Witchcraft in the American Colonies

Magic and Superstition in Everyday New England Life

Sep 6, 2009 Michael Streich

Monument in Salem Commemorating the Trials - Salem Witch Museum Tour Photo

Persecution of witches was most apparent in Colonial New England where strict Calvinist views formed the basis of a theocratic, Old Testament model that accepted witches.

In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s 1835 story “Young Goodman Brown,” the pious Goodman Brown ventures into the “haunted forest” to converse with the devil. A resistant Brown is told, “Wickedness or not…I have a very general acquaintance here in New England.” Hawthorne reminds the reader of the Puritan preoccupation with evil as a very real and constant threat to the theocracy of the “godly communities.” It was what prompted Cotton Mather to write “Memorable Provinces relating to witchcraft and Possessions” one year before the outbreak of the 1692 witch trials. Witchcraft, magic, and superstition played a unique role in 17th Century New England.

Origins of New England Belief in Witches and Magic

Oxford historian Keith Thomas’ classic study of religion and magic in England states that the Reformation had placed “an unprecedented stress upon the reality of the Devil and the extent of his earthly dominion.” New England Puritans were well aware of the prolonged period of the European witch-craze that lasted from the 15th into the 17th century and claimed over half a million lives, mostly women. Their worldview accepted the active role of the devil. Even John Calvin, the theological founder of their doctrines, had burned witches.

Puritan Beliefs in Witches and Magic

Puritan views of witchcraft and evil were based on a literal interpretation of the Bible: “thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.” (Exodus 22.18) New England Puritans were Old Testament Christians, modeling their social structures on the Old Testament patriarchal system and appropriating the “covenant” promises for themselves. Thus, if one member of the community sinned, the entire community was punished. The first execution for witchcraft occurred in 1647 when Alice Young was convicted; between 1662-1663, a minor witch “panic” resulted in more executions.

Omens and Natural Wonders Fed New England Beliefs in Witches

Prior to the 1692 witch hysteria in Salem, three eclipses occurring in 1680, 1682, and 1686 were perceived as evil omens. It was these celestial events Cotton Mather referred to as “Memorable Provinces” in his 1691 treatise warning New England that the devil was preparing a final onslaught to disrupt the Puritan theocracy.

Secularism and the fruits of the Scientific Revolution and the emerging Enlightenment threatened the decades old belief systems of Calvinist New England. Additionally, by 1692, the trained clergy were less literate than their forerunners had been. These men tended to rely more on the accepted conventions of post-medieval cosmologies. Historian David Hawke writes that, “the supernatural was the basis of their piety.”

Witchcraft in the Other English Colonies

By the mid-17th century, it was a crime in Virginia to accuse someone of witchcraft and the charge itself was never considered a capital crime. A 1706 witchcraft trial in Virginia as well as a 1712 trial in North Carolina resulted in acquittal, despite that fact that the accused woman in Virginia confessed to witchcraft.

The absence of other accusations and trials – even in other colonies founded on the basis of “religious freedom,” suggests that the belief and treatment of witchcraft in New England was unique to Puritan views and entrenched within specific Biblical and Reformation interpretations. Additionally, Puritans resisted the prevailing European changes in intellectual thought that ultimately replaced medieval cosmology with pre-modern models of rationalism.

Aftermath of the Salem Witch Trials in Puritan New England

The Salem trials exposed the Puritan theocracy and in the process severely weakened theological belief and the ability to communicate effective sermons pointing toward an authentic Christian lifestyle. This would be remedied by the early 18th-Century Great Awakening that, through the articulate preaching of men like John Wesley and Jonathan Edwards, placed Christian responsibility on the individual rather than the community.

Sources:

• David Freeman Hawke, Everyday Life in Early America (New York: Harper and Row, 1988)
• Nathaniel Hawthorne, “Young Goodman Brown, “ Great American Short Stories edited by Wallace and Mary Stegner (New York: Dell Publishing Company, Inc., 1957)
• Dale Taylor, The Writer’s Guide to Everyday Life in Colonial America (Cincinnati: Writers Digest Books, 1997)
• Keith Thomas, Religion & the Decline of Magic (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971)
• Salem Witch Museum

Copyright Michael Streich. Contact the author to obtain permission for republication.