The Massachusetts Bay Experiment, although it started as a commercial enterprise, was highly grounded on religion. As John Winthrop said, they wanted to create a “city upon a hill,” or a utopia where God’s favor could be achieved. To attain this Promised Land, the Puritans devoted themselves to their church life and God. Spending hours at service every day, the Puritans were a closely-knit community due to the power of the church. Whenever any problem in the community emerged, the Puritans looked to the church to give them an answer. Thus, it is understandable that the witch trials in the Massachusetts area would become such hysteria. Though many historians have attributed the cause of the Salem Witch Trials to economic instability between the thriving seaports and the languishing agriculture and the political struggle between the highly patriarchal society and the independent women who started to defy the status quo of women, these are not the most compelling cause of......
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Approximate Word Count: 1148
Approximate Pages: 5 (260 words per double-spaced page) |