What Were the Salem Witch Trials?

King William's War started in 1689 which cause many settlers in New York, Nova Scotia, and Quebec to seek refuge in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. This rise in population, specifically in Salem, increased a shortage of resources in the area that had already existed. There was a great sense of uneasiness in Salem as people were trying to provide for their families. The Puritans blamed Satan for the unrest in the town. 

Reverend Samuel Parris was a minister around the time of this crisis. He was not very popular among the Puritan villagers. In 1692, Reverend Parris' daughter and niece, who were nine and eleven years old, along with Ann Putnam who was also eleven, began to act in a strange manner. The girls were seen screaming, throwing things, making odd noises, and bending themselves into odd positions. The people of Salem suspected the girls were a victim of witchcraft (http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/stories/history/salem-witch-trials/).

Jonathan Corwin and John Hathorne pressured the girls into surrendering the names of the people who were to blame for their behavior. The girl's blamed Reverend Parris' Caribbean slave, a homeless woman, and an elderly woman. Tituba, the slave, was the only woman to confess. She claimed Satan came to her and asked her to serve him along with several other witches with a purpose to destroy the Puritans. The three women were put in jail and this sparked a new level of fear in Salem (http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/salem.htm). 

Governor William Phipps set up the Special Court of Oyer and Terminer. This court was established to hear the cases of the women who were accused of being witches and determine their fate. Martha Corey was soon accused by the three girls of being a witch. Corey was a thought of as being very dedicated to the Church of Salem Village. The community began to lose trust with each other and assumed anyone could be a witch (http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/brief-salem.html?c=y&page=1). Eventually, the accusations ended and so did the Special Court. There were nineteen people hung, a seventy-one year old man was smashed with a heavy stone, and at least four died in prison (http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/salem.htm). 

In 1976, studies were done to determine a possible cause for the strange behavior in the children. There is a fungus that is found on wheat and rye that causes muscle spasms, vomiting, delusions and hallucinations. The fungus is found in climates much like Salem and with rye as a major part of their diet, there is a very high possibility the fungus caused the behavior (http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/brief-salem.html?c=y&page=2). 

The Puritan's extreme beliefs can be blamed for the irrational judgement of others. If a person did not act in a manner that would be pleasing to God, the Puritans believed it was an act of Satan. The Salem community was not afraid of anything more than the devil because of the fear that the Puritan ministers emphasized. There were twenty-four innocent people that died and over two-hundred that had their reputations ruined because they were accused of practicing the work of Satan (http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/brief-salem.html?c=y&page=2).

Supplemental Video: http://school.discoveryeducation.com/schooladventures/salemwitchtrials/story/story.html

Do We Have Too Much Government?

I heartily accept the motto,—“That government is best which governs least”; and I should like to see it acted up to more rapidly and systematically. Carried out, it finally amounts to this, which also I believe—“That government is best which governs not at all”


Henry David Thoreau believed the government acted only to benefit the people within the government. The "People" were suppose to be in charge. Thoreau believed the citizens were just being used to serve the more powerful and wealthy who had the control. His theory is still very valid today. Laws that extend beyond the Constitution of the United States can be very corrupt and have a negative impact on our society that is now too deeply rooted to remove (http://www.articlemyriad.com/analysis-summary-civil-disobedience/).

One of the ways our government extended its arm too far is the restriction of alcohol to people under the age of twenty one. Teenagers are always going to drink whether it is legal or illegal. It's a part of American culture that every teen is faced with and it has been the norm for forever. There are many problems with teens drinking at a young age, but when the punishments for underage drinking could jeopardize a teen's future, that's when the government goes too far. Teens are always going to drink and when there isn't a safe place to be without getting caught, the car seems like the only option. Everyone who drinks should be allowed to do so in a safe place. If bars could be accessible to everyone instead of just people over a certain age, a lot less teens would be driving around drunk and trying to avoid the law. Teen parties are frequently miles from their homes and deep in the woods in order to avoid the police. This creates more problems than the law is trying to prevent. In the event of an emergency, the drunken needs need to drive miles to get back into town. By the time they get to town, it may be too late or an accident caused by the alcohol could occur. The law governs morals and hurts our society. It makes America more dangerous instead of protecting it. It seems the only practical reason the government holds on to this law is so that law enforcement people can carry a job. Their salary is paid for by the fines that teens have to pay for simply partaking in an activity that is inevitably an everlasting aspect of our culture.

Marijuana is such a horrible drug according to the government. Why do they tell us this? Because the powerful people, who are elected to protect us, want a salary. Law enforcement is funded to keep pot away, but like alcohol, it will always be here. Our tax money funds a hopeless war against drug crimes but without drug crimes, who would the government prey on? Innocent people who just want to experience a high in tough times are thrown in the jail. Over thirteen million marijuana related arrests were made in 2010. Our prison systems are full and there is no sign of these arrests to decrease (http://www.drugwarfacts.org/cms/Marijuana#Total). America has almost a quarter of the world's prisoners in its own prison system (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/23/world/americas/23iht-23prison.12253738.html?pagewanted=all). The government is in so much debt, yet they spend money on drug related crimes that could simply be solved by staying out of the business. If there is a great demand for something illegal, other illegal activities will follow to deliver the supply. They need to legalize it and let the market take care of things. Legitimate businesses will grow around the industry. They are hanging on to this law because their own kind will lose their jobs. All of the government spending that could be saved by legalizing an industry could be spent on much needed infrastructure and other important needs of the nation where the government should be concerned about rather than our setting restrictions on our inalienable rights.

What Was Griswold's "Memoir of the Author"?

When Edgar Allen Poe died, Rufus Wilmot Griswold wrote Poe's obituary with intent to acquire revenge for all of Poe's negative criticism about Griswold. The obituary began with, "Edgar Allan Poe is dead. He died in Baltimore the day before yesterday. This announcement will startle many, but few will be grieved by it." He included false details in order to ruin the reputation of Poe. Following the obituary, Griswold wrote a biography titled "Memoir of the Author." This was the only biography available and influenced the world's view of Edgar Allen Poe immensely. Because it was the only access the public had into Poe's life, the fabricated details of Poe became the ultimate source of his reputation. Griswold had hoped to erase the idea of Poe being a great poet and end his legacy. His plan succeeded in giving Poe a reputation, but the reputation of Poe being a madman boosted the popularity of Poe's work and made him an even more important figure in the history of American literature (http://www.poemuseum.org/life.php).

Rufus Griswold attempted to give Edgar Allen Poe a reputation of being a, "drunken, womanizing madman, with no morals or friends." He included letters that Poe had written to support his accusations, but it is now believed many of the letters were never actually written by Poe. Griswold accused Poe of being a drug addict which is now proven to be false. He criticized Poe's childhood. He label him as reckless and told stories of Poe's disruptive behavior in school and the poor parenting he had. Poe's gambling debt was mentioned along with his disobedience at West Point and desertion. Every possible negative aspect of Poe's life was brought up in this biography in hopes to discredit all of his poetry. Griswold constantly gave attention to Poe's intoxication and wrote about how poorly the poetry was written. Poe was described as envious, arrogant, and villany (http://www.eapoe.org/papers/misc1827/18500004.htm).

The biography ends with-

"There seemed to him no moral susceptibility; and, what was more remarkable in a proud nature, little or nothing of the true point of honor. He had, to a morbid excess, that desire to rise which is vulgarly called ambition, but no wish for the esteem of the love of his species; only the hard wish to succeed — not shine, not serve — succeed, that he might have the right to despise a world which galled his self-conceit.(http://www.eapoe.org/papers/misc1827/18500004.htm)"

Many others who wrote biographies about Edgar Allen Poe based their works on Griswold's biography of Poe. Even though a large amount of the accusations were false, the biographies that followed continued to support the reputation Griswold had built for Poe (http://www.eapoe.org/geninfo/poegrisw.htm). The public became very interested in reading the work of a madman and the publication of Poe's work increased immensely. While Griswold is nearly forgotten, the man's legacy he attempted to destroy lives on.

What Was the Theme of Rip Van Winkle?

Washington Irving never tells of the true theme of the story of Rip Van Winkle. Rip Van Winkle seemed to be lazy and enjoyed life as long as he wasn't being hassled by his wife or doing work. What can we learn from that? Is the lesson that we shouldn't be lazy? Being lazying made him happy and isn't happiness what we are all seeking? He got drunk with some Dutchmen in the forest. Maybe one of the lessons Washington Irving was trying to convey was that bad things might happen to you if you start drinking with strange people in the forest. However, Rip Van Winkle's life wasn't ruined after that so we can toss that idea out as one of the themes. I began to think Washington Irving never really have a theme to the story. After doing some research, I found that others, with perhaps a little stretch, were able to come up with possible themes that Washington Irving may have had in mind.

When Rip Van Winkle returns to his village after his super long sleep, everything had changed. There were more buildings in the town and they all looked different. The main topic of discussion was politics. Before Rip Van Winkles went into the forest, the village was small and simple. People weren't concerned with politics and they were content with the rule of the King. All this change was brought about after the Revolution. Perhaps Washington Irving's theme was that with progress comes change. Although there are drastic changes, many traditions are kept such as the gossip at the tavern and idle people can always be idle. Progress may seem overwhelming at first, but it's worth the change. At first, Rip Van Winkle was concerned with all of the change, but as time went on, he was able to accept it and live happily (http://www.cummingsstudyguides.net/Guides3/Winkle.html).

Several other themes could be discussed about this story. It could be about Rip Van Winkle's loss of himself and then having to find others who remember him to explain his identity to the new generation. Maybe Washington Irving wanted to show the importance of work ethic and if you don't keep up with society, you get left behind. The theme could have just been about American life after the Revolution. The switch of the King above to tavern to George Washington was a significant part of the story. Rip Van Winkle could have even been a symbol representing the new country (http://www.123helpme.com/view.asp?id=18848). The change seemed to happen over night and Rip was unsure how to deal with the change and uncertain about the future. The country and Rip Van Winkle enjoyed the progress but were both still reluctant to give up all of their traditions (http://people.morrisville.edu/~pisiakr/English203/RipVanWinkle.htm).

What Punishments Did African Slaves Endure?

Slaves in the nineteenth century we treated as property. They were given the same amount of rights as livestock. This basically meant they had no rights at all. Plantation owners cared very little about the well-being of their slaves. They were strictly interested in increasing productivity in order to gain a higher profit. The plantation owners hired overseers to make sure the slaves were working at their maximum capabilities. Whenever a slave would fail to complete a task exactly how he or she was told, the slave would be punished (http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USASpunishments.htm). 

A slave would be punished for many things. Any form of resist or attempting to run away would result in some kind of punishment to break the slave's will. A slave who did not work hard enough would have to endure some kind of torture just as an animal would that refused to obey its master. Slaves who talked too much, especially in their native language, would be beat. Stealing from or attacking a white man would also bring about severe punishment (http://www.historyonthenet.com/Slave_Trade/punishments.htm).

Punishments included a variety of techniques that overseers saw as effective. If the whip did not suffice, overseers commonly would smoke their slaves. This meant the slaves were placed in a smokehouse where conditions would be very hot and uncomfortable. The smoke would make it hard for the slave to breathe and would be tied up in the smokehouse for a long period of time. Slaves were branded just like cattle. This was done as punishment as well as to mark the slave as the property of a particular plantation. Slaves were also placed into barrels that had nails pounded into it and then pushed down a steep hill causing the nails to stab the slave with every rotation of the barrel (http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USASpunishments.htm).

Slaves were often bound by chains to the ground. They would be put in shackles to preventing escape. Sometimes slaves were forced to walk on nineteenth century treadmills and whipped to increase their pace.  Many kinds of contraptions were placed on slaves as punishment. A collar with iron rods sticking out from it was placed around a slave's neck. At the end of the rods were bells. This contraption caused a huge amount of discomfort to work due to its weight and made it impossible for a person to lay down to sleep (http://cghs.dadeschools.net/slavery/antebellum_slavery/punishment.htm). 

Slaves were often forced to work for multiple days without food or rest as punishment. After their long periods of working, they were stripped naked and their family members were forced to whip them at least fifty times. The embarrassment and shame a slave had to go through was a form of torture all on its own. 

With every beating or form of punishment, an overseer saw it as re-enforcing his dominance over the slave and breaking the slave's will to resist. Slave's took every punishment as even more reason to resist the orders of their masters and gave them courage to escape. If slaves were treated more humanely, productivity would probably have increased without the use of a whip and the threat of escapes would have lessened (http://cghs.dadeschools.net/slavery/antebellum_slavery/punishment.htm). Obviously the act of slavery is horrible and the punishments were completely unjustified, but without the extremely cruel punishments, there may not have been as much attention drawn to the issue. Slaves might have stayed loyal to their masters and the abolishment of slavery could have been delayed much later.

What Sparked King Philip's War?

As I was reading A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration by Mary Rowlandson, I asked myself, "What sparked all of the hostility between the Indians and the white men?" When we think of Thanksgiving, we think of the Indians and the Pilgrims living together peacefully and sharing meals. John Smith seemed to have made a good relationship with the Indians despite being captive for a small period of time. I wanted to know more about the war outside of Mary Rowlandson's perspective and how it started.

Early on in the colonial times, the white men had a strong relationship with the Indians. They traded with each other and the white men brought the Indians goods and food. The colonists taught the Natives about Christianity and preached to them from the Bible. They didn't do this to take away the Natives' way of life, but they strongly believed it was the right thing to do to help the Indian people achieve salvation. Reverend John Eliot even spent many years of his life working to translate the Bible into their language. The whites depended on the Indians for survival and the Indians depended on the whites for trade. They seemed to live together happily for a period of time (http://www.militaryhistoryonline.com/horsemusket/kingphilip/default.aspx).

Massasoit was the leader of the Wampanoags and he signed a treaty with the Pilgrims at Plymouth. The peace endured for fifty years but with the death of Massasoit came hostility. Massasoit's son, Philip, despised the white men. The Indians were losing trust because the whites were treating them unfairly in trades. Livestock were trampling the farming lands of the Indians and they felt threatened. One of the first major events that sparked King Philip's War was the death of his brother. Wamsutta, King Philip's brother, was taken at gunpoint into Plymouth for questioning but had fallen sick and died before he could return to his village. This infuriated Philip, but the peace was still kept. The colonists knew the Indians were no longer as satisfied with the white men as they had been in the past before the death of Wamsutta. The colonists feared an attack. In 1671, Philip was ordered to surrender all of his weapons and he did (http://www.usahistory.info/NewEngland/King-Philips-War.html). 

In 1675, a Christian Indian was murdered by other Indians. His name was John Sassamon. Sassamon was a preacher for the other Indians and an informer for the colonists. He was most likely killed because of his religion and because Philip's tribe feared the loss of its culture. The suspects of the murder were taken to Plymouth and executed. As soon as the Wampanoags heard the news, they were preparing for war and the attack on Swansea took place soon after (http://www.pilgrimhall.org/philipwar.htm).

The conflicted lasted two years and was one of the worst wars seen in America. One in ten soldiers on both sides were either wounded or killed and entire families were destroyed. It took decades for both sides to rebuild the progress that had been made in earlier years. Despite all of the destruction, there is one positive effect the war had on America. Because England did not give much military support to the colonists, the war was the beginning of America's independent militia. Towns organized their own militias to fight the Indians which could be thought of as the beginning of the Colonial militias that helped fight for independence from England in the Revolutionary War (http://www.militaryhistoryonline.com/horsemusket/kingphilip/default.aspx).

How Did Tobacco Help With the Independence of the Colonies?

Thomas Paine began his involvement in civic matters when he started attending the meetings of The Society of Twelve. This group met twice a year to discuss the issues of the town of Lewes in East Sussex. He was introduced to this group by a man named Samuel Ollive. Samuel Ollive was the owner of the snuff and tobacco shop where Thomas Paine lived (http://www.martinfrost.ws/htmlfiles/paine_notes.html). I did not think Europe was known for it's tobacco which led me to believe the colonies had something to do with this. I then became interested with the tobacco trade between the colonies and England. I found out that tobacco was a huge export from America that was instrumental with the foundation of the colonies and later became a very important supplement for the American independence from England.

Due to the high demand of tobacco in Europe, the early Americans were able to ship massive amounts of tobacco to England. By the end of the eighteenth century, England had imported over 20,000,000 pounds of American tobacco. However the colonies were only allowed to trade with England because they were bound by the mercantile system. America had an endless supply of natural resources, especially tobacco, that were exported to England and then refined into finished goods. In return for the exportation of tobacco, England sent back the necessary supplies needed to survive in the new frontier and to colonize (http://www.tobacco.org/History/colonialtobacco.html).

Because tobacco was such an important cash crop for the colonies, it became a form of currency because it was something of value that everyone produced. When farmers had their crop inspected, they were given a paper that stated their quality of tobacco, how much, and where it was to stored. The farmers would then take that inspection paper to a merchant. Once the merchant had the slip, the tobacco was his property and would give credit to the farmer to purchase goods. The colonies even used tobacco for fines. People who let slaves have meetings were fined 1000 pounds of tobacco. Anyone who let a slave had a horse was fined 500 pounds. Virginia and Maryland had small taxes on every hogshead (1000 pounds of tobacco) that was exported which gave the government of each colony over nine thousand dollars a year.   Farmers even paid the parish in tobacco if they wanted to get married (http://www.tobacco.org/History/colonialtobacco.html).





Because the colonies could only trade with England, England had total control over the trade. The taxation from Britain was putting farmers in massive debt. They found themselves becoming deeper and deeper in debt with the British merchants. This called for a need for independence. When Benjamin Franklin received a loan from France to help with the war, the collateral was five million pounds of tobacco. George Washington advised the colonists that if they could send money to help the war effort, they should send tobacco. Tobacco ended up becoming the payment America used to pay off its debt (http://www.tobacco.org/resources/history/Tobacco_History18.html).