by Sharon Mazaka

Created on: September 19, 2009   Last Updated: September 20, 2009

In the mid- seventeenth century, Europe and England's witch hunt were declining, but in America the hunt was just beginning. At the end of 1692, in Salem Village, Massachusetts, nineteen women and men were hanged to death. Fifty two people were in jail and one man was crushed to death. These people were innocent victims accused of practicing witchcraft. In 1630, Puritans (religious refuges), came to America from England. In England, the Puritans wanted to purify the English Church by getting rid of the Catholic rituals. King James the head of the Catholic Church did not agree with the Puritans rituals therefore a request from the King urged the Puritans to worship God from the distant shores of America. The King of England granted them a charter which allowed the Puritans to make their own decisions and rules.

John Winthrop the leader of the Puritans along with three thousand people came to live in and around the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Therefore Boston became the Puritan Capital. Puritans felt they could carry out Gods will in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. + The Puritans believed the devil was a real creature and they thought the Massachusetts Bay Colony was being ruled by the devil. In America they would fight a battle with God against the devil. We are entered into covet with (God) for this work John Winthrop said. +

The Puritans settled on a coastal town they named Salem and a village they called Salem Village. These two towns were very different; the only similarities were there name. By the 1660's Salem town became a thriving fishing town and trading center. Salem Village was scattered by farms and surrounded by wild animals that posed a threat to the settlers and their livestock. Most of the villagers were uneducated and poor. Salem Town also controlled Salem Village, something the villagers disliked. Around the same time a feud was brewing in Salem Village between the Putnam's and the Porters. These families were the most influential and the leaders of the village. The Putnam's dominated the village over the Porters because of their strong belief in the traditional way of Puritanism. The Putnam's conquered the villager's politics.

The villagers wanted their own place of worship. They went to the town's council for permission to hire their own minister. The council denied permission but six years later after pressure from the General Court, the council permitted it. In 1672 they hired a minister named James Bayer. Bayer soon left because the villagers

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