Salem Witch Trials
As the population started to grow people began to spread out in the New World and have their own farms. Puritans began to fear that their religion wasn't going to last. People were far apart from the church living on their farms, but people still believed in the religion. They started to turn to the "jeremiad" way of teaching. Which is adapted from the prophet Jeremiah. They began to focus on punishing people for their sins. They started seeing less conversion stories.
The puritans created the Half-Way Covenant was created for children of people that had not been baptized into the church to be baptized so they could be apart of the church. Once they were baptized they were supposed to give evidence of a conversion story to be able to vote and take part in the Lord's Supper. Many churches adapted to this idea in 1650-1660. These people that had been baptized but were unconverted made the church bigger which meant that they had to have more discipline within the church. Controversy began to arise in the New England colonies about the Half-Way Covenant. When the Great Awakening began to happen in 1738 the idea was abandoned.
The Salem Witch Trials began in 1692 when a group of young women said that they had been bewitched other women in the town. A court was created for the trials and the first person was hanged not long after. While going through the trials they were questioned and their accusers would sit in the court room and act like they had been possessed. Many confessed to try to lower their punishment. They would say that there were other witches along side them and that they serviced the devil against the puritans. Soon people began to turn their opinions against the trials. People in the court started giving indemnities to people and their families. And soon annulled the allegations against people. After the first woman was hanged 18 others were killed after her.
Works Cited
http://www.americaslibrary.gov/jb/colonial/jb_colonial_salem_2_e.html
https://sites.google.com/site/shukryzablah/notes/chapter-4
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/annie-finch/remembrance-for-the-witches_b_4257432.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salem_witch_trials