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

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

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

"There is more to be said then hath been for the clearing up of difficulties about the matter of witchcraft" (Sutler 23). The Salem witchcraft trials were one of the last outbreaks of witchcraft hysteria, certainly the largest in the new world, occurred from 1692-1693. 141 people were arrested as suspects and 20 were hung or pressed to death. This was a morbid fact about the founding of the first colonies and the beginning of America. But it happened and the damage was done, thus we cannot try to ignore it and we cannot try to glamorize the subject. We can only present facts and draw our own c...

• Word Count: 2508
• Approx Pages: 10
• Grade Level: High School

"There is more to be said then hath been for the clearing up of difficulties about the matter of witchcraft" (Sutler 23). The Salem witchcraft trials were one of the last outbreaks of witchcraft hysteria, certainly the largest in the new world, occurred from 1692-1693. 141 people were arrested as suspects and 20 were hung or pressed to death. This was a morbid fact about the founding of the first colonies and the beginning of America. But it happened and the damage was done, thus we cannot try to ignore it and we cannot try to glamorize the subject. We can only present facts and draw our own c...

• Word Count: 2508
• Approx Pages: 10
• Grade Level: High School