Cotton Mather, a descendant of a prominent family of Puritan church leaders, was born in Boston. ... He preached his first sermon in his father's church in August 1680, and in October another from his grandfather John Cotton's pulpit. ... Cotton Mather wrote and published more than 400 works throughout his lifetime. ... Cotton Mather's style is usually characterized by his use of ornate, elegant language and his frequent use of allusions, which are short references to literary works or figures, places, or events from history, religion, or mythology. Cotton Mather believ...

• Word Count: 262
• Approx Pages: 1
• Grade Level: High School

Cotton Mather, the minister of Boston's Old North church, was a true believer in witchcraft and played an integral role of the witchcraft trials of the late 1600's, and even today remains one of the strongest clerical figures of the early New England Puritan society. Mather, born in 1663, spoke several languages including Latin and Greek and obtained a degree from Harvard when he was sixteen. Son of Increase and Maria Mather. ... Despite the fact that Cotton Mather was usually defended the courts, he felt that they were giving excessive punishment. ... When confessed witches b...

• Word Count: 452
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Free Joseph or subjugate him for Cotton's sake? ... William Sewall and Cotton Mather were two Puritans who had fundamental differences in thought concerning slavery. ... Cotton Mather fits the bill of a white English supremacist who exhibited savagery in thought. ... Living in the year 2001 under much Liberal influence, it is easy to criticize and be appalled at some of the racist ideas of Cotton Mather, and even William Sewall. ... Mather, Cotton. ...

• Word Count: 1592
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

In documents showing puritan religion arguments, Michael Wigglesworth, Cotton Mather, and Jonathan Edwards influenced people by relating to their personal guilt or fear. ... Unlike Wigglesworth, Mather uses people's fears rather than guilt to strengthen his argument. ... Emphasizing that these people are "good", Mather is telling his readers that even people under strict Puritan regime can be tempted to evil, therefore warning even the most religious to take all cautions against the Devil. ... Overall, Mather gives the damnation. ... Whereas Mather uses people's fear of th...

• Word Count: 1106
• Approx Pages: 4

Of Plymouth Plantation by William Bradford, A Model of Christian Charity by John Winthrop, and The Wonders of the Invisible World by Cotton Mather demonstrate the beliefs, attitudes, and the common histories of the Pilgrims and the Puritans of that period. ... "The Wonders of the Invisible World" by Cotton Mather In The Wonders of the Invisible World, Cotton Mather exemplifies the Puritan beliefs concerning God and the devil's ongoing interactions with humanity by way of his interpretations of the Salem Witch Trials. ... Cotton Mather wrote, The Wonders of the Invisible World ...

• Word Count: 1267
• Approx Pages: 5
• Has Bibliography

Reverend Cotton Mathers wrote the book, Wonders of the Invisible World it focuses on the trials he did not attend. ... Mathers gathered his information from borrowed court records to write about the history of the Salem Witch Trials. Many historians of the 18th century considered Mathers a self-diluted, self-righteous, and an overly ambitious minister and politician. Since then several recent historians have sunned Cotton Mathers" name. ... For example, Cotton Mathers was an outcast to the Salem witch trials. ...

• Word Count: 1432
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

As a member of the Calvinist elite, Leisler was connected with such political and intellectual figures of his day as Dutch artist Henri Couturier, the pro-Orangist Rotterdam group of English exiles, which included Gilbert Burnet, Charles Talbot, earl of Shrewsbury, and Charles Mordaunt, earl of Monmouth, as well as with the New England Divines Cotton and Increase Mather. ... As a member of the Calvinist elite, Leisler was connected with such political and intellectual figures of his day as Dutch artist Henri Couturier, the pro-Orangist Rotterdam group of English exiles, which included Gilber...

• Word Count: 717
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: Graduate

Proof of their belief follows, in an excerpt from Cotton Mather's Memorable Providences: Go tell Mankind, that there are Devils and Witches; and that tho those night-birds least appear where the Day-light of the Gospel comes, yet New-Engl. has had Exemples of their Existence and Operation; and that no only the Wigwams of Indians, where the pagan Powaws often raise their masters, in the shapes of Bears and Snakes and Fires, but the House of Christians, where our God has had his constant Worship, have undergone the Annoyance of Evil spirits. ... Cotton Mather A religious leader of New Engl...

• Word Count: 1824
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

The fact that his favorite book, in which he firmly believes is Cotton Mather's history of New England witchcraft his hysterically ironic. ... Not only is Ichabod interested in Mather's witchcraft; but also, he enjoys sitting by the fire with the Old Dutch wives telling stories of ghost and goblins, and on his walks home he often imagines footsteps behind him and howling from trees. ...

• Word Count: 963
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

The doctor who was called in to examine the us days later had recently read, Memorable Providence's, Reverend Cotton Mather's popular new book. The doctor believed that Betty and my behavior mirrored that of the afflicted person described in Mather's book. ...

• Word Count: 704
• Approx Pages: 3
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

Cotton Mather was troubled by this fanaticism. ... Cotton Mather realized that misunderstandings and irrational thinking caused the widespread idea of witchcraft among the Puritans. (Mather) This irrationality was not only common amongst the people but also amongst the authorities. ...

• Word Count: 1873
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

Prior to the year 1692, a man named Cotton Mather wrote a book called Memorable Providences Relating to Witchcrafts and Possessions. ... Mather firmly believed this was a case of witchcraft and his opinion influenced others. ...

• Word Count: 1002
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

Puritans were English Protestants who wished to reform and purify the Church of England of what they considered to be unacceptable remains of Roman Catholicism. In the 1620s leaders of the English state and church grew being heartless to Puritan demands. They insisted that the Puritans conform to re...

• Word Count: 3742
• Approx Pages: 15
• Grade Level: High School

THE FORCE THAT DROVE SALEM In Peter Charles Hoffer's book, The Salem Witchcraft Trials: A Legal History, Hoffer's tell the story of the Salem Witchcraft Trials and how they came to be. His thesis stated that criminal justice in Salem was led by the belief of Puritanism and the fear of the Devi...

• Word Count: 912
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

Some historians believe that the seed of the American culture could be traced back to the Puritan society. The Puritans were a people who believed in religious freedom and peaceful coexistence. The Puritan mind adopted revisionist and new-historical values. The Puritans" reason for migration was th...

• Word Count: 875
• Approx Pages: 4

He did not have many friends, but "... he had read several books quite through, and was a perfect master of Cotton Mather's History of New England Witchcraft, in which, by the way, he most firmly believed....

• Word Count: 626
• Approx Pages: 3
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

Cotton Mather had recently published a popular book, "Memorable Providences," describing the suspected witchcraft of an Irish washerwoman in Boston, and Betty's behavior in some ways mirrored that of the afflicted person described in Mather's book. ...

• Word Count: 1822
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

Throughout the play, The Crucible, there are changed details. These details seem minor, but it is important to take note of them to have a factual understanding of the Salem Witch Trials. There are many different details, changed by Miller to make his story less complicated and, overall, more believ...

• Word Count: 1176
• Approx Pages: 5
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

The idea of witchcraft is one of the many known fallacies of our time. The earliest trials in New England dates as far as 1656 "35 years before the tragedy of the Parris children. On May 14, 1656, a Bostonian widow was tried before a group of magistrates and town representatives on charges concern...

• Word Count: 1235
• Approx Pages: 5

As Cotton Mather intimated to Reverend Williams in correspondence, "You are carried into the land of the Canadians for your good."1 Children, on the other hand were more often left in the care of the Natives. ...

• Word Count: 1326
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

In this paper, I want to review and examine Anne Bradstreet's poem "To My Dear and Loving Husband." This poem was written in 1641, but was not published until 1678 after her death. Because of this, many believe it was written as a personal note to her husband and was not meant to be publicized. In o...

• Word Count: 1080
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School