Colonial America
Conspiracies & Paranoia
Dr. Kane
mkane2@albany.edu Social Science 116 | MWF 12:35-1:30 PM
Office Hrs: M 10:20 - 11:20 & F 1:30 - 3:30 Social Science 60S
Wednesday, October 25
coming up
- Argumentation paper Oct 27 - this Friday!
- Friday - come to class prepared to talk about 1. your topic 2. the major disagreement you saw
today's class
- finishing up discussion of 1741
- what happened at Salem?
Lepore
- Mary Burton - 177, 193, 200-202, 211-212
- William Kane - 178-182, 193
- Will (Ward) - 173-175, 188-189 & Othello (DeLancey) - 171-173, 189-192
- Adam (Murray) - 167-169, 172, 181-182
- James Alexander - 115-117, 165-166, 180, 200-201
- John Ury - 177-178, 181-182, 192-197
Mary Burton
- servant girl who was (eventually) granted freedom
- lived with Houghson, Horsemanden found her captivating
- once she started changing her story and hinting at prominent white involvement she was publicly seen as not credible
William Kane
- first white New Yorker to admit to plot, poor Irishman
- called out: Jerry Corker, John Coffin, David Fegan, John Ury, Henry Holt
- Kane introduced two new plots: testimony was viewed as valuable because it began matching other testimonies, but it was originally thought to be false because he was lying
Othello
- belonged to DeLancey
- had been accused of plotting to burn the Chief Justice's house and murder his family
Will
- owned by Ward, a watchmaker
- confessed right before his execution
- said that Quack had plotted with two Irish soldiers, Kane and Kelly
- confession brought no reduction of his sentence
- burned at the stake
- like many other slaves, his testimony was seen as credible only in terms of names given to the court
Adam
- slave of Joseph Murray, said to be part of the plot to kill his owner's family
- associated with Murray's slaves Congo, Caesar, Jack, and Dido
- at one point (others?) didn't believe Adam was part of the plot but Adam confessed
James Alexander
- writer, attorney, member of NY society, though to be involved in "Spanish Negros" trial as defense
- questioned Mary Burton, questioned by Kane
- his credibility is not damaged but Burton's and Kane's credibility is because they challence a well-respected, connected businessman
John Ury
- priest, instructor, white
- Hughson brings Ury to the scene
- Mary Burton identifies him Ury cross examines Burton
- Delancy was suspicious, considered Ury best suspect
- Adam & Kane identify Ury on day of arrest, Kane witnessed Ury Christening a child
- Not viewed as creditable, lied about being a priest
Lepore's conclusions
- 1734 Zenger trial as crisis of government resolved in 1741
- fears & confessions influenced by prior slave rebellions
- conflation of Catholicism & slave rebellion
- danger of black conspiracy made political parties more acceptable
background to Salem
- European witch trials peak 1580-1630
- legal: can spectral evidence be admitted as real evidence?
- medical: can witchcraft be explained by science?
- religious: would God allow the Devil to influence the world?
- secular: does God, the Devil, and the supernatural exist?
the accusations
- Betty Parris & Abigail Williams' "epileptic fits"
- spread of affliction to daughters & servants of prominent families
- first accusations against low status older women
- later accusations against church members, skeptics, children, ministers
the evidence
- spectral evidence: apparition of the person afflicting
- can the Devil use the form of a person who does not consent?
- witchcake: can the Devil help against the Devil?
- touch test: venom of affliction returns to the body of the witch
the punishments
- hanging: crime against social order
- pressing: cheating justice by refusing to plea
- breaking: lingering example to others
- burning: treason against God or King