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Puritans and Pilgrims: What's the Difference?

2016-01-11 16:53:16 UTC

Some helpful FAQs

2016-01-11 16:54:46 UTC

http://salem.lib.virginia.edu/archivist.html

Could a pastor, or pastor's family members be accused of witchcraft?

2016-01-11 16:55:54 UTC

A: 19 August 1692, George Burroughs stood on the ladder and calmly made a perfect recitation of the Lord’s Prayer. Some in the large crowd of observers were moved to tears, so much so that it seemed the proceedings might come to a halt. But Reverend Burroughs had uttered his last words. He was soon “turned off” the ladder, hanged to death for the high crime of witchcraft. After the execution, Reverend Cotton Mather, who had been watching the proceedings from horseback, acted quickly to calm the restless multitude. He reminded them among other things “that the Devil has often been transformed into an Angel of Light” — that despite his pious words and demeanor, Burroughs had been the leader of Satan’s war against New England. Thus assured, the executions would continue. Five people would die that day, one of most dramatic and important in the course of the Salem witch trials. For the audience on 19 August realized that if a Puritan minister could hang for witchcraft, then no one was safe.

Excerpted from: George Burroughs- Salem’s Perfect Witch, Oxford University Press.

Q: Why were some of the accused convicted even after they maintained that they were Christians? How were the cases investigated? What evidence was found?

2016-01-11 16:59:56 UTC

A: Generally, citizens made complaints against individuals, who were then brought before magistrates for preliminary hearings. When magistrates felt that there was sufficient evidence for a trial, the accused was jailed pending a hearing before a grand jury. And if those juries handed up a "true bill" (signifying evidence of misbehavior), a formal trial by jury could follow.

The formal trial followed 17th-century English precedents, in which the accused were not represented by lawyers but could question accusers and witnesses. Most, however, were not emotionally or intellectually equipped to defend themselves against a hanging court and hysterical witnesses--over 40 persons confessed to being witches.

Q: Is there any modern medical explanation for the children's behavior?

2016-01-11 17:02:03 UTC

A: From 1692 to the present, various observers, researchers, and scholars have attempted to explain what caused the outbreak at Salem. The theories are many: backsliding New Englanders being punished by God, power-hungry clergy, the pranks of bored adolescents, socio-economic conflict, ergot poisoning, and so on. It seems that every new generation reflects its own time in trying to explain what happened in 1692 Salem.

Q: Did Puritans only wear black?

2016-01-11 17:29:49 UTC

A: The enduring image of Puritans depicts them clad in sober black, but that stereotype is incorrect. Black was actually an immodestly expensive color, because of the prohibitive cost of black dyes,

Q: What were Arthur Miller's political views?

2016-01-11 17:32:22 UTC

A: In the 1940s and 1950s, because of his Jewish faith and his liberal political views, Miller was very much involved in contemporary debates that criticized the shortcomings of modern American society, particularly those dealing with inequalities in labor and race. It was also these political areas that were considered suspicious by Joseph McCarthy and his cronies, who sought to expose and erase Communism in America. Miller’s association with people and organizations targeted by McCarthy’s House Committee on Un-American Activities solidified his belief in the evils of blind persecution (while there may have been Communists who were bad people and a threat to America, this did not mean that all Communists were like-minded and posed a threat to the American way of life).

Q: How long was Miller married to Marilyn Monroe?

2016-01-11 17:33:15 UTC

A: 5 years (1956-1961)

Q: What were the Puritan's laws?

2016-01-11 17:36:39 UTC

A: Here the civil law laid its hand upon the citizen in his business and social relations; it regulated his religious affairs, it dictated his dress, and even invaded the home circle and directed his family relations. One law forbade the wearing of lace, another of "slashed cloaths other than one slash in each sleeve and another in the back." The length and width of a lady's sleeve was solemnly decided by law. It was a penal offense for a man to wear long hair, or to smoke in the street, or for a youth to court a maid without the consent of her parents. A man was not permitted to kiss his wife in public. Captain Kimble, returning from a three-years' ocean voyage, kissed his wife on his own doorstep and spent two hours in the stocks for his "lewed and unseemly behavior."