Puritan Witch Trials and the Treatment of Crime in New England
Jan 17, 2011 Michael Streich
The 1692 witch trials in Puritan New England were decided by magistrates and ministers that relied on confessions and the fantastical testimony of community members often referred to as “spectral evidence.” The clear distinction between what happened in New England and the earlier European witch hunts rests on the close-knit Puritan community itself, the constant fear that the devil sought to destroy the covenantal relationship between God and his people, and a long history of addressing community crimes through confession and public execution.
Puritans and the On-Going War between Righteousness and Sin
The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World to That Which is to Come was published in England in 1678 by John Bunyan. Bunyan was not a Puritan but, as a Reformed Baptist, shared certain theological beliefs with the Calvinist Puritans. Bunyan’s protagonist “Christian” battles the forces of the devil throughout his journey, always looking to Christ for help and deliverance. In one instance he challenges Apollyon, shouting “…beware, for I am on the King’s highway…”
For Puritans, this was not allegory but daily living. As Governor John Winthrop noted in his comparison of the community to a “City on a Hill,” the Puritan commonwealth would succeed or fail based upon its commitment to the covenants. One sinful member could bring destruction to the entire community. If the people turned from God, his blessings would be withheld.
In countless examples Puritans put aside their daily tasks to pray and fast. The principle was derived from the Old Testament. Whenever the enemies of Israel threatened to engulf God’s chosen people after they strayed from his commandments, a period of fasting, prayer, and repentance resulted in deliverance. This was part of the "Jeremiad." The Hebrew term “repentance” referred to a complete, 180 degree turn. It was the term used by John the Baptist.
The Many Faces of the Devil in Puritan New England
Witchcraft was one of many manifestations of evil and unrighteousness. Puritans hung Quaker missionaries and flogged Baptists. They banished heretics like Anne Hutchinson. But, as Jonathan Edwards wrote in The History of Redemption, the greatest danger was within the community itself: those that outwardly professed faith and lived correct lives, but had no inward rebirth.
In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story Young Goodman Brown, the young, newly married Puritan secretly meets the devil deep in the forest. In their discourse, the devil relates that he was not unknown to Brown’s ancestors. Hawthorne turns the Puritan goal of righteousness against itself. The Pequot Indians were not the devil. The devil was their exterminator.
It was the evil one who inspired the Puritans to exterminate them in order to take their land. This was the fulfillment of God’s promise in Psalm 2.8: “…I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.” (KJV) The devil came disguised as a pious Puritan. This was the great fear of Puritan religious leaders.
Treatment of Crime in Puritan New England
The adjudication of crimes was carried out by the town magistrates and ministers. The presumption of guilt based on notions of sin utilized confessions. Historian David D. Hall notes that many accused persons ultimately confessed to other crimes. Confessions led to repentance, although even sincere contrition did not spare the accused from the scaffold.
These visible lessons, including the public executions, helped reinforce the covenantal relationship between the community and God. As the New Israel, the Puritans were judged individually and as a community. God’s punishments were terrible and just, but his mercy was great. These beliefs reflected the Calvinist views of the divine attributes of God.
There were no plea bargains in Puritan New England. Capital crimes included adultery, murder, homosexuality, and bestiality. Such crimes were deemed as unnatural. The Puritans took their cue from the very first murder in the Bible in which Cain killed his brother Abel (Genesis 4). In the passage, God says to Cain, “…the voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground.” Vengeance was from God, carried out by his faithful servants.
The Salem Witch Trials Transform Puritan Thinking and Jurisprudence
The 1692 witch trails represented the culmination of decades of injustice based on theocratic notions. The explanation for the trials must go beyond community hysteria. They are rooted in many years of community struggle against the various manifestations of the devil, seeking to destroy the covenant and tempt the souls of those justifying their salvation every day. This final affront was the ultimate attempt to assail the walls of Winthrop’s City on a Hill.
Puritans repented from the errors associated with the trials even as Enlightenment thinking challenged the theocratic order in New England. The early 18th Century Great Awakening restored the theological beliefs of sin, repentance, and salvation, but did so on an individual basis. Fasting and prayer would still be employed for centuries in Protestant America. But never again would people be tried and executed on the basis of spectral evidence.
Sources:
- Jonathan Edwards, The History of Redemption (Associated Publishers and Authors, Inc., no date given)
- David D. Hall, Worlds of Wonder, Days of Judgment: Popular Religious Belief in Early New England (Harvard University Press, 1989)
- Alan Heimert and Andrew Delbanco, editors, The Puritans in America: A Narrative Anthology (Harvard University Press, 1985)
- Perry Miller and Thomas Thomas H. Johnson, The Puritans American Book Company, 1938)
- Howard Zinn, A People’s History of the United States (see on-line version)
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