Shepheard's Decades Project: 1690s (Salem Witch Trials, The Crucible)

Beginning in 1621 Puritans moved from England to settle in the American colonies, particularly in the area of New England. Their goal was to create communities centered around the church to support their Christian way of life. Interpreting God's word through the Bible defined life within Puritan communities. By the late 1600s this pious way of life was being affected by outside influences.

Cotton Mather was a Puritan clergyman in Boston, Massachusetts , in the colonial period. He played a controversial role during the Salem witch trials , holding personal opinions against the trials but receiving public blame for them.

Article that describes the novel by Ann Petry, and the historical events that influenced it.

Describes events in history at the time the play takes place.

England declared war on France in May 1689. English traders had recently established the Hudson's Bay Trading Company, which competed with French traders in Canada. Angry at British interference in the fur trade, the French incited the Abenaki tribes of Maine to destroy the rival English post of Pemaquid and attack frontier settlements. This interfered with relations between white settlers and American Indians and rendered British colonists susceptible to military assault.