Increase Mather and his son Cotton Mather were Puritan ministers
in Boston. Increase was for a time the President of Harvard
College and participated in obtaining the new charter of
Massachusetts of 1691. He and his son tried to maintain the
principles of the Puritan founders of Massachusetts, which
included the theories of diabolical possession and witchcraft. But
the thought of Presbyterians, Anglicans, and Baptists became
influential also. In 1692 in the small town of Salem,
Massachusetts, some hysterical girls showing strange spasms and
sounds charged they had been bewitched by certain other residents.
Victims were deluded, flogged, or tortured into forced confessions
and then excommunicated from the church. They were then hanged and
their property confiscated. One man endured being pressed to death
for refusal to plead so that his property would be inherited by
his family rather than confiscated. Eventually, some prominent
citizens including judges were accused. Then the more thoughtful
people began to doubt the whole phenomenon and admitted error. The
excommunications were revoked. Cotton Mather came to accept
Newton's science and advocated inoculation. He encouraged
Puritanism into a simpler piety and charity. This influenced
American Protestantism toward a generalized concern with good
works, morality, and social leadership.
- The Law -
Any sale of land or lease or estate of freehold or copyhold shall
be in writing and signed.
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