Colonial America: The Salem Witch Trials | 5-Minute Videos | PragerU

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Transcript:
Colonial America: The Salem Witch Trials
Presented by Thomas Kidd

No episode in early American history is more infamous or misunderstood than the Salem Witch Trials of 1692.

Before they were over, nineteen people, five men and fourteen women, were convicted of engaging in witchcraft and were subsequently executed by hanging. One other was pressed to death with heavy stones, still more died in prison awaiting trial, and many more would have died if cooler heads had not finally prevailed.

From a contemporary perspective, it’s hard to understand why the trials happened at all. But for the people living in Salem at the end of the 17th century, there was no such mystery.

Puritan New England was a profoundly Bible-based society. So, when the Old Testament denounced witchcraft and sorcery, they took it seriously. Massachusetts law mandated that “If any man or woman be a witch… they shall be put to death.”

But why did witch trials happen in Salem when they did? What was the precipitating cause? After all, the Massachusetts colony had existed for sixty-two years without similar upheaval.

Why now?

Many theories have been offered, and none are fully satisfying. All we know for sure was that it was a period of deep instability — socially, economically and religiously.

First, there was uncertainty as to where the colony stood with England, the Mother