Children In The Salem And Andover Trials

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The New England witch trials was a brutal time period that resulted in torture, imprisonments, and executions based on the belief of witches being present among neighbors. Now imagine the youngest individual to go through such trials was a four-year old girl and the horrors she faced. When people often think about children in the Salem witch trials, they think of accusatory girls like Abigail Williams or Mercy Lewis who acted like instigators. While they are right, the children were also accused and were victims of the trials too. In fact, this was especially true in Andover, MA. “A substantial number of the Andover confessions were children and young unmarried adults.” By understanding why and how young children were accused of witchcraft in the Salem and Andover …show more content…
As a consequence, Puritan children were taught to reverence their parents. Hence a mixture of fear and love towards parents were promoted, especially due to creating easy discipline. In order to best exemplify such a relationship, a comparison is made: “The relationship between parents and children was often compared with that between God and the Children of God.” Through this historical context, a better understanding of children implicating their parents is created. While children obviously loved their parents, Puritans did not covet close-knit connections. In comparison to most contemporary families now, this emotionally-distanced relationship could be a factor that makes turning against parents slightly less difficult. But, in contrast, because children revered their parents, it was unlikely that they would lie about their sins if it was untrue. If Puritan parents were like God to their children, they would not betray this relationship unless it was morally right. In addition, understanding how Puritan children perceive death can also provide much needed context to their accusations and
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