help please.....HISTORY ???

Question

i need a good resource for evidence that "land was the main issue concerning the Salem Witch Trials...im look for anything between teh names of the ppl convivted, lifestyles of englsnd and other states' trials,****the lands they owned and how much**** and if there was any fmaily haters in the colny..this will all be helpful if i get the info tongiht...thnx!

Answer 1

Increasing family size fueled disputes over land between neighbors and within families, especially on the frontier where the economy was based on farming. Changes in the weather or blights could easily wipe out a year's crop. A farm that could support an average-sized family could not support the many families of the next generation, prompting farmers to push further into the wilderness to find farmland—and encroach upon the indigenous people who already lived there. As the Puritans had vowed to create a theocracy in this new land, religious fervor added another tension to the mix: losses of crops, of livestock, and of children, as well as earthquakes and bad weather were typically attributed to the wrath of God.


The main factors that started and fueled the trials were politics, religion, family feuds, economics, and the imaginations and fears of the people. The following essay on these causes and the events surrounding the Salem witch trials of 1692 is divided into four sections: 1) Salem Politics 2) Cold Winter Days 3) Salem Witchcraft 4) Aftermath.
http://www.salemwitchtrials.com/salemwitchcraft.html

Boyer and Nissenbaum argue that what happened at Salem was the outgrowth of conflicts between the rising mercantile class and the people who were tied to a land-based economy--that is, that the wealth and power of the merchants "were achieved at the expense of the farmers" (Karlsen 212). Claiming that Boyer and Nissenbaum's theory does not account for the overwhelming proportion of women accused.
http://www.wsu.edu/~campbelld/amlit/witch.htm

The Salem witch craze was largely fueled by personal differences between two families, the Putnams and the Porters. John Putnam, Sr. (1579-1662) was the patriarch of the largest family in Salem. He had three sons, Thomas Putnam, Sr. (1615-86), Nathaniel Putnam (1619-1700), and John Putnam, Jr. (1627-1710). John Porter, Sr. (1595-1676) was the patriarch of the richest family in Salem. He had four sons, John Porter, Jr. (1618-84), Joseph Porter (1638-1714), Benjamin Porter (1639-1723), Israel Porter (1644-1706), and a daughter, Sarah Porter (1649-1725).

The Putnams were a family of farmers who followed the simple and austere lifestyle of traditional Puritans. Although the Porters derived much of their wealth from agricultural operations as well, they were also entrepreneurs, developing commercial interests in Salem Town, throughout New England, and in the Caribbean. The Porters' diversified business interests allowed them to increase their family's wealth while the Putnam family wealth stagnated.

This interfamily rivalry began in 1672 when a dam and sawmill run by the Porters flooded the Putnam farms, resulting in a lawsuit brought by John Putnam, Sr. A few years later the Putnams petitioned the town in an effort to obtain political independence for the village, and the Porters opposed them. The arrival of Reverend Samuel Parris in 1689 intensified the Putnam-Porter conflict.

Twenty-six villagers, eleven of whom were Putnams, voted to give Parris a parsonage, a barn, and two acres of land. Some villagers thought that these gifts were too generous. In October 1691 a faction of Parris-Putnam supporters was ousted from the village committee and replaced by individuals who were openly hostile to the reverend, including Daniel Andrew, the son-in-law of John Porter, Sr.; Joseph Hutchinson, one of the sawmill operators responsible for flooding the Putnams' farms; Francis Nurse, a village farmer who had been involved in a bitter boundary dispute with Nathaniel Putnam; and Joseph Porter. The new committee quickly voted down a tax levy that would have raised revenue to pay the salary of Reverend Parris.

http://www.answers.com/topic/salem-witch-trials

Answer 2

Wow. Way to do her homework for her...