AP US HISTORY Preparing for the Salem DBQ Good luck!

ALWAYS REMEMBER THE QUESTION! What caused the Salem Witch Trial Hysteria of 1692?

IDEAS FOR BUCKETS BUCKET 1--role of religion in the community BUCKET 2--young people seeking attention and/or being susceptible to others’ influence (think about who has agency here) BUCKET 3--underlying tensions in the community (residential patterns, class, age group, gender, etc.)

Remember this about documents and buckets! Try to use ALL the documents somewhere in your essay (unless you are totally clueless about one of them…) You do NOT need to use documents in multiple buckets, but you may find that you CAN depending on the part of the document you are looking at Do NOT analyze the actual documents in the essay-- make your point, possibly quote a small part of the document to support your point, and then put the doc letter in parentheses--your ideas take center stage, not the documents themselves, ok?

For example…here’s my lovely sentence (or two): One reason for the witch hysteria in Salem is the deeply held religious conviction of the town’s residents. They were fundamentalists who believed that every word in the Bible was true. Therefore, when they read in the Bible that “thou shalt not suffer a witch to live,” (Doc A) such a statement reinforced their belief in witches as well as the need to execute those witches. Furthermore, they believed that evil was lurking all around them (Doc C), which…

OK, so here are some bucketing ideas… Please remember that depending on the argument you make, the documents may move to different buckets… Also, the bucketing here represents my brainstorming--you don’t have to agree with the way I structured things, but you DO have to prove your point using whatever organizational structure you ultimately create

Document A, Document C Most useful place is Bucket 1 Docs show religious fundamentalism in this community as well as the people’s fears that evil is lurking everywhere Clearly, the people believed that witches existed and could exert a negative influence on their lives

Doc B Can be used in several different buckets In bucket 1, can be used to show how the community came together to hold trials and mass executions In bucket 3, can be used (along with Doc E) to show that most “witches” were women, and that this was partly a social tension based on gender (or younger women vs. older women who had authority over the younger women)

Doc D Can be used in multiple buckets, depending on the part of the painting--think carefully!! For bucket 1, shows community coming together, looking for signs; fear that evil is all around them For bucket 2, young hysterical girls in the front right For bucket 3, notice the two men glaring at each other in the front right and front left of the painting…what could that demonstrate? I’m sure you have other ideas about how you could use this painting--be creative!

Doc E As with Doc B, can be used in bucket 2 or 3, depending on whether you focus on the age of the accusers, or you focus on social tensions (i.e. the gender of the accused, older vs. younger)

Document F, Document G Best place seems to be bucket 2, since the docs show aspects of the accusers: they are being “tortured” in Doc F, and they are shown to be seeking attention in Doc G

Doc H Can be bucket 2 as well--you can use this with Doc G to explore the motivations of the girls--were they acting, or were they really impressionable? Can also be bucket 3--the girls learned these things from Tituba, an outside influence who brought foreign traditions to the community

Document I, Document J Both seem to fit bucket 3, which deals with the social tensions in the community, I.e. residence patterns of accusers and accused, tensions between families and social classes, etc.

Once you have your buckets/main ideas… Write a thesis statement that captures the essence of all your main ideas Make sure you address the points in your paper in the same order you listed them in your thesis!

PRACTICE In the next few slides are thesis statements written by you guys in class…What do you think of them? How could you improve them to make them more clear and detailed? (and they ALL can be improved!)

THESIS #1 “Some of the causes of the Salem witch hysteria of 1692 are the role of religion in Salem, the want of attention from young girls, and different classes within the community.”

THESIS #2 “The three reasons for the Salem Witch hysteria were jealousy, a large economic differences in the community, and a lot of bored girls that wanted attention in a repressed society. And a lot of people were religiously motivated and felt it was their duty to do the right thing in God’s eyes.”

THESIS #3 “The Salem witch trials were caused by young people interested in witchcraft, which caused the role of religion to intervene and persecute accused witches. Social classes also fueled the hunt for wrongly accused individuals.”

THESIS #4 “In Salem Mass, 1692, there were mass amounts of witch hunts leading to dozens of executions. Social class tensions, intense religious beliefs, and natural adolescent behavior led…”

THESIS #5 “The causes of the Salem witch trials of 1692 fundamentalist believing their religion, young people seeking attention and the rich vs. poor.”

THESIS #6 “The Salem witch trial hysteria of 1692 was caused by religion, young people seeking attention, and rich vs. tensions in the community.”

THESIS #7 “The consequences of extreme religion, the young people inflicted with paranoia and the strive for attention along with strained tension in the community may have caused the hysteria in Salem witch trials.”

THESIS #8 “There are various reasons on which why and what started the trial hysteria of Religion was a major one that involved the people believing everything the Bible stated. Secondly young women sought attention. Lastly, community tensions.”

Once you have your buckets AND your thesis… Write an introductory paragraph with your brilliant thesis as the last sentence of that paragraph Write 3 body paragraphs, elaborating on one of the buckets in each of the paragraphs; don’t forget to cite docs! Write a conclusion Your essay is due MONDAY, 9/28/2009 Write an introductory paragraph with your brilliant thesis as the last sentence of that paragraph Write 3 body paragraphs, elaborating on one of the buckets in each of the paragraphs; don’t forget to cite docs! Write a conclusion Your essay is due MONDAY, 9/28/2009