Founding Fathers Forum: salem witch trials

Posted by: barbara barr (peaseout2003@ThisIsToPreventSpam-365-RemoveThis.yahoo.com) on 19 Nov 2003 at 3:16:24 PM
In-Reply-To: Salem Witch Trails posted by Audra Rawson on 2:58:27 PM 7 Mar 2003

Salem Village had a very colorful history before the famous witch trials. It was not exactly known as a bastion of tranquillity in New England. The main reason was its 600 plus residents were divided into two main parts: those who wanted to separate from Salem Town, and those who did not. The residents who wanted to separate from Salem Town were farming families located in the western part of Salem Village. Those who wanted to remain a part of Salem Town were typically located on the eastern side of Salem Village--closest to Salem Town. The residents who wished to remain a part of Salem Town were economically tied to its thriving, rich harbors.

Many of the Salem Village farming families believed that Salem Town’s thriving economy made it too individualistic. This individualism was in opposition to the communal nature that Puritanism mandated. Thus, they were out of touch with the rest of Salem Village. One particularly large farming family who felt that Salem Town was out of touch with the rest of Salem Village was the Putnams.

The Putnams were the leaders of the separatist group primarily because they owned the most farmland in Salem Village. They hoped to solidify a separation from Salem Town by establishing a congregation unique from it. So in 1689, a congregation was formed under the Rev. Samuel Parris and began worshipping in the Salem Village Meetinghouse. However, the congregation only represented a select group since over half of its members were Putnams. If this action did not further strain already weakened relations between the two factions, the events concerning Parris’ contract did.

Contracts for ministers during this period often provided them with a modest salary, use of a house, and free firewood. Parris received this and much more. He not only got a modest salary and free firewood, but the title and deed to the parsonage and its surrounding land. Needless to say, this was a very uncommon perk to be included in a minister’s contract during this time. This perk especially angered the residents who wanted to remain a part of Salem Town. The Salem Town supporters showed their opposition by refusing to worship at the Meetinghouse and withholding their local taxes. This latter action was of important consequence because the local taxes helped pay the minister’s salary and provided his firewood.

In October of 1691 a new Salem Village Committee was elected that was comprised mostly of Parris’ opponents. This new committee refused to assess local taxes that would pay Parris’ salary, and also challenged the legality of his ownership of the ministry-house and property. These actions by the new committee caused Parris and his family to rely solely on voluntary contributions for sustenance. The Putnams were now worried of losing Parris and the soughted independence from Salem Town the congregation would help bring, and Parris was concerned about his job and providing for his family.

Click here to return to the Main01 forum room home page.

Current replies to this message:

To reply privately:
If the person posting this message left their e-mail address, we inserted some random characters to prevent spammers from harvesting their address. Spammers do this with automated "bots" that constantly search the Web looking for e-mail addresses. Since you're a human being, not a bot, you can easily obtain the real address by removing the text that says "ThisisToPreventSpam-XYZ-RemoveThis." including the random number XYZ and the period at the end. For example, <whitten@ThisIsToPreventSpam-123-RemoveThis.despammed.com> would become <chris-(@)-interesting.com>.

To reply to the group:
The forum software that created this message has been replaced with new and improved forum software. Click here to go to the new discussion forums: