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I believe the witch trials were occurred out of anger and fear. Fear of the women gaining their independence and being themselves, fear of religion not being a priority anymore and fear of not having control. Anger because of jealousy they have against one another whether it”s with another man, power or money wise. The people of Salem don’t know how to properly handle their emotions so they become devious to make it to the top.

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The Salem Witch Trials transpired for many reasons, the first most widely used explanation being their poor government system. With no separation of church and state, this accumulates a lot of oppression on the community trying to stay true to their principles of life.  Another reason comes from revenge and envy, those wanting what others cant have or trying to take away what others have "the majority of those who were accused were enemies of the Putnams" explained by https://www.legendsofamerica.com/ma-putnam2.html  . Some less conventional reasons  would be  the simple fact  that some people were bored, and some were sick. Those who were bored too advantage of the sick saying they were bewitched, many believed the accusers because the sicknesses match a devilish description. http://www.history.com/topics/salem-witch-trials says "a study published in Science magazine in 1976 cited the fungus ergot (found in rye, wheat and other cereals), which toxicologists say can cause symptoms such as delusions, vomiting and muscle spasms." -which to the people of Salem could only be explained through gods teaching (aka the devil has possessed these people). My very last reason is that fear creates hysteria, hysteria creates conflict, and the people of Salem can not comprehend how to handle these situations because they are afraid of what they don't understand.

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I believe these trials all originated from one thing, fear. The Puritans were so religious and caught in their ways that they were terrified of anything new. The fear created hysteria and this led to false accusations of many people. There were mysterious illnesses going around and the towns people figured the source had to be witchcraft. -Berit

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these trials occurred because people were very scared of the actual thought of witchcraft (the devils work) being present in their town and were also angry at the people who brought it into the town so they wanted someone to blame for all the hysteria and problems caused in their town

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The Salem Witch Trials were a result of jealousy of those lower in social and economic status, extending into wild accusations of witchcraft. Abigail is a prime example, considering that she was a scorned mistress.

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The Salem Witch Trials were a result of jealousy of those lower in social and economic status, extending into wild accusations of witchcraft. Abigail is a prime example, considering that she was a scorned mistress.

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I believe that the witch trials occurred due to the fact that they were so strongly committed to their religion, and their entire lives were revolved around that. Anything that seems out of the ordinary were foreign to them and seen as the devil's work.

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The Salem Witch Trials were a result of jealousy of those lower in social and economic status, extending into wild accusations of witchcraft. Abigail is a prime example, considering that she was a scorned mistress.

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I believe that the Salem Witch Trials occurred because women were becoming more independent and doing things that the church and community did not approve of. People that lived outside of the village tended to be lower level of the social hierarchy and were easier to accuse of witchcraft than the powerful Puritans that lived within walking distance of the church and meeting house. It was considered abnormal if someone did something that the church didn’t approve of, so they were accused. Since the Witch Trials revolved around people breaking religious beliefs the pastors were highly involved. Even though there was a mass hysteria that affected the entire north east coast of North America some people were able to remain out of it for the most part for example, the Porter’s. Despite being influential members of the community they are never mentioned in the crucible. The Porters did not approve of what was going on, this can be seen when Patrick Browne says, “ Their rivals, the Porter camp, tried to put a stop to the hysteria. As a result, many of them were singled out as witches.”

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I believe the trials occurred because of the increased tensions and hostility caused by the union of church and state. Puritans resented and feared their neighbors and believed themselves to be superior. They lived very regimented and somewhat oppressed lives. It all built up until it exploded leaving the accused to fall victim to false justice.

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I believe the the girls simply had an illness, however the members of Salem weren’t advanced enough in medicine to figure it out. So looking for an explanation to the girls symptoms they turned to the supernatural to explain what was going on. -Sexy

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I believe the salem witch trials occurred for a number of reasons. I believe that it started as a simple explanation to a strange set of circumstances. After the girls were caught doing something different, which is borderline illegal, they had blamed it on witches. This made sense during the time and they put someone on trial for witchcraft. The trials after then occurred, in my opinion, as a way for the church to control people and keep them afraid. The church claimed that witches were attempting to establish a counter church in the colony. This caused people, residents and new people alike, not spread new ideas around from fear of being accused and put to death for witchcraft.

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I believe that the Salem Witch Trials occurred because women were treated poorly in the Puritan times and they were tired of not having any power, so they started this so people could pay attention to them and be afraid of them to show that they had power for once.

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I believe the Salem Witch Trials occurred because of the way the town was changing. The girls were out with Tituba practicing her traditions and the town was afraid people were getting too powerful and straying away from the typical Puritan lifestyle. “Their rivals, the Porter camp, tried to put a stop to the hysteria. As a result, many of them were singled out as witches.” It all began because the girls were scared they were going to get in trouble so they pointed out other people as “witches”. The more people that got accused, the more people that were put to death. As news of the witch trials got out to the other towns, they began to wonder if they had witches in their town so they held trials on a much smaller scale.

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The Salem Witch Trials occurred for multiple reason. In this time period there was a widespread belief in the supernatural and practices of the devil. History.com also explains the context and harsh realities of Salem at the time, “at the time included the after-effects of a British war with France in the American colonies in 1689, a recent smallpox epidemic, fears of attacks from neighboring Native American tribes and a longstanding rivalry with the more affluent community of Salem Town.” Using this evidence, it came be concluded that the people in Salem were most likely looking for someone to blame for all their hardships. They needed a scapegoat; and they began to blame the alleged witches and devil. The last reason that the people in Salem began to prosecute witches was because the authority figures began to support the hunt. People are really easy to persuade when people with power endorse something. Therefore, when the highest leaders in the church and the courts told them the devil was present in the witches, people believed them.

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I believe the trials occurred because

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I believe that the trials occurred because of the changes that were taking place in the town, including the fear of women gaining a new independence. They feared illnesses and outsiders and the trials created a new fear of the devil in town.

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The Salem Witch Trials took place right around the time women started becoming more independent. This caused both men and women become more suspicious of what they were up to. When they were found around a fire in the woods, men with authority, such as ministers started making accusations about the possibility of witch craft in Salem. Once this happened and the girls were accused of being a witch, they became scared and started putting the blame on vulnerable people throughout the community.  Those accused were eventually hung.

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The Salem Witch Trials began in 1692 and around this time everyone was becoming independent and separating themselves from the Puritan community. Also, the people become more curious and want to do things different even though it was seen as something the churches and the people of Salem wouldn't approve of. The Salem Witch Trials started for many reasons such as the group of young girls being caught by Reverend doing a ritual in the woods. These girls claimed that they have been afflicted by the devil and this gave them power since in these days they were strong believers on supernatural afflictions and witches. They took advantage of this power and accused innocent victims. Also,

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The Salem Witch trials occurred because the Putnam family took advantage of a bad situation to strike down their rivals. However, it soon expanded and became much bigger than the Putnams after their claims began causing hysteria that they could no longer control because it had spread to other towns. In “The Personal Politics Behind the Salem Witch Trials”, Patrick Browne claims, “It seems the crisis evolved into a means for Parris and the Putnams to take out their rivals. One can only wonder to what degree the girls might have been coached to do what they did.” Before the witch hunt began, the Putnams had several enemies they wanted to quiet. After their daughter was “afflicted”, they saw the perfect opportunity to attack by coaxing their daughter into accusing opposing families.

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The Salem Witch Trials occurred for a number of reasons. These included, as the first article points out, “...residents’ suspicions of and resentment toward their neighbors, as well as their fear of outsiders”. Residents within the salem village didn’t truly trust each other.

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I believe the Salem Witch Trials started because of Betty and Abigail. They were caught doing something they weren’t supposed to be doing. So they blamed it on witchcraft, and this begun a lot of hysteria in Salem. Eventually, Parris and the Putnam’s began using the rumor started by the children to attack their rivals and eventually the talk of witchcraft had spread all throughout Massachusetts. As citizens were in fear of the devil, they panicked and went with the rumors. This led to a lot of accusations which led to a lot of deaths, innocent people were killed over a rumor.

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Salem witch trials occurred because of accusations

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Salem witch trials began in Massachusttes during the late 1600's when three girls who was seen to be sick were claiming to be affected by witch craft. Those three girls then blamed four other girls of the act of witchcraft. The pattern of accusation then began to spread quickly which grew not only fear in the village, but hysteria outbreaks. This resulted in false accusation because fear overcame the girls. Salem was a very religious town so Witch trials was a form of unorthodox behavior and a sin which were affiliated with Satan which was not tolerated.