THE WITCHES OF SALEM
In 1692 a group of adolescent girls in Salem Village, Massachusetts, became subject to strange fits after hearing tales told by a West Indian slave. They accused several women of being witches. The townspeople were appalled but not surprised: Belief in witchcraft was widespread throughout 17th-century America and Europe. Town officials convened a court to hear the charges of witchcraft. Within a month, six women were convicted and hanged.
The hysteria grew, in large measure because the court permitted wit- nesses to testify that they had seen the accused as spirits or in visions. Such “spectral evidence” could neither be verified nor made subject to objective examination. By the fall of 1692, 20 victims, including several men, had been executed, and more than 100 others were in jail (where another five victims died) — among them some of the town’s most prominent citizens. When the charges threatened to spread beyond Salem, ministers throughout the colony called for an end to the trials. The governor of the colony agreed. Those still in jail were later acquitted or given reprieves.
Although an isolated incident, the Salem episode has long fascinated Americans. Most historians agree that Salem Village in 1692 experienced a kind of public hysteria, fueled by a genuine belief in the existence of witch- craft. While some of the girls may have been acting, many responsible adults became caught up in the frenzy as well.
Even more revealing is a closer analysis of the identities of the ac- cused and the accusers. Salem Village, as much of colonial New England, was undergoing an economic and political transition from a largely agrarian, Puritan-dominated community to a more commercial, secular society. Many of the accusers were representatives of a traditional way of life tied to farming and the church, whereas a number of the accused witches were members of a rising commercial class of small shopkeepers and tradesmen. Salem’s obscure struggle for social and political power between older traditional groups and a newer commercial class was one repeated in communities throughout Ameri- can history. It took a bizarre and deadly detour when its citizens were swept up by the conviction that the devil was loose in their homes.
The Salem witch trials also serve as a dramatic parable of the deadly consequences of making sensational, but false, charges. Three hundred years later, we still call false accusations against a large number of people a “witch hunt.”
Map depicting the English colonies and western territories, 1763-1775.
CHAPTER 2: THE COLONIAL PERIOD
OUTLINE OF U.S. HISTORY
37
38
B E C O M I N G A
NATION The United States of America was transformed in the two centuries
from the first English settlement at Jamestown in 1607 to the beginning of the 19th century. From a series of isolated colonial settlements hugging the Atlantic Coast, the United States evolved
into a new nation, born in revolution, and guided by a Constitution embodying the principles of democratic self-government.
A P I C T U R E P R O F I L E
John Smith, the stalwart
English explorer and settler whose
leadership helped save Jamestown from
collapse during its critical early years.
Detail from a painting by American artist Benjamin West (1738-1820), which depicts William Penn’s treaty with the Native Americans living where he founded the colony of Pennsylvania as a haven for Quakers and others seeking religious freedom. Penn’s fair treatment of the Delaware Indians led to long-term, friendly relations, unlike the conflicts between European settlers and Indian tribes in other colonies.
39
40
A devout Puritan elder (right) confronts patrons drinking ale outside a tavern. Tensions between the strictly religious Puritans, who first settled the region, and the more secular population were characteristic of the colonial era in New England.
Cotton Mather was one of the leading Puritan figures of the late 17th and early 18th centuries. His massive Ecclesiastical History of New England (1702) is an exhaustive chronicle of the settlement of New England and the Puritan effort to establish a kingdom of God in the wilderness of the New World.
41
Statue of Roger Williams, early champion of religious freedom and the separation of church and state. Williams founded the colony of
Rhode Island after leaving Massachusetts because of his disapproval of its religious ties to the Church of England.
42
Drawing of revolutionary firebrand Patrick Henry (standing to the left) uttering perhaps the most famous words of the American Revolution — “Give me liberty or give me death!” — in a debate before the Virginia Assembly in 1775.
43
Benjamin Franklin: scientist, inventor, writer, newspaper publisher, city father of Philadelphia, diplomat, and signer of both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Franklin embodied the virtues of shrewd practicality and the optimistic belief in self-improvement often associated with America itself.
James Madison, fourth president of the United States, is often regarded as the “Father of the Constitution.”
His essays in the debate over ratification of the Constitution were
collected with those of Alexander Hamilton and John Jay as The
Federalist Papers. Today, they are regarded as a classic defense of
republican government, in which the executive, legislative, and judicial
branches check and balance each other to protect the rights and
freedoms of the people.
44
Artist’s depiction of the first shots of the American Revolution, fired at Lexington, Massachusetts, on April 19, 1775. Local militia confronted British troops marching to seize colonial armaments in the nearby town of Concord.
45
Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence and third president of the United States. Jefferson also founded the University of Virginia and built one of America’s most celebrated houses, Monticello, in Charlottesville, Virginia.
47
Above: Surrender of Lord Cornwallis and the British army to American and French forces commanded by George Washington at Yorktown, Virginia, on October 19, 1781. The battle of Yorktown led to the end of the war and American independence, secured in the 1783 Treaty of Paris.
Left: U.S. postage stamp commemorating the bicentennial of the Lewis and Clark expedition, one of Thomas Jefferson’s visionary projects. Meriwether Lewis, Jefferson’s secretary, and his friend, William Clark, accompanied by a party of more than 30 persons, set out on a journey into the uncharted West that lasted four years. They traveled thousands of miles, from Camp Wood, Illinois, to Oregon, through lands that eventually became 11 American states.
48
Alexander Hamilton, secretary of the treasury in the administration of President George Washington. Hamilton advocated a strong federal government
and the encouragement of industry. He was opposed by Thomas Jefferson, a believer in decentralized government, states’ rights, and the virtues of
the independent farmers and land owners.
49
John Marshall, chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1801 to 1835, in a portrait by Alonzo Chappel. In a series of landmark cases, Marshall established the principle of judicial review — the right of the courts to determine if any act of Congress or the
executive branch is constitutional, and therefore valid and legal.
50
C H A P T E R
3 THE ROAD
TO INDEPENDENCE
The protest against British taxes known as the “Boston Tea Party,” 1773.
52
Throughout the 18th century, the maturing British North American colonies inevitably forged a distinct identity . They grew vastly in eco- nomic strength and cultural attain- ment; virtually all had long years of self-government behind them . In the 1760s their combined pop- ulation exceeded 1,500,000 — a six-fold increase since 1700 . None- theless, England and America did not begin an overt parting of ways until 1763, more than a century and a half after the founding of the first permanent settlement at James- town, Virginia .