Salem Witch Trials Dbq Analysis

What Caused the Salem Witch Trial Hysteria of 1692? The year 1692 marked a major event in history in the town of Salem, Massachusetts. During the year 1692, Salem, a colony filled with Puritans who believe in religion very strongly, but as their beliefs grow, the more the people were starting to die. The problem or question is what caused the Salem witch crisis hysteria of 1692? There were many causes for the Salem witch trial hysteria but the possible three main reasons were the conflicts between young and older women, the “afflicted” girls were acting throughout the trial, and the town’s differences in wealth and power. One cause of the Salem witch trial hysteria were the conflicts between the young, unmarried women and older, married or widowed women. The data shown by John Demos explains that the accusers consist of 29 out of 34 were female, 28 of 34 were married, and 23 of 29 were under the age of twenty (Doc B). As for the accused, more than 80% were female, 61 out 110 were married while 20 were widowed, and most were over 40 years old of age (Doc B). Many would ask to this is what caused the conflicts or was it out of jealousy? The big conclusion can be made that women were as much as accused as the men were. In addition, the “afflicted girls” “were great actors” in the words of the 19th …show more content…
Many who lived on the east side of town had recently gained wealth and political power causing most from the east to be accused more than the west (Doc E). More than 90% of the accusers shown in the map were from the western half of town. Most people from this side of town were losing both political power and wealth to the eastern half of town (#2 on Doc E). As the western side were jealous of the eastern side for being prosperous, the accused grew on the east causing many to be hang and west to have many accusers with less 10% of the people getting