Witch-Hunt: Mysteries of the Salem Witch Trials

                                            Study Guide

 

Introduction

 

This study guide is designed to enhance students’ mastery of key content and skills in social studies, language arts, and other disciplines through examination of the Salem Witch Trials. It is intended to be used in conjunction with Witch-Hunt: Mysteries of the Salem Witch Trials by Sibert Award-winning author Marc Aronson, along with other materials. The lessons will compliment curriculum in the social studies, particularly early colonial American history and McCarthyism, but also language arts, focusing on Arthur Miller’s portrait of the psychology of witch-hunts, The Crucible. Each lesson is designed with multiple objectives in mind, to make the most efficient use of teacher’s time.

The guide consists of six lesson plans drawn from topics investigated in Witch-Hunt. It is organized around six guiding questions:

·      What was the world-view of the accusers and their contemporaries?

·      What was the relationship between individuals and authority in Puritan society?

·      Why did the accusers do it?

·      What is moral courage and what forms did it take during the Salem Witch Trials? (This activity may be used in conjunction with the John Fitzgerald Kennedy Library Foundation Profiles in Courage high school essay contest.)

·      How were good, evil, and witchcraft understood by the accusers and their contemporaries?

·      How does the historian’s work differ from the dramatist’s work in writing about the Salem Witch Trials?

 

Within each lesson plan you will find all or most of the following information:

·      Synopsis of lesson

·      National curriculum standards met by this lesson (based on Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning standards and benchmarks, www.mcrel.org)

·      Time required

·      Materials needed

·      The lesson (with lesson-starter and lesson procedures)

·      Additional resources

·      Interdisciplinary activities

 

Although the study guide is designed so that the six lesson plans provide an integrated course of studies, it is not expected that students will complete all the listed activities. Teachers may assign selected activities to their classes, allow students to choose an activity for themselves, or set up independent learning centers with the material needed for suggested activities. Also, teachers may wish to give students the opportunity to earn extra credit by completing some activities as independent work. Recognizing the time and accountability constraints facing classroom teachers, we encourage you to select and adapt the Witch-Hunt activities that best meet your students’ needs and abilities, curriculum requirements, and teaching style.

This study guide was written by Jean M. West, an education consultant in Port Orange, Florida.

I. What was the world-view of the accusers and their contemporaries?

 

Synopsis

 

The world-view of people living in 1692 was fundamentally different from our world-view today. Contemporary understanding of the physical world through astronomy, biology, chemistry, geology, geography, meteorology and physics would boggle the minds of the people of 17^th century Salem who saw the physical world through theological assumptions. The modern view of the role of human beings under both civil and divine law is far more relativist and secular than in late 1600s. This lesson provides the opportunity for teachers across the curriculum to work in collaboration, enabling students to research and prepare a multimedia series of displays and presentations to gain understanding of the world-view of 1692. The lesson is designed for grades 9-12, although it may be readily adapted by middle school teams, grades 6-8.

 

National Curriculum Standards

 

Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning has created standards and benchmarks for language arts, math, science, geography, economics, and history.

This lesson meets Level IV (Grades 9-12) standards and benchmarks for:

United States History Standards (3^rd Ed.) for Era 2 – Colonization and Settlement (1585-1763) including benchmarks:

2.     Understands how gender, property ownership, religion, and legal status affected political rights (e.g., that women were not allowed to vote even if they held property and met religious requirements)

3.     Understands characteristics of religious development in colonial America (e.g., the presence of diverse religious groups and their contributions to religious freedom; the political and religious influence of the Great Awakening; the major tenets of Puritanism and its legacy in American society; the dissension of Anne Hutchinson and Roger Williams, and Puritan objections to their ideas and behavior)

 

Historical Understanding (3^rd Ed.) Standard 2: Understands the historical perspective

including benchmark:

2. Analyzes the influences specific ideas and beliefs had on a period of history and

specifies how events might have been different in the absence of those ideas and

beliefs.

 

Language Arts (4^th Ed.) Standard 4: Gathers and uses information for research purposes including benchmark:

2. Uses a variety of print and electronic sources to gather information for research

topics (e.g., news sources such as magazines, radio, television, newspapers;

government publications; microfiche; telephone information services; databases;

field studies; speeches; technical documents; periodicals; Internet)

 

Science (4^th Ed.) Standard 11: Understands the nature of scientific knowledge

including benchmarks:

1. Knows ways in which science distinguishes itself from other ways of knowing

and from other bodies of knowledge (e.g., use of empirical standards, logical

arguments, skepticism)

3. Understands how scientific knowledge changes and accumulates over time (e.g.,

all scientific knowledge is subject to change as new knowledge becomes available;

some scientific ideas are incomplete and opportunity exists in these areas for new

advances; theories are continually tested, revised, and occasionally discarded)

4. Knows that from time to time, major shifts occur in the scientific view of how the

world works, but usually the changes that take place in the body of scientific

knowledge are small modifications of prior knowledge

 

This lesson also meets these Level III (Grades 6-8) standards and benchmarks.

United States History Standards (3^rd Ed.) for Era 2 – Colonization and Settlement

(1585-1763) including benchmarks:

1. Understands ideas that influenced religious and political aspects of colonial

America (e.g., how the growth of individualism contributed to participatory

government, challenged inherited ideas of hierarchy, and affected the ideal of

community; whether political rights in colonial society reflected democratic

ideas; how Benjamin Franklin’s thirteen virtues in his Autobiography compare

to Puritan ideas and values)

5. Understands the role of religion in the English colonies (e.g., the evolution of

religious freedom, treatment of religious dissenters such as Anne Hutchinson,

the concept of the separation of church and state)

 

Language Arts (4^th Ed.) Standard 4: Gathers and uses information for research

purposes including benchmark:

4. Uses a variety of resource materials to gather information for research topics

(e.g. magazines, newspapers, dictionaries, schedules, journals, phone

directories, globes, atlases, almanacs)

 

Science (4^th Ed.) Standard 11: Understands the nature of scientific knowledge

including benchmark:

3. Knows that all scientific ideas are tentative and subject to change and

improvement in principle, but for most core ideas in science, there is much

experimental and observational confirmation

 

Time Required

 

This lesson will probably take three class periods, depending on the amount of planning and research conducted outside of class and the length of student presentations.

 

Materials Needed

Witch-Hunt: Mysteries of the Salem Witch Trials (Introduction, pp. 14-19; Prologue, pp. 25-39; Chapter I, pp. 44-46; Chapter II, pp. 69-70; Chapter III, pp. 82-88; Chapter X, pp. 203-205)

 

The Lesson

 

Lesson-Starter

1. Ask students to read “Skittering Shadows,” pp. 14-16.

 

2. In the world of 1692 people generally believed God was the “single clearest ‘cause’ for any effect in the world,” although the Devil or Satan and forces of evil also were responsible for some of the problems in the visible world. Reason or science might also provide explanations. Discuss as a class how people of the 17^th century might have explained:

·      A deadly disease

·      A freeze that killed the spring crops

·      A blue-eyed child born to brown-eyed parents

 

3. Discuss in the class how we as modern people try to recognize truth, falsehood and superstition. Ask students whether the “seen” or visible world seems more real than the “unseen” or invisible world, such as that in the cosmos or on the cellular or atomic level. Ask students to consider whether science today explains “reality” to our satisfaction as well as faith did for the people of 1692.

 

Procedures

 

1. Teachers of social studies (History, Geography, Psychology, Sociology and Government) and the physical sciences (Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Earth Sciences/Environmental Sciences, Astronomy) and comparative religions (if an elective) will be coordinating assignments during this lesson. Participating teachers should divide topics among their students. One suggested division is to create the following seven groups: Geography, Astronomy, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Psychology, and Civil & Religious Law.

 

2. Each group should research to find answers to questions about the 17^th century world-view of their discipline, for example:

 

·      Geography, meteorology and geology: Students may look at maps of the time period, what was known and unknown about the form, climate and geography of world. They should look at estimated human population in this period and perceptions of villages as islands of civilization in the wilderness (especially true of Old World country folk who might never travel farther than twenty miles from their nameless village and have no bird’s-eye or map perception of their world), terra incognita, and the vastness of the oceans. They should consider what had been learned by sailors, explorers, and the scholastic community as well as immigrants to the New World such as the Puritans, but evaluate how widespread this knowledge was in 1692. Students should note what information is no longer accepted as correct. Students may create a display or computer slide show to illustrate the world of 1692.

·      Astronomy: Students will examine what was known about the solar system and universe, cosmic events such as eclipses and comets, and the degree to which Copernicus and Galileo were accepted not only by the scholastic community but also by the average country folk. Students will also examine the Puritan theological assumptions that there was a physical heaven and hell and their location. Students may use annotated models, drawings, computer slide-shows, and other illustrative material to explain how the universe seemed to people in 1692.

·      Biology: Students will examine the status of knowledge about human anatomy and cell pathology including theories about the “four humors,” microbes, inherited biological traits (particularly in animal and plant husbandry) and their impact on medicines and physician practices in 1692. Students may create displays, skits, or computer slide-shows to illustrate the prevailing knowledge of the time.

·      Chemistry: Students will examine how Aristotelian and phlogiston theories of matter colored the understanding of the world and the degree to which earlier atomic theories and Boyle’s theories were accepted by the educated community and peasantry. Information may be presented in the form of posters, displays, or demonstrations.

·      Physics: Students will examine what 17th century people knew about motion, electricity, magnetism, gravity, light, and energy and create displays or demonstrations to illustrate the understanding of people of an earlier era.

·      Psychology: Students will examine what people in the 17^th century believed about brain function, the mind-body connection, the role of environment in human behavior, and differences in human perception. They will also look at the theological issues of free-will and predestination as understood by the Puritans, and the physical reality of Satan and God since these influenced their views of human behavior. They may present the information in the form of skits, a debate, or chart.

·      Civil and Religious (Canon) Law: Students should examine how Puritan theology with its views of original sin and God’s selection of saints (sinners and saints, unsaved and saved) interacted with the presumption of innocence under civil law. They will also examine the common law tradition of categorizing all the English subjects as protected under the law or as “out-laws” (or wolf’s-heads, sub-humans which could be hunted) impacted legal proceedings and what we consider ‘due process’ today. Student have the option to examine Roman Catholic or Anglican Canon law (religious) to determine how categorizing people either as Christians, converts or damned (Muslims, Jews, Indians, witches, heretics) impacted the legal process from accusation and arrest, to interrogation and indictment, and finally trial and punishment. Students may wish to create charts, or a skit to compare and contrast the role of individuals before the law in the past and present.

 

3. The teams may plan and create multidisciplinary, multi-media displays and demonstrations as suggested above to share their research. They may present their findings within their individual discipline’s class, but if the school schedule will accommodate it, ideally they could present to all participating classes.

 

Assessment

 

1. Once students have completed sharing their findings, ask them to express, from the point-of-view of a person of the 17^th century, their beliefs about “My World, 1692.” They may present the world-view in either written form (non-fiction, or fictional narrative, poem, or drama) or illustrated form (captioned exhibit board, model, artwork, or computer-slide show).

2. These may be evaluated on a twenty-point scale (which may be multiplied by five

to convert to 100-point scale or for conversion to letter grades) using the following rubric:

 

 

	Excellent (10)	Good (9-8)	Fair (7-6)	Not Satisfactory (5-1)	No Work (0)
Research	Locates and uses specific information from a wide range of sources both obvious and unusual   Addresses the impact of theology on the world-view of 1692   No factual errors	Locates and uses general information and examples from obvious sources   Addresses the impact of theology on the world-view of 1692   No factual errors	Locates and uses general information from a limited number of sources   Weak assessment of the impact of theology on the world-view of 1692   No factual errors	Research is weak, topic coverage is incomplete or unbalanced   Little effort to assess the impact of theology on the world-view of 1692   May contain factual errors	No research
Project presentation (Audio or Visual display or performance or demonstration)	Well balanced, thorough presentation of topic information   Appealing project or performance showing originality   Media enhances understanding of topic   Captions or introductory explanations are excellent, either audible and clear or well-written and informative	Generally balanced, complete presentation of topic information   Appealing project or performance   Media generally supports topic   Captions are useful and generally conform to language rules; or, introductory explanations are useful and audible	Presentation of information is not complete for the topic   Appealing project or performance   Media may not always be appropriate to topic   Captions missing in some cases or not clear and may contain errors in language usage; or, introductory explanations are not helpful or are so soft, rapid, or mumbled that they cannot be heard	Presentation of data is incomplete or missing in some aspects of topic or very vague   Project is sloppy or disorganized   Media does not tie in with topic   Little or no captioning or introductory explanations, which may be unclear or irrelevant, and exhibit many errors in language usage	No project

 

Additional Resources

 

Books

 

Bremer, Francis J. The Puritan Experiment: New England Society from Bradford to Edwards (Hanover, NH: University Press of New England, 1995).

This is a useful survey book for teachers, an informed and fast-moving review of key

events, people, and ideas.

 

Burke, James. Connections. (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1978).

Burke, James. The Day the Universe Changed. (Boston: Little, Brown and

Company, 1985).

 

These two well-illustrated companion volumes to Public Television series provide a

great deal of information about historical changes in scientific theory and knowledge

of the physical world.

 

Deetz, James. In Small Things Forgotten: The Archeology of Early American Life. (New York: Anchor Books, 1977; revised edition 1996).

 

“Don’t read what we have written; look at what we have done.” Deetz urges

historians to take in account the artifacts left in the archeological record which

provide insight into the early colonial mind. Especially useful are Chapter 2, “The

Anglo-American Past;” Chapter 6, “Small Things Remembered,” and Chapter 9,

“Small Things Forgotten” (which is Chapter 8 in the 1977 edition).

 

Howarth, David. 1066: The Year of the Conquest. (New York: Dorset Press, 1977).

 

The first few pages of the first chapter, pp. 11-13, recreate the mind’s-eye map of the

world of most of the peasantry not only of 1066, but also six hundred years later.

 

Manchester, William. A World Lit Only by Fire: The Medieval Mind and the Renaissance, Portrait of an Age. (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1992).

 

This is an excellent reference for students trying to grasp the shift to the modern

world-view. Of general use are Chapter I, “The Medieval Mind,” pp. 3-28; and

selections from Chapter II, pp.45-66, 95-107. Additional material on Astronomy,

Biology, Physics, Geography and Civil/Religious Law are located on pp. 88-94,

116-117, 131-202, 228-233, 236-238, and 290-296.

 

Miller, Perry. The New England Mind: The Seventeenth Century. (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1954).

 

Although Perry Miller is dense reading, he explains the Puritans in unrivaled depth.

 

Stout, Harry S. The New England Soul: Preaching and Religious Culture in Colonial New England. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1986).

 

Internet Resources

 

Edwards, Jonathan. Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. Sermon preached at Enfield, CT on July 8, 1741. http://www.jonathanedwards.com/sermons/Warnings/sinners.htm

 

The Medieval Technology Page – Population Estimates. http://scholar.chem.nyu.edu/tekpages/population.html

 

Population of Europe, 17^th Century http://homepage.mac.com/msb/163x/faqs/eurÞpop.html

 

Puritanism in New England http://guweb2.gonzaga.edu/faculty/campbell/enl310/purdef.htm

 

II. What was the relationship between individuals and authority in Puritan society?

 

Synopsis

 

The interplay between individuals and authority is central to the Salem Witch Trials. Like many elements in the saga of the witch-hunts, the interplay was shaded by the status of the individuals (farmers, merchants, children, women, slaves) and by the nature of the authority—religious, civil, or economic. This lesson is designed to help students investigate the Puritan’s beliefs regarding authority and the individual and how they shaped the events of 1692. The lesson is designed for older high school students, grades 11 and 12; although it may be adapted to use with grades 9-10 if it is part of their curriculum.

 

National Curriculum Standards

 

Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning has created standards and benchmarks for language arts, math, science, geography, economics, and history.

This lesson meets Level IV (Grades 9-12) standards and benchmarks for:

United States History Standards (3^rd Ed.) for Era 2 – Colonization and Settlement (1585-1763) including benchmarks:

2. Understands how gender, property ownership, religion, and legal status affected

political rights (e.g., that women were not allowed to vote even if they held

property and met religious requirements)

3. Understands characteristics of religious development in colonial America (e.g., the

     presence of diverse religious groups and their contributions to religious freedom;

the political and religious influence of the Great Awakening; the major tenets of

Puritanism and its legacy in American society; the dissension of Anne Hutchinson

and Roger Williams, and Puritan objections to their ideas and behavior)

4.     Understands the characteristics of the social structure of colonial America (e.g., the property rights of single, married, and widowed women; public education in the New England colonies and how it differed from the southern colonies, different patterns of family live; different ideas among diverse religious groups, social classes, and cultures; different roles and status of men and women)

5.     Understands the similarities and differences in colonial concepts of community (e.g., Puritan’s covenant community, Chesapeake colonial emphasis on individualism)

 

Language Arts (4^th Ed.) Standard 6: Uses skills and strategies to understand and interpret a variety of literary texts including benchmarks:

1. Uses reading skills and strategies to understand a variety of literary texts (e.g., fiction, nonfiction, myths, poems, biographies, autobiographies, science fiction, supernatural tales, satires, parodies, plays, American literature, British literature, world and ancient literature)

8. Understands relationships between literature and its historical period, culture, and society (e.g., influence of historical context on form, style, and point of view; influence of literature on political events; social influences on author’s description of characters, plot, and setting; how writers represent and reveal their cultural traditions)

 

Time Required

 

This lesson will probably take two class periods, depending on the amount of outside research time assigned.

 

Materials Needed

 

Witch-Hunt: Mysteries of the Salem Witch Trials

 

Amazing Grace, music by William Walker 1835 and lyric stanzas 1-3, 5-6 by John

Newton (1725-1807)

 

Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, sermon by Jonathan Edwards on July 8,

      1741 at Enfield, CT

 

Individuals and Authorities Worksheet

 

The Lesson

 

Lesson-Starter

 

1. Explain to students that they will be studying the Salem Witch Trials of 1692,

but that they are going to listen to two selections from about 50 years later and

decide whether they are Puritan or not.

2. Play Amazing Grace. If you only have an instrumental version, print out the

lyrics at http://ingeb.org/spiritua/amazingg.html.

3. Read aloud the following conclusion of Jonathan Edwards’ sermon, Sinners in

the Hands of an Angry God, preached at Enfield, Connecticut on July 8,

1741. The full text may be seen at

http://www.jonathanedwards.com/sermons/Warnings/sinners.htm

 

Are there not many here who have lived long in the world, and are not to this day born again? and so are aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and have done nothing ever since they have lived, but treasure up wrath against the day of wrath? Oh, sirs, your case, in an especial manner, is extremely dangerous. Your guilt and hardness of heart is extremely great. Do you not see how generally persons of your years are passed over and left, in the present remarkable and wonderful dispensation of God's mercy? You had need to consider yourselves, and awake thoroughly out of sleep. You cannot bear the fierceness and wrath of the infinite God.-And you, young men, and young women, will you neglect this precious season which you now enjoy, when so many others of your age are renouncing all youthful vanities, and flocking to Christ? You especially have now an extraordinary opportunity; but if you neglect it, it will soon be with you as with those persons who spent all the precious days of youth in sin, and are now come to such a dreadful pass in blindness and hardness. And you, children, who are unconverted, do not you know that you are going down to hell, to bear the dreadful wrath of that God, who is now angry with you every day and every night? Will you be content to be the children of the devil, when so many other children in the land are converted, and are become the holy and happy children of the King of kings?

 

And let every one that is yet out of Christ, and hanging over the pit of hell, whether they be old men and women, or middle aged, or young people, or little children, now harken to the loud calls of God's word and providence. This acceptable year of the Lord, a day of such great favours to some, will doubtless be a day of as remarkable vengeance to others. Men's hearts harden, and their guilt increases apace at such a day as this, if they neglect their souls; and never was there so great danger of such persons being given up to hardness of heart and blindness of mind. God seems now to be hastily gathering in his elect in all parts of the land; and probably the greater part of adult persons that ever shall be saved, will be brought in now in a little time, and that it will be as it was on the great out-pouring of the Spirit upon the Jews in the apostles' days; the election will obtain, and the rest will be blinded. If this should be the case with you, you will eternally curse this day, and will curse the day that ever you was born, to see such a season of the pouring out of God's Spirit, and will wish that you had died and gone to hell before you had seen it.

 

      4. Poll students, then tell them that Puritans wrote both Amazing Grace and

Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. Discuss whether the tone is different

in the two pieces and, if so, why. Explain that we often overlook the Puritans’

joyous side, even though people around the world relate to Amazing Grace.

 

Procedures

 

1. Ask students to read Witch-Hunt, “Prologue—Boston, 1688: The Possession

of the Goodwin Children,” pp. 23-39. Also direct them to examine the

Timeline of Milestones in Puritan History, pp. 229-233.

2. Divide students into groups to research the Puritan’s beliefs on the following

topics, so they can better understand the role a Puritan believed the individual

played in the Great Chain of Being. In addition to the pages listed below from

Witch-Hunt, students may find information in sources listed under Additional

Resources and the full text of Jonathan Edward’s sermon mentioned above.

·      God as all-seeing, all-knowing, and all-powerful (omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent)

·      Irresistible Grace or Salvation (pp. 44-45)

·      Free Will

·      The Great Chain of Being

·      Covenants and Congregations (pp. 26-27, 45-46, 184-187, 191-194, and 200-201)

·      Personal Responsibility (pp. 44-45, 119, 159-163, 175-181, and 204)

·      Suffering and hopelessness (like the Biblical Job) as test of faith (pp. 27-28, 33-35, 44-45, 95)

·      Religious minorities [Massachusetts was not a homogenous Puritan settlement—there were Separatists (Pilgrims), Quakers, Baptists, Catholics, Jews, Anglicans, and other European sects along with the religion of the indigenous peoples] pp. 27, 30, 39, 49, 69-70, and 204; also see Willison.

·      Children [laws, arguments over infant baptism and the Halfway Covenant, and Biblical naming patterns shed light on adult views of children] pp. 7-14, 26-27, 30-31, 39, 99-101, 107-109, 148, 200, 202, and 215; also see Hoffner and Naming Children in Early New England

·      Slavery pp. 64-68, 71-72, 81-88, 202; also see Breslaw

·      Woman pp. 7-14, 77-78, 107-109, 152, 211; also see Karlsen and Norton

·      Wealth and Work Ethic pp. 46, 48-49, 121, 146-147, 168-171; also see Boyer and Nissenbaum

·      Political Power and Divine Right pp. 16-19, 105, 125-126, 130-134, 165-168, 181-184, 203; also see Hall

3. Provide each student with a copy of the Individuals and Authorities Worksheet

(at the end of this lesson). Ask students to share their findings on the topics

above and complete the worksheet, filling in the blanks on the chart, plotting

the Puritans on a continuum, and answering the questions in section C.

 

Assessment

 

1. Discuss as a class whether the Puritans shape modern American values such as:

·      Time is precious

·      Educate and inform yourself

·      Work is good

·      Government can’t be trusted

·      Be true to your conscience

·      In God We Trust

·      We are all equal before God

·      You cannon worship both God and money

·      Modesty is best

·      We are a “cittie upon a hill,” (an idea transformed from Puritan desire to be in full view open to the judgment of all to being considered an example to the world)

2. Ask students to write an essay detailing how our founding documents (the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights) and the premises of modern government programs (from the Homestead Act and New Deal to the present) preserve and perpetuate Puritan values.

3. To evaluate the students’ essay, use the following twenty-point assessment rubric. Multiply by five to convert to a 100-point scale to calculate letter grades.

 

 

	Excellent	Good	Fair	Not Satisfactory	No Work
Historical Comprehension   10 points	(10) Written assignment demonstrates excellent historical ·       analysis of information ·       command of facts ·       synthesis of information ·       interpretation	(9-8) Written assignment demonstrates good historical ·       analysis of information ·       command of facts ·       synthesis of information ·       interpretation	(7-6) Written assignment shows fair historical ·       analysis of information ·       command of facts ·       synthesis of information ·       interpretation	(5-1) Written assignment shows little historical ·       analysis of information ·       command of facts ·       synthesis of information ·      interpretation	0
Technical Writing Skills   10 points	(10) Written assignment shows excellent ·       compositional structure ·       sentence structure and variety ·       vocabulary use ·       grammar, spelling, punctuation	(9-8) Written assignment shows good ·       compositional structure ·       sentence structure and variety ·       vocabulary use ·       grammar, spelling, punctuation	(7-6) Written assignment shows adequate ·       compositional structure ·       sentence structure and variety ·       vocabulary use ·       grammar, spelling, punctuation	(5-1) Written assignment shows inadequate ·       compositional structure ·       sentence structure and variety ·       vocabulary use ·       grammar, spelling, punctuation	0

 

 

Additional Resources

Books

Boyer, Paul and Stephen Nissenbaum. Salem Possessed: The Social Origins of Witch Craft (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1974).

Breslaw, Elaine G. Tituba, Reluctant Witch of Salem: Devilish Indians and Puritan Fantasies (New York: New York University Press, 1995).

Hall, David D. Worlds of Wonder, Days of Judgment: Popular Religious Belief in Early New England (New York: Knopf, 1989).

Hoffer, Peter Charles. The Salem Witchcraft Trials: A Legal History (Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 1997).

Karlsen, Carl. The Devil in the Shape of a Woman: Witchcraft in Colonial New England (New York: Norton, 1987; reprinted, 1998).

Norton, Mary Beth. In the Devil’s Snare: The Salem Witchcraft Crisis of 1692 (New York: Knopf, 2002).

Willison, George F. Saints and Strangers. (New York: Reynal & Hitchcock, 1945).

 

Internet Resources

 

Amazing Grace, http://ingeb.org/spiritua/amazingg.html.

 

Naming Children in Early New England, http://lonestar.texas.net/~mseifert/puritan14.html.

 

Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, by Jonathan Edwards,

http://www.jonathanedwards.com/sermons/Warnings/sinners.htm

 

Interdisciplinary Activities

Music – Music has often been a medium for dissent by individuals against authority (p. 201). In addition to the obvious 1960s counter-culture musicians of rock and roll and folk music (Bob Dylan, Pete Seeger, Joan Baez, Odetta, Marvin Gaye, John Lennon), consider music dissenters around the world, both past and present (Bob Marley, Víctor Jara and Miriam Makeba to Public Enemy, Ani diFranco, Le Tigre, Sergei Prokofiev, and Ludwig von Beethoven). Select examples of music by dissenters and create a tape, disc, or digital collection of your selections with “notes” patterned after those on CD covers. Include available information about the composer and/or lyricist, date of composition, country of origin, instruments used, and additional historical information and musical analysis.

Comparative Religions – Examine in depth the differences in the 17^th-19^th centuries between the Puritans and one or more of their contemporaries: the Pilgrims (Separatists), Baptists, Anabaptists, or Quakers. You may also compare the Puritans’ beliefs and practices with those of their modern successors, the Congregationalists. Alternately, investigate the early American experience of religious groups in other colonies such as Maryland’s Catholics, Rhode Island’s Jews and Pennsylvania’s Quakers. Another route of inquiry would be to compare the organization and beliefs of Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, or another world religion with historic Puritanism.

Government – Study the series of Supreme Court decisions involving the First Amendment religion clauses, both free exercise (Reynolds v. U.S., 1878) and establishment (Minersville v. Gobitis, 1940; West Virginia v. Barnette, 1943; Everson v. Board of Education of Ewing Township, NJ, 1947; or Engel v. Vitale, 1962).

Geography – Create a keyed map or series of maps showing the location of religious groups in the thirteen colonies, indicating the most populous groups in each colony.

 

Individuals and Authorities Worksheet

Name:

Section A.

	Roman Catholic	Church of England	Puritans (Congregationalists)	Quaker (Society of Friends)
Who interprets the word of God?	Pope	Archbishop of Canterbury		Individual who receives divine spirit
Who selects church leader?	College of Cardinals	King or Queen of England		Monthly Meeting members
Does this church aim to be universal?	Yes	No		No
Can salvation be earned?	Yes, by prayer and indulgences	No, it’s a gift of Divine Grace		No, it’s a gift of Divine Grace
How do you join the church?	Infant baptism	Infant baptism		Individual revelation, accepted into meeting
Is Satan real?	Yes	Yes		Yes
Can an individual choose by free will to be evil?	Yes	Yes		Yes
Do individuals answer to God for their actions?	Yes	Yes		Yes
Is the service and Bible in English?	No	Yes		Yes
Do women participate equally?	No, although some abbesses were powerful	No, Queen Elizabeth I notwithstanding		Yes
Is suffering a test of God?	Yes	Yes		Yes
Can you enslave a member of your religion?	No	Yes		Yes
How do you treat non-believers in your community?	Holy Inquisition	Prison, fines, execution		Declare a member “out of unity” or deny meeting membership

 

Section B.

Mark on the continuum below where the Church of England, Puritans, Quakers, and Roman Catholics fit in relationship to each other and the role of the individual and authority. Use the key: E = Church of England, P = Puritans, Q= Quakers, R=Roman Catholics.

Section C.

1. Were all individuals equal in the eyes of God, according to the Puritan’s interpretation of the Bible? How could a minister like Parris own a slave, like Tituba?

2. In Puritan society, were children treated any differently than adults? Explain.

3. Were the Puritans “kill-joys” or was it an issue of conscience to reject Christmas celebrations, gaudy clothes, and elaborate churches? Explain.

4. In Puritan churches, did women and children have the same status as respected men? Explain.

5. Who were more respected in Puritan society, “visible saints” or wealthy people? Explain.

6. Was the individual or the community more important to the Puritan leadership during the Salem Witch Trials? Explain.

 

III. Why did the accusers do it?

 

Synopsis

 

At the heart of the story of the Salem Witch Trials is the central question: Why did the accusers do it? Many of the accusers were teenagers, close to your students in age. Some Salem teenagers may have knowingly acted in evil ways while others may have had the moral courage to resist acting in evil ways. This lesson is designed to use material in Witch-Hunt: Mysteries of the Salem Witch Trials to examine the many theories about the motivations of the accusers of Salem in 1692 and consider whether these same forces act upon people today. The lesson is most appropriate for high school students, grades 9-12.

National Curriculum Standards

 

Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning has created standards and benchmarks for language arts, math, science, geography, economics, and history.

This lesson meets Level IV (Grades 9-12) standards and benchmarks for:

United States History Standard (3^rd Ed.) for Era 2 – Colonization and Settlement (1585-1763) including benchmarks:

2. Understands how gender, property ownership, religion, and legal status affected

political rights (e.g., that women were not allowed to vote even if they held

property and met religious requirements)

3. Understands characteristics of religious development in colonial America (e.g., the

     presence of diverse religious groups and their contributions to religious freedom;

the political and religious influence of the Great Awakening; the major tenets of

Puritanism and its legacy in American society; the dissension of Anne Hutchinson

and Roger Williams, and Puritan objections to their ideas and behavior)

4. Understands the characteristics of the social structure of colonial America (e.g.,

the property rights of single, married, and widowed women; public education in

the New England colonies and how it differed from the southern colonies,

different patterns of family live; different ideas among diverse religious groups,

social classes, and cultures; different roles and status of men and women)

5. Understands the similarities and differences in colonial concepts of community

(e.g., Puritan’s covenant community, Chesapeake colonial emphasis on

individualism)

 

Historical Understanding (3^rd Ed.) Standard 2: Understands the historical perspective including benchmarks:

1. Analyzes the values held by specific people who influenced history and the role

their values played in influencing history.

2. Analyzes the influences specific ideas and beliefs had on a period of history and

specifies how events might have been different in the absence of those ideas and

beliefs.

 

Language Arts (4^th Ed.) Standard 4: Gathers and uses information for research purposes including benchmarks:

3. Uses a variety of primary sources to gather information for research topics

4. Uses a variety of criteria to evaluate the validity and reliability of primary and

secondary source information (e.g., the motives, credibility, and perspectives of

the author; date of publication; use of logic, propaganda, bias, and language;

comprehensiveness of evidence)

 

Time Required

 

This lesson will probably take two class periods, depending on the amount of reading and written work assign assigned outside of class.

Materials Needed

 

Witch-Hunt: Mysteries of the Salem Witch Trials

Witch-Hunt Theory Worksheet (optional)

The Lesson

 

Lesson-Starter

1.     Ask students to read the Note to the Reader (pp. x-xiv.)

2.     Read aloud the statement from p. xiii, “A group of individuals acted as a pack to attack and destroy others.” Ask students for examples of this type of behavior today (hazing, bullying, gang activities, prisoner abuse are recent examples from the news.)

3.     Discuss as a class whether these are cases where individuals “may have tasted evil and liked it,” as scholar Bernard Rosenthal has suggested was the case in Salem (pp. 198-199), or not.

 

Procedures

1.     Return to p. xiii and read the following passage to the students: “Why did the accusers do it? Why did they twitch and scream and bleed in court? Why did they cause nineteen people to be hanged and a total of perhaps twenty-five to die?”

2.     Explain to students that they will be divided into teams to read Witch-Hunt: Mysteries of the Salem Witch Trials and to investigate one of the theories that have been suggested to answer these questions. The teams may be assigned or allowed to select one of the following:

·      Rebellion against Puritan severity and hypocrisy (Prologue, pp. 23-39; Chapter 1, pp. 43-49 and 52-54; Chapter 4, pp. 99-100; Epilogue, pp. 210-212 and 215)

·      Greed and economic factors (Chapter 1, pp. 47-54; Chapter 5, pp. 114-122; Chapter 7, pp. 143-147; Chapter 8, pp. 168-171; Chapter 10, pp. 191-205; Epilogue, p. 213)

·      Settling grudges between families (Chapter 1, pp. 43-54; Chapter 4, pp. 91-101; Chapter 5, pp. 114-122; Chapter 6, p. 138; Chapter 7, pp. 147-153; Chapter 8, pp. 163-167; Chapter 10, pp. 191-205; Epilogue, p. 212)

·      Biological explanations (encephalitis lethargica or ergot poisoning (Epilogue, pp. 215-218)

·      Adolescent hysteria or mob/gang mentality (Chapter 4, pp. 91-101; Chapter 5, pp. 105-122; Chapter 6, pp. 125-139; Chapter 8, pp. 157-163; Chapter 9, pp. 175-181; Chapter 10, pp. 191-205)

·      A game that got out of hand (Chapter 2, pp. 57-73; Chapter 3, pp. 77-88; Chapter 4, pp. 91-101; Chapter 5, pp. 105-113; Chapter 10, pp. 191-205)

·      Wickedness of individual accusers (Chapter 4, pp. 91-101; Chapter 5, pp. 105-122; Chapter 8, pp. 157-163; Chapter 10, pp. 191-205; Epilogue, p. 215)

3.     Each team should read the appropriate sections of Witch-Hunt, referring to the related Notes and Comments (pp. 234-255) and related books cited in the Bibliography (pp. 256-260) to:

a.     Identify what information supports the theory

b.     Identify what information contradicts the theory

c.     Evaluate the overall persuasiveness of the theory

4.     Students may take notes on a piece of paper with two columns headed “Supports Theory” and “Contradicts Theory” or the Witch-Hunt Theory Worksheet (at the end of the lesson).

5.     Students may either:

a.     Present their findings in a conventional oral report, putting their theory on a transparency, flip chart, poster, or computer slide show

OR

b.     Participate in a class debate about the theories, offering arguments or counter arguments to decide if the class can come to a consensus about which theory or explanation for the accusers’ behavior is most persuasive.

6.     In either case, conclude the lesson by discussing if these same forces from 1692 are in operation today creating problems which have consequences beyond the (young) people involved in them, and whether we have become any better at preventing “witch-hunts.”

 

Assessment

 

1.     Ask each student to write an essay answering the question: Based on your understanding of the motives behind the accusers during the Salem Witch Trials, do you see humans as essentially good or evil beings?

2.     The students’ papers may be evaluated on a twenty-point scale (which may be multiplied by five to convert to 100-point scale or for conversion to letter grades) using the following rubric:

 

 

 

 

 

	Excellent	Good	Fair	Not Satisfactory	No Work
Historical Comprehension   10 points	(10) Written assignment demonstrates excellent historical ·       analysis of information ·       command of facts ·       synthesis of information ·       interpretation	(9-8) Written assignment demonstrates good historical ·       analysis of information ·       command of facts ·       synthesis of information ·       interpretation	(7-6) Written assignment shows fair historical ·       analysis of information ·       command of facts ·       synthesis of information ·       interpretation	(5-1) Written assignment shows little historical ·       analysis of information ·       command of facts &middo