The Salem witchcraft trials resulted from a climate of repression, religious intolerance, and social hierarchy combined with fanaticism and the oppression of women. The Puritan leaders used the trials as a way to control the community and to prevent change in the strict social hierarchy. The trials ensured that the teachings of the church would be followed anyone not following the church was simply accused of being a witch and punished accordingly. Witchcraft was considered …showed first 75 words of 2785 total…

…showed last 75 words of 2785 total…York: Carlton and Lanahan, 1870 5)Marion L. Starkey, The Devil in Massachusetts Garden City: Alfred A. Knopf, 1949 6)Cotton Mather, The Wonders of the Invincible World: being an account of the tryals of several witches lately executed in New England: and of several remarkable curiosities therein occurring New York: Random House, Inc. 1987 7)Elliot, Charles W. Mysteries of Glimpses of the Supernatural New York: Harper and Brothers, 1852. 8)Phillips, Jan The Craft of the Wise Ms. January/February 1993: 78-79