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How did the Puritans contribute to the trials?

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How did the Puritans contribute to the trials?

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Puritans believed that God chose whether or not you went to Heaven before you were even born, and because of this did every good deed(or what they considered good deeds) they could imagine to be among the elect. This included ridding Salem of witches.

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Ergot was a fungi that had the ability to make people hallucinate. The poison was very possibly a helper in the trials because of its side-effects.

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The diagnosis of Hysteria is another likely contributor. People with hysteria would experience outbursts of dramatic emotions when stressed. Which is understandable seeing that they thought they were in danger of being cursed by a witch

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"The Puritan ethic of hard work was partly an attempt to prove to themselves and others that they were among the elect."

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"The Puritan ethic of hard work was partly an attempt to prove to themselves and others that they were among the elect."

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"Thou shall not suffer a witch to live."
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"The fits they experienced were very likely genuine, born of anxiety over a magic that threatened to overpower them."

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"The fits they experienced were very likely genuine, born of anxiety over a magic that threatened to overpower them."

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"(Ergot) has 10 percent of the activity of LSD, (and) is also found in morning glory seeds, the ritual hallucinogenic drug used by the Aztecs."

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"(Ergot) has 10 percent of the activity of LSD, (and) is also found in morning glory seeds, the ritual hallucinogenic drug used by the Aztecs."

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In all, I think the main cause of the trials was the Puritans and their beliefs that led them to believe witches were real and had to be executed. The effects that Ergot put on people led witchcraft to be all the more believable, and finally hysteria whose symptoms also largely contributed to these trials.