloyce, April 4, 1692

Map: The Geography of Witchcraft: Salem Village, 1692

The Geography of Witchcraft: Salem Village, 1692 Geographic patterns of witchcraft testimony mirrored tensions within Salem Village. Accused witches and their defenders lived mostly in the village's eastern division or in Salem town, whereas their accusers overwhelmingly resided in the village's western sector.

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Closure

1. Based upon your current understanding, summarize (2-3 sentences) why you think the Salem Witch Trials hysteria occurred.

2. Explain one thing you learned from the documents.

3. Write down one question that you have about one of the documents.

Assignment

• Analyze the remaining documents. • For each document:

– When was it created? – How specifically does it deepen or expand our

understanding of the Witch Trials? – What cause does it suggest?