Holy Conjuring
Religion and the Creation of the Colonial American Witch (1647-1706)
Religion Analysis
– Browne, the lighterman at Ramsgate, 1581
English colonists in the new world brought with them their religious beliefs and their particular understanding of the natural world based in a Christian construction of the universe. Their experiences in a new land were set against a backdrop of monumental change in Europe, including religious reformation, counter-reformation, dramatic economic shifts, sweeping political change, and ongoing warfare.
As Keith Thomas argues, English colonists saw the natural world as mysterious and dangerous with forces that could impact health and life expectancy. Most sought supernatural explanations for their misfortune, illness, and poverty. While many turned to herbal remedies provided by local wise women, fears of the supernatural often led to fear of witches and magic in a new land that was largely unknown and dangerous.
In this atmosphere of uncertainty and rapid change, along with the breakdown of the traditional social structure and the rise of a middle class, witchcraft accusations increased dramatically. As Brian Levack argues, the elite joined the lower classes in fearing witches. The elite defined the witch as a servant of Satan. This led to the large-scale witch-hunts throughout Europe. It was at this time that people began to turn to the Bible for their “sole source of religious truth.” Many turned to religion as a way to purify their souls and to stop the evil within their society that disrupted social order.
Religion offered comfort and answers in an uncertain world. As Thomas has demonstrated, since the Middle Ages, the Church had worked hard to distinguish its actions from magic. For example, prayers and charms were seen as similar. The Church distinguished prayer from magic as a force derived from God and goodness. It was beneficial to use a blessed item in service or to bless an item for villager. “As Catholic theologians never ceased to emphasize, it was the presence or absence of the Church’s authority which determined the propriety of any action.” Magic could not claim such purity or benefit and came from the Devil. English colonists, though Protestant, brought this same understanding of prayer and magic to the colonies.
Though England had become protestant, the dominance of religion over people’s lives continued with the rise of the Anglican Church. Church and State became one and constraints on English lives grew more onerous. Over time, witchcraft and magic became some of the greatest concerns. As compiled in Kirsten Uszkalo’s The Witches in Early Modern England project, from 1530 until 1690, England saw over 750 cases dealing with witchcraft in the top nine English counties. Witches and other supernatural forces became easy scapegoats. Though colonists left the chaos in Europe, they brought with them these same fears and beliefs.
Europeans, particularly Englishmen, developed their national identity in large part based on who they were not. The “Other” represented those in society who transgressed or did not fit in. Many factors facilitated this identity formation, but the most significant factor was religion. For Europeans, culture derived from a blend of state, religion, and popular culture. Christianity provided a basis for understanding social organization, political power, and social relations. Witches became identified as an internal threat to be eliminated in order to establish a Christian community. Over the course of the witch hunts in Europe, 1450-1700, European society saw the rise of science, technology, and changes in education. However, at the same time, wars, religious intolerance and poverty dominated daily life. Marko Nenonen has shown how the State’s repressive structure allowed the elites to control the masses, promote an elite agenda, and effectively control everyday life, including religious belief. As it did in England, religion defined culture and influenced every aspect of daily life in colonial America.
It is important to understand and analyze the role religion played in the colonies. Such analysis begins with examining the charters of each colony and sermons from various colonies. Various sermons from Connecticut are taken from Matthew Grant’s Diary in the Connecticut State Library. Matthew Grant was Windsor, Connecticut’s first surveyor and second town clerk.
Grant copied sermons from 1638-1654 given by Thomas Hooker, sermons with no date given by John Raynor, sermons from August 15, 1647 given by John Warham, sermons from August 27, 1654 given by T. Hanford, and sermons with no date given by T. Booker. The sermons from Edward Taylor, pastor in Westfield, Massachusetts, are taken from his work “Christographia.”. Samuel Parris, Puritan minister during the Salem witch trials, has’ sermon excerpts are available from the Sermon Notebook of Samuel Parris: September 11, 1692 from the Salem Witch Trials: Documentary Archive and Transcription Project.
Colonial Charters
Each charter and each sermon is examined here using Voyant text analysis tools. This first word cloud represents all the charters textually analyzed at once. Here we can see a lot of what a colony strives to base itself upon like “governor,” “council,” and “goods.” These words all relate to the colony’s structure and economy. However, we also see words such as “England,” “power,” and “kingdom.” There seems to be the mother country’s presence looming over the new colonies. These words all deal with the economy of the land and the order they are trying to create. Colonists may have longed to detach themselves from England, but they can not help but look back at what they know and examples of how to run the land. However, with these same ideas in mind similar events that unfolded in England have potential to unfold within the colonies. The new world was in danger of repeating history. If they were not careful, their foundation founded on their mother country was liable to lead them astray. By analyzing various charters, and key words, it is possible to see just how prevalent God was to each colony.
The other word clouds above examine specific colony charters. To have an equal spread, a chosen colony charter from each established religion is shown and compared. The first word cloud represents North Carolina’s charter. North Carolina’s charter can be found in PDF form here. North Carolina’s charter was established on March 24, 1663. The state considered itself Anglican.
The second word cloud represents New York’s charter. New York’s charter can be found in PDF form here. New York’s charter was established on June 3, 1621. The state considered itself Dutch Reformed Church/Anglican. New York seems to be more interested in “goods” and trade rather than God and spirituality.
The third word cloud represents Connecticut’s charter. Connecticut’s charter can be found in PDF form here. Connecticut’s charter was established on January 14, 1639. The state considered itself Congregational. This charter is trickier than others in that it’s religiosity is hidden behind the words “court,” “governor,” and “chosen.” “God” and “ordered” are smaller but terms similar to these riddle this word cloud. It speaks to the order within Connecticut and while it may try to focus on the courts and laws, an underlying theme of religion is noticeable. This may be why the first witchcraft execution took place in Windsor, Connecticut. The power to condemn one as a witch was present all along.
The last word cloud represents Delaware’s charter. Delaware’s charter can be found in PDF form here. Delaware’s charter was established in 1701. The state considered itself having no established religion. Similar to New York, Delaware appears to focus on the colony and the governmental structure. Words such as “governor,” “assembly,” and “territories” are the largest words that appear. This leads one to believe that the colony, having no established religion, did not set a strict order based on religion.
Selected Keywords in Colonial Charters
To further break up the first word cloud, the charters are broken down by the colony’s religion. So now we have the charters of the Anglican colonies (Virginia, Georgia, Maryland, South Carolina, and North Carolina), the Dutch Reformed Church/Anglican colony (New York), the Congregational colonies (Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Hampshire), and the colonies with no established religion (Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Rhode Island).
The first word cloud represents the Anglican colonies. To understand the context of a common word used throughout the text, analysis was specifically set upon the word “God.” There are a few interesting excepts here. First, “…their Desires for the Furtherance of so noble a Work, which may, by the Providence of Almighty God, hereafter tend to the Glory of his Divine Majesty, in propagating of Christian Religion to such People, as yet live in Darkness and miserable Ignorance of the true Knowledge and Worship of God, and may in time bring the Infidels and Saves, living in those parts, to human Civility, and to a settled and quiet Government: DO, by these our Letters Patents, graciously accept of, and agree to, their humble and well-intended Desires; And do therefore, for Us, our Heirs, and Successors…” This sheds light on the “white man’s burden.” It is the colonists’ duty to spread the word of God and to become an ideal citizen. The burden is placed among colonists to fish out the evil and the unwanted savage at any means necessary.
The second word cloud represents the Dutch Reformed Church/Anglican colony. To understand context of the most used word throughout the text, analysis was specifically set upon the word “Company” since the word “God” was not present within the document. “Company” was the most used word throughout the document and these entries reflect on the word’s use. Each entry revolves around trade and the practice of trade. The Dutch Reformed colony mainly concerned itself with business. New York is a coastal state and business must have been sought after and lucrative. The same could be said about Massachusetts and Connecticut. The main difference between New York and the other two colonies was religion. Massachusetts and Connecticut were Congregational.
The second word cloud represents the Congregational colonies. To understand context of a common word used throughout the text, analysis was specifically set upon the word “God.” The most telling entry here is the last entry, “…best discerning agreeable to the Will of God professing ourselves Subjects to our Sovereign Lord King Charles according to the Libertyes of our English Colony of Massachusetts, and binding ourselves solemnly by the Grace and Help of Christ and in His Name and fear to submit ourselves to such Godly and Christian Lawes as are established in the realm of England to our best Knowledge, and to all other such Lawes which shall upon good grounds be made and enacted among us according to God that we may live quietly and peaceably together in all godliness and honesty.” This entry ties religion and the state together. It sets up the law system as a godly system tied to King Charles. The Congregational colonies tie together their religion and their court. This ultimately reflects upon the structure and the social order.
These colonial charters make clear that as royal colonies, concerns of good government and reinforcing the power of the king and traditional social order are paramount. The appearance of the words “God” or “worship” reflect a traditional Christian understanding of social order and government—but not a theocracy.
Colonial Sermons
Every sermon found from various pastors is textually examined here with a word cloud. We can see here that “Christ” and “God” are the most frequen words present. But within this word cloud one sees words like “grace,” “wisdom,” and “glory.” These are words that speak to the type of colony these newcomers are trying to create. A glorious colony based on wisdom and grace from centered around religion.
This first word cloud contains the textual analysis of “Christographia” by Edward Taylor. We see that Christ and God are frequent words but there are also words such as “godhead,” “glory,” and “power.” "Godhead" is an interesting word to be located in this word cloud. A godhead is an adored or influential idol, or an essence of God. Seeing “godhead” among other words like “Christ,” “power,” and “father” seems to reflect on the religious order and the power it held over society. Sermons such as this reflect the deep-seated religious fervor of the colonists that would lend itself to see witches and witchcraft as a serious threat to a godly, ordered society.
As an extension of Europe, the colonies shared some of the same ideologies and types of control. Carol F. Karlsen writes extensively on religion in the new world in her work The Devil in the Shape of a Woman It was not how these so called witches behaved, rather how this behavior was understood within New England’s social structure. Ordinary townspeople and the religious authorities of New England shared the belief that witches threatened society, “but the clergy articulated the threat of witchcraft as the subversion of the order of Creation.” Religion was deeply engrained in every aspect of colonist’s lives. If anything were to disrupt the order, it must be evil and it fell upon the colonist to rid the land of evil.
This second word cloud contains analysis on Reverend T. Hanford of Connecticut. “God” is by far the most frequent word included in this word cloud. The words surrounding “God” are interesting. “Spiritual” and “faith” are around the word but right next to “spirit” in small blue letters is the word “respect.” This leads one to assume that the most respected in the colony are the faithful. Those who were most faithful would also be in better graces with God. This leads to the structure in the colony and the order imposed upon it by religion.
Selected Keyword in Colonial Sermons
In order to fully comprehend what type of influence religion had on the colonies, selected words should be analyzed. Since the word “godhead” is no longer a term used regularly and was a term used over 551 times in Edward Taylor’s “Christography,” it was worth looking up the context. One passage reads, “…their common humanity, Christ’s Godhead fullness is transmittable equally to man, who is thereby exalted ‘into the Person of the Son of God’; though Satan intended to ruin mankind originally, the union of human nature to the Godhead has so elevated mankind that all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in it bodily.” This entry sets up the order within the colony and Christ as the center within the colony. “Satan intended to ruin mankind,” meaning anyone in league with Satan has the power to ruin everything the godly colonists strived to achieve. The purity of the colony would be in danger. Another passage reads, “But blasphemous as it sounds to reason, incomprehensible though it may be to the finite understanding, mysterious as it must remain even to men of profound faith and intellect, it is true that the infinite properties of the Godhead in all their fullness exist in the human nature of Christ. Therefore man has more reason to honor God and Christ than has any other creature. What we must conclude is that, in its participation in the second person of the trinity, human nature partakes of those properties and qualifications…” This speaks to the faithful to place their faith and their life in Christ’s hands.
Colonists listened regularly to sermons such as these that laid out proper godly conduct and emphasized the dangers of straying from Christian teachings. With such constant reminders of danger, colonists looked for—and found within their society—those who threatened to bring about chaos: witches.
