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Because they only need people to blame for the sickness and weird behavior Higher power got off easier.

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why did they hang most people if they believed the devil could shape shift into innocent men?

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Why did they hang most people if all the evidence was based off of speculation

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Taylor Henry
Why did the people in Salem actually believe in witchcraft? All of the evidence they had could prove anyone to be a witch.

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@nessa
I believe it could have been a race thing. In the story she is the salve, and as we all know the way slaves were treated was unfair. Tituba was already looked down upon, so they might as well make her look worse. Black people were seen as property, so it must have been very easy to accuse someone who is already known as "worthless" or "property" just to save oneself.

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@amaralca
I think you can compare the witch trials to the era when people were accusing each other of being communists. It had gotten so bad that government officials had received threats because people believed they were communists. The witch trials is the same thing considering they don't have proof, they are just assuming things.

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I think the article was simple and to the point. It also sheds some light on the fact that people are so quick to blame to save themselves and how gullible people can be. I think the article also brings up the idea of race being used as against people. Just stereotyping people in general. In the book, everyone blames Tituba. Is it because shes the salve or because she is actually a witch? Even though she is American Indian in the article, maybe it could be assumed that they blame her purely because of her race.

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Why would someone confess to being a witch if they knew they would be punished in some way? Did they do it because they expected the idea to die down?

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Mostly women were probably accused because they couldn't speak up for themselves as much as men could in this time. It was also the women in the book that were dancing in the forest, not men. It was also probably easier to believe that a women gave into the devils actions because they are viewed as more weak and only men were head of churches so they knew more about the devil and witchcraft.

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I think things a little as a cold were blamed on witches because they wanted God to be seen as good and perfect. In this case, they could blame everything little bad situation on the devil and witchcraft.

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If witchcraft isn't actually real, how did so many confess to it and why didn't the "witches" keep it more secretive?

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The Puritans believed that they were chosen by god to be in that new land so any imperfection might have been looked at as unholy

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@Rhianna I think it goes against their views because they don't think of it as faith

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@Rim I honestly think they just wanted someone to blame so they just started accusing people of witchcraft

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Why did the Judge and the Jurors get off with little to no punishment even though they sent many people to the gallows?

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Doesn't it go against puritan views to think about witchcraft as a source of illness?

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Why was most of Maine abandoned

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Why was everything considered witchcraft

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Why was everyone believing everything was done by the witches

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Why was everything even as little as a cold, lead back to being a witch

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Overall this article showed how back then more people died for being accused of something they weren't involved in and had to have there families live with that "mark" until the people apologized. I didn't like how they just jumped the gun and didn't think about what this would end up doing to there

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@Joeiny Everyone was paniced and didn't want to have this problem in there town, so they rushed into things without fully possessing the possibilitis of there actions and once 19 people died they realized that it wouldn't be that easy to get rid of the problem.

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@nessa Back then it was seen as easier to blame someone of different color then to blame someone that has the same color skin. If Tituba were not the skin color she was, she might not have been accused so quickly.

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Nicole R: Why did the Puritans believe they were the chosen ones by God and why did they associate witchcraft with losing the war? It could have simply been thst the people going into war were not prepared.

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Nicole R: Why did the Puritans believe they were the chosen ones by God and why did they associate witchcraft with losing the war? It could have simply been thst the people going into war were not prepared.

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Throughout the article, I thought about how many people were falsely accused, and how the Puritans judged people off of rumors. New England region was where the witchcraft crisis was. I disagree with the Puritans' belief of God chooses the people who became witches.

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Throughout the article, I thought about how many people were falsely accused and how the Puritans judged everyone based off of other people's accusation

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why did 19 people have to die before people began criticizing the trials?

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why did 19 people have to die before people began criticizing the trials?

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Were the Massachusetts court trials fair when convicting “witches"? Why or why not?

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@amaralca Trials like this still exist in today’s society but it may not be accusing “witches”. People are falsely accused of homicide, rape, or any other crime just like how the Puritans were accused of being witches with special powers which is impossible.

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@caroline
they probably didn't think about what they were doing. They were simply scared and doing what they thought would protect them.

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@chase I think it's because they were probably from hearsay. So they didn't want to hang people simply from everyone blaming each other.

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@chase Not all 150 people were hanged because the church did not want to kill that many people. They only executed the Puritans that were definitely witches. The other ways of punishment were through torture.

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@nessa
They said Tituba wasn't even supposed to be black, she was supposed to be one of the Indians, so part of me thinks the whole thing is racist toward her.

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Why did they make Tituba an african-american slave rather than an Indian? Could it have possibly been a racist thing?

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@nessa
I think it was of because she had something to do with Indians and they believed that Indians had a relationship with the devil

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Was everything that they couldn't explain was the work of satin??

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Likely it was a combination of maine's inhospitable environment, and previous raids.

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Why were mostly woman accused? Although some men were prosecuted, they weremostly women.

@chase I believe not everyone was hanged either because they didn't have enough evidence, or they were starting to get suspicious of every woman being accused for being a witch.

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Why were mostly woman accused? Although some men were prosecuted, they weremostly women.

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Why were mostly woman accused? Although some men were prosecuted, they weremostly women.

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I'm No expert on calvinist and puritan theology, but to the best of my knowledge this is similar to their position on sinful acts - it was possible for acts to be in collusion with satan and against God, and therefore worthy of punishment, without god willing to directly involve Himself. I.e, the burden falls upon His earthly servants. Alternatively it could be seen as a test of faith.

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Where did the belief of witches come from, instead of just being seen as different?

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They believed it was witch craft instead of a sickness of some sort because the "fits" occured frequently and it was an excuse created to aid in their attempt to make something of the unknown.

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Do you think part of the reason Tituba was one of the first people to be accused of being a witch was because of the color of her skin?

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Do you think part of the reason Tituba was one of the first people to be accused of being a witch was because of the color of her skin?

Yes, because she is seen as different/an outcast because of the color of her skin. "Witches" were seen as different also, they were seen as outcasts in society same as Tituba. She is singled out and I feel like her skin color played a major roll in that.

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I believe the Spanish slaves and the Puritan slaves did the same work because the Puritans were inspired by the idea of slavery that they decided to make their own. The slaves would to the farming, harvesting, and the housecleaning.

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I think the witch trials were an opportunity for the wealthy to take the land from people who were blamed for being witches. The wealthy were greedy even through this horrifying controversy.

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The idea of witchcraft doesn't contradict Puritan views and faith in God. In fact, the Puritans looked up to God to solve the Salem witch trials. They only wanted to destroy the Devil and they believed that God could defeat the Devil in a head-to-head matchup.

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@jason I don't think doctors actually knew what witchcraft really was. I think if there was no possible explanation for a behavior, the immediate reaction was that it had to be witchcraft.

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@chase Not everyone accused was hanged but they were mostly likely tortured in some other way and almost all were put in jail.

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Why did it take so long for everyone to realize what they were doing was wrong and the people finally got angry about witch prosecutors?

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Puritans thought that the Indians could curse their settlement so that they'd experience a drought, a disease, or poor gathering season. All of these could let people die. Puritans also believed the Indians could've cursed individuals, causing them to experience severe and incurable sickness.

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They needed something to blame for the unexplained events so they turned to religion. It was either a gift from God, or a curse from satan

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jessica d: does believing in witchcraft contradict the puritan's ideas about god?

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jessica d: does believing in witchcraft contradict the puritan's ideas about god?

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I believe blaming the "fits" on witchcraft is a contradiction because Puritans believe that god makes everything happen for a reason so why would they blame this sickness on the devil?

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jessica d: does the idea of witchcraft contradict the puritan's view of god?

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jessica d: does the idea of witchcraft contradict the puritan's view of god?

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I believe it kind of contradicts their idea of god because they believe that everything happens for a reason and that god makes everything happen, but then they decide to blaim the "fits" on the devil? it doesn't completely make sense.

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Is there any good excuse for why the witchcraft controversy ever flared up in Salem? Or was it a simple joke that turned serious and deadly? Why/why not?

I thought the article was very informative about being suspicious of neighbors. Since it was written 2 months after 9/11, the article taught us a good reminder to not have prejudice towards our neighbors or towards anyone we meet in out lives. Even if the pardons has happened in 1711, it still would have been fresh in Purtian minds of the horror of 1692.

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jessica d: did they blame death on witchcraft?

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jessica d: did they blame death on witchcraft?

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I believe they blamed the deaths on witchcraft because these bad things were happening unexplained and they needed something to blame it on so why not the devil?

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Mike Nah: Answer from "Wasn't the witch trials also a way for people of higher power to gain land?

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Mike Nah: Answer from "Wasn't the witch trials also a way for people of higher power to gain land?

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In some way some greedy people might have used the trials as their advantages.

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why would they assume these "fits" were witchcraft when it could much more likely have been a sickness of some sort?
I thought the article was informative and shed some light onto the role that the native americans played in this time period.

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what made them think it was witchcraft when the "fits" could have been a sickness of some sort?

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Mike Nah: Answer from "Why did the governor think the Devil appeared in innocent men and women?

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Mike Nah: Answer from "Why did the governor think the Devil appeared in innocent men and women?

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I think it is because that innocent people were easier target for the devil to take place at. Innocent people do not know much as the one who are not innocent. And I think the devil loves the naive ones.

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Mike Nah: Answer from "Did they blame death on witchcraft?"

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Mike Nah: Answer from "Did they blame death on witchcraft?"

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I think they absolutley blamed almost everything going around that were miserable to the devil. The Puritans thought the god as their saver. They loved god and swore to be the god's pulpit. On the other hand, they hated and abhored the Satan. Additionally Puritans were one of the people who believed the god so much. So, anything that is contradicted to the god's will be the product of sin from the devil.

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I enjoyed the article because it gave me some background on the witch trials that help me to better understand what was happening at the time The Crucible takes place. I found some of the information very interesting. I can't believe that the governor actually had most of the charged "witches" reprieved!

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Mike Nah: Answer from "Did the Puritan settlers actually believe they were loosing the war because of the indians having "witchcraft" on their side? if they did believe that, how can "witchcraft" and "help from the devil" be used in battle?"

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Mike Nah: Answer from "Did the Puritan settlers actually believe they were loosing the war because of the indians having "witchcraft" on their side? if they did believe that, how can "witchcraft" and "help from the devil" be used in battle?"

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A yo! Jeb, unfortunenately I think the Puritans beliveved that they were losing the war because the Native Americans were bothering the war. Native Amercians and the Puritan settlers did not had a good relationships at the very beginning of the story. Since the Puritans did not liked the Native Americans, my guess is that they thought the Native Americans as devils. They thought that any suspicious thing that their enemy did, was like a curse such as witchcraft against them. They thought that Native Americans would call the devil such as Luciper. I think the way that witchcraft could be used in the battle is to 'curse' the opponents. I mean I don't think there are much I can say about that though.. But the Puritans thought devil had big power so they feared it.

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It is because people were lying and people believed the lies and started to blame other occurrences on that. Like illnesses that they don't have but they come up with them because they're scared.

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I believe they did the same work. I think they were like indentured servants but at an earlier time. Slaves are slaves, no matter what time period it was.

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Some people admitted to being witches and maybe the people that confessed didn't get hanged.

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they probably made them do farm/ field work to help gather for food

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This the question was the question I have always been thinking about the Puritans.
They came to America to provide earn their freedom. Then why did the Puritans suspected each other harshly about the witchcraft? I think they did not earned the freedom. After reading the article, I think they made their own abstinent society.......

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The Devil intruded upon their bodies and caused their strange behavior. If another person in society allowed themselves to be susceptible to the Devil, then they were also considered witches. It was better for the supposed "witch" to confess than be charged because it would otherwise be a harsher punishment.

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God created the devil. Witchcraft is believed to be through the devil so therefore is it technically still through God but God doesn't control the devil.

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they probably didn't blame death of old age on witchcraft but they probably blamed death by disease or some type of unknown cause of death to be related to witchcraft

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I think that could have been the case if they would take the land from the people they blamed as witches

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@rhianna I think the puritans thought that witch craft was related to devil worshipping so it was related to the

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I thought the article was informative, easy to read and not boring

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Did they blame death on witchcraft?

I think the article was kind of useless and dumb because they blamed everything on the devil or witchcraft when in reality it was probably just their problem.

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This article helped me to watch the Salem case with new view. I did not know that citizens of Salem thought about Native Americans.
I think this also shows that Puritan people were overreacting about the term 'witchcraft' because they actually believed the existence of a witch.
I felt glad when they compensated to the families of victims who were executed by witchcraft.

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He believed in witches, but he had no real evidence of witchcraft, so he had to end the witch trials. The governor also believed that the Devil took form in the people and they were really innocent. He believed that witches were innocent people that were taken over by the Devil.

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I thought the article was good and informative, but I think it could use a lot more details and the author could have dug deeper.

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Can you compare these witch trials to a modern day example?

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Did the slaves that the Spanish bring over do the same physical work that we made our slaves do or was it different?

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What was the cause of the strange fits the two girls who were living in the household of the Rev. Samuel Parris of Salem Village? How could this spread to 19 other people, and then end with 54 other people confessing they're witches?

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I can't give you an honest answer, but I think the nineteen people that were hanged were not any of the fifty-four that confessed. I'm basing this off the fact that the court system during this time usually didn't hang the people that confessed, they would just put them in prison. Hopefully this helped.

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I think it was time to stop when many religious leaders and politicians were being accused of witchcraft. Only then people thought something must be done because their role models could not do such thing,

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The governor probably thought that because he thought the people who were innocent could still be affected by witchcraft. Since little girls were being diagnosed with witchcraft, he probably interpreted that as the devil attempting to contaminate their innocent souls.

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The Puritans did believe that they were losing the war to the Indians because they had "witchcraft" on their side. Having help from the devil allowed them to destroy the Puritan settlements. The devil made everything bad and was able to destroy things through human people.

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The puritans were incredibly religious. They believed everything was connected to God, therefore they probably thought everything bad was associated with the Devil. The Puritans probably thought the Indians were better fighters because they allies with the Devil, when, in reality, the Indians were probably more prepared and had more resources and help from France.

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Honestly, I think it has to do with the doctor's diagnosis. Since the topic of witchcraft was going around, whenever the doctor didn't know what to call the illness, he would just resort to calling it witchcraft. Therefore, the puritans would put aside the idea of everything being sent from god, and they would focus on treating this witchcraft illness.

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They people who admitted to being a witch were probably put in jail and/or tortured. I think they only hung people who didn't admit to being a witch. It's also possible that some of the people who were charged of witchcraft blamed their actions on being possessed.

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I almost 50/50 with me. Half of me thinks that they were randomly selected to be hanged but the other half of me thinks that they were the first ones to confess and that's why they were hanged.

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Since the Indians were "savage" and "damned," Puritans believed Indians had a connection to evil spirits which would affect them negatively. Since Puritans thought they were the good guys, witchcraft would be a method to get rid of them; as a battle between good and evil.

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I agree that they were probably shunned but once they were found innocent years and years later, they were given the respect they need.

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It wasn't settled in the first place because there were already Indians and French settlers there. They would have continued to be attacked if they tried to settle.

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Wasn't the witch trials also a way for people of higher power to gain land?

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They probably weren't even witches, but thought so because others accused them of it so much they started believing it.

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Does the idea of witchcraft contradict Puritan views and their belief and faith in God? Why/why not?

I think the article is very entertaining and all of the information about the Witch Trials is fictional. Their evidence is never supportive to their claims.

I believe they thought that illnesses came from witchcraft because they wanted it to exist and they wanted to find some type of reason for it to exist.

I believe that Maine was abandoned twice because after the "little-known wars" that occurred there, they wanted to come back and settle again, but little did they know that nothing would change.

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Question: Why did the governor think the Devil appeared in innocent men and women?

I was baffled by the stupidity of the puritans while reading this article. It's insane how they associated everything bad in their lives to the devil. I know they were ferociously religious, but still. I thought they would have at least some common sense. Maybe it's because I'm used to our time period, but it still seems outrageous to me.

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Did the Puritan settlers actually believe they were loosing the war because of the indians having "witchcraft" on their side? if they did believe that, how can "witchcraft" and "help from the devil" be used in battle?

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If they believed that everything, good and bad, was sent from God, why did they think that illnesses came from witchcraft?