Hi,
This page American Experience
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/kids/civilrights/features_hutchison.html
Explains that most of the problems facing the people then were of a
Religious intolerance, rather than a female equality intolerance.
Though a woman in this time didn't have many rights, Quakers
themselves expressed a more equal view of woman in society than did
the Puritan views of Massachusetts. Susan B. Anthony was raised a
Quaker.
From the same page "Anne Hutchinson's meetings deeply divided the
colony--and caused alarm among the colony's leaders. Many people,
including the governor, Henry Vane, supported Hutchinson. But
others--including powerful religious leaders and the powerful former
governor John Winthrop, opposed her. They believed that women should
obey men at all times, and that women should be forbidden to teach
about religion. And they feared that if people followed Anne
Hutchinson, the ministers would lose their influence over the people.
The colony might even dissolve into a civil war."
So there were problems with female equality in the town, not every one
there felt the same way, but since most of the deaths were Quakers,
apparently they were a minority.
The Salem Witch Trails
http://pblmm.k12.ca.us/projects/discrimination/Women/special/salem.html
The Salem Witchcraft Trials were trials that resulted from the largest
witch hunt in American History. The trials were held in 1692 in Salem,
Massachusetts. Nineteen men and women were convicted and hanged as
witches. One man was pressed with large stones because he refused to
enter a plea, of innocence or guilt, to the witchcraft charge. 150
other people were imprisoned on witchcraft charges.
As we can see here, it was not just women who were accused of witch
craft in the Salem trails.
1697 - The Repentance of Samuel Sewall
http://www.state.ma.us/statehouse/articles/murals.htm
As a judge involved in the witchcraft trials in Salem, Samuel Sewall
became convinced these convictions were horrible mistakes, which
wrongly led the colony to take the lives of nineteen persons.
Judge Sewall drafted a proclamation with which the legislature
declared a day of fasting and repentance across Massachusetts. On that
first "Fast Day" on January 14th, 1697, Judge Sewall publicly accepted
the "blame and shame" for his actions. At the Old South Church he
provided pastor Samuel Willard a letter of confession, which Willard
read letter aloud, as Sewall stood before the congregation. Each year
Sewall fasted to remember his transgression, and "Fast Day" was
declared annually by the legislature over the next two centuries.
If you are looking for information on the Salem Witch trials you are
in luck. There is a repository on the Virginia edu site here :
http://www.iath.virginia.edu/salem/home.html
I was amazed when I found this about a year ago, the scans of the
diaries and court cases were quite enlightening.
Other Links of Interest
Women's Rights on Trial - Dyer
http://www.galegroup.com/free_resources/whm/trials/dyer.htm
Queries Used
+"Women" +Rights "Massachusetts bay colony" Quaker
+"Women" +Rights "Massachusetts bay colony"
+"Salem" +"Women" +Rights "Massachusetts bay colony"
+"Salem" +"Women" +Rights
Thanks
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