The farmers caused a major source of social tension and conflict. The farmers outside of town petitioned for their own minister and for their own house of worship. They had two reasons for their request. Reason number one was they were far away from town, and number two they were not happy with the way the town was being managed. Their request was granted and this led to a separate parish for the farmers. The farmers refused to worship with the merchants. Tensions increased between the two groups as the merchants became more prosperous, and the farmers were finding it harder and harder to make a living. The farmers wanted to stop the growing prosperity of the merchants. So based on the fact that upon conviction all witches lost their land and wealth farmers accused merchants in order to help shift things in their favor. Woloch attributed this to “ an animosity between village and town, farmers and merchants, old vales and new profits erupting in a confrontation between two marginal groups of women. One group was the “accusers” or “afflicted” being composed of a dozen or so young women and a few servants. Against the accused witches, the majority of them older women sometimes tainted by a degree of deviance or peculiarity, and some of their husbands and children”. (Woloch, 29)

The trials were intended to control hysteria over witches, but instead had the opposite effect. Hysteria escalated because people could now use the trials as a means to control others. There was no belief of innocent until proven guilty in the Puritan laws. Puritan lawmakers felt that even members of the church could be found guilty of witchcraft. To control the spread of witchcraft a community of vigilance was created to hunt down and prosecute all suspected witches. Not all of the villagers agreed to this approach. Cotton Mather was troubled by this fanaticism. He believed that people were too zealous in their pursuit of witches and thus they were becoming hysterical. Cotton Mather realized that misunderstandings and irrational thinking caused the widespread idea of witchcraft among the Puritans. (Mather) This irrationality was not only common amongst the people but also amongst the authorities. People became so vehement that the trials became a means of expressing their beliefs. The trials were an outgrowth of their zealousness. The trials provided them with an outlet to express their views and frustrations over personal or familial misfortune. Thus instead of the trials stopping the hysteria they increased it. Woloch explained this by saying “young women were the weakest and most marginal of community members, and under the domination of others. But, once their witchcraft accusations held, these otherwise insignificant young women were able to exert life and death p

Some topics in this essay:
Governor Endicott, Demos England, Madden Female, Bridget Bishop, Charles II, Witch Trials, Puritans Mather, Karlson Englanders, Hysteria Bishop, Cotton Mather, witch trials, salem witch, salem witch trials, salem town, women “accusers”, woloch 30, quaker women, social hierarchy, people moving socially, carol karlson, accused witches, puritan society, separate salem town, god ordained class, ordained class structure,