Salem Witchcraft Trials of 1692

It is a commonplace of prerevolution American history that the Salem witch trials and executions of 1692 were an aberration of the general tendency toward shaping society in line with ideas of personal and political liberty. But that line of thought ignores the complexities of creating a new civil society in the wilderness. Further, it ignores the fact that those who built that society, namely Massachusetts Bay, were amalgams of their personal and group history in England. As matters turned out, by 1792 Massachusetts had achieved a political reputation associated with political radicalism and a progressive, liberal republican government. However, the evidence of the Salem trials and hangings is that the Puritan society of 1692, standing squarely in the middle of the chronological continuum from the late 1400s to the late 1800s, had as much in common with the Britain and Europe of the late fifteenth century as with the America of the late nineteenth. And in the background of the Salem trials was a well-settled tradition of popular opinion about witchcraft as a dangerous and powerful rival of Christianity, as both ethos and doctrine.

The religious and juridical resonance of Malleus Maleficarum, first published 1485-1490, should not be underestimated in this regard. Pope Innocent VII's 1484 Bull, Sum

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The fact that the laws were composed by the Rev. Nathaniel Ward is instructive support for the power (and unquestioned dominance) of the theocratic model and for the assertion of cultural resonance in the matter of received wisdom about witchcraft. The part of the Body of Liberties that most strongly articulates the social engineering aspects of the Puritan theocracy is titled "Capitall Laws," each of which is pretty much derived from biblical text. For example [sic spelling, punctuation]: 1. If any man after legall conviction shall have or worship any other god, but the lord god, he shall be put to death [Deut. 13.6, 10]. 2. If any man or woeman be a witch, (that is hath or consulteth with a familiar spirit,) they shall be put to death [Ex. 22.18; Deut. 18.10]. 3. If any person shall Blaspheme the name of god, he father, Sonne or Holie Ghost, with direct, expresse, presumptuous or high handed blasphemie, or shall curse god in the like manner, he shall be put to death [Lev. 24.15, 16]. . . . 12. If any man shall conspire and attempt any invasion, insurrection, or publique rebellion against our commonwealth . . . or shall treacherously and perfediouslie attempt the alteration and subversion of our frame of politie or Government fu
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