Within this thesis, I examine several historians who discussed the social, historical and political, and religious contexts of witchcraft accusations in 17th Century colonies, particularly in New England. Additionally, I take as my case study an examination of the Elizabeth Garlick case in 1657. Elizabeth Garlick lived in the Long Island town of what is today East Hampton. However, from the town’s beginning in 1649 until 1664, the half of Long Island settled by the English was considered part of the Connecticut Colony and submitted to all the laws and appurtenances thereof. Several historians have commented that despite its geographic distance from New England, the Long Island colonies remained much in attitude and “flavor” the same as New England. Therefore, I apply the contexts of New England witchcraft accusations in the case of Elizabeth Garlick to see if the ideas put forth resonate with her case. I contend that the social, historical and political, and religious contexts of 17th Century Puritan colonies together created conditions for Elizabeth Garlick to stand trial as a witch. In terms of social, I specifically include consideration of demographics, economic status, social interactions, and popular beliefs shared by Puritan society. I combine historical and political to discuss the wars and events that affected Puritans even on a psychological level along with the political consequences of those wars and events. Finally, by religious context I mean the belief system of Puritanism with its conviction of war between God and the devil, the role assigned to heresy, various crises that threatened Puritan views such as Antinomianism, and the special role of women within the Puritan belief system.
","abstract_html":"<p>Within this thesis, I examine several historians who discussed the social, historical and political, and religious contexts of witchcraft accusations in 17th Century colonies, particularly in New England. Additionally, I take as my case study an examination of the Elizabeth Garlick case in 1657. Elizabeth Garlick lived in the Long Island town of what is today East Hampton. However, from the town’s beginning in 1649 until 1664, the half of Long Island settled by the English was considered part of the Connecticut Colony and submitted to all the laws and appurtenances thereof. Several historians have commented that despite its geographic distance from New England, the Long Island colonies remained much in attitude and “flavor” the same as New England. Therefore, I apply the contexts of New England witchcraft accusations in the case of Elizabeth Garlick to see if the ideas put forth resonate with her case. I contend that the social, historical and political, and religious contexts of 17th Century Puritan colonies together created conditions for Elizabeth Garlick to stand trial as a witch. In terms of social, I specifically include consideration of demographics, economic status, social interactions, and popular beliefs shared by Puritan society. I combine historical and political to discuss the wars and events that affected Puritans even on a psychological level along with the political consequences of those wars and events. Finally, by religious context I mean the belief system of Puritanism with its conviction of war between God and the devil, the role assigned to heresy, various crises that threatened Puritan views such as Antinomianism, and the special role of women within the Puritan belief system.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Davis, Andréa Diane"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"History and Archival Studies, MA","degree_level":"Open Access Master's Thesis","degree_discipline":"School of Arts and Humanities","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Nicola Denzey Lewis"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2023,"date_issued":"2023-01-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2023-01-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:40:49Z","subjects":["colonies","Puritan","witch","witchcraft","women","United States History"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgu_etd/871","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Nicola Denzey Lewis"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Davis, Andréa Diane"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2024-11-18T08:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["School of Arts and Humanities"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Open Access Master's Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["History and Archival Studies, MA"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["colonies","Puritan","witch","witchcraft","women","United States History"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgu_etd/871"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Within this thesis, I examine several historians who discussed the social, historical and political, and religious contexts of witchcraft accusations in 17th Century colonies, particularly in New England. Additionally, I take as my case study an examination of the Elizabeth Garlick case in 1657. Elizabeth Garlick lived in the Long Island town of what is today East Hampton. However, from the town’s beginning in 1649 until 1664, the half of Long Island settled by the English was considered part of the Connecticut Colony and submitted to all the laws and appurtenances thereof. Several historians have commented that despite its geographic distance from New England, the Long Island colonies remained much in attitude and “flavor” the same as New England. Therefore, I apply the contexts of New England witchcraft accusations in the case of Elizabeth Garlick to see if the ideas put forth resonate with her case. I contend that the social, historical and political, and religious contexts of 17th Century Puritan colonies together created conditions for Elizabeth Garlick to stand trial as a witch. In terms of social, I specifically include consideration of demographics, economic status, social interactions, and popular beliefs shared by Puritan society. I combine historical and political to discuss the wars and events that affected Puritans even on a psychological level along with the political consequences of those wars and events. Finally, by religious context I mean the belief system of Puritanism with its conviction of war between God and the devil, the role assigned to heresy, various crises that threatened Puritan views such as Antinomianism, and the special role of women within the Puritan belief system.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["17th Century Colonial Witchcraft: Before Salem"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Nicola Denzey Lewis"],"dc:creator":["Davis, Andréa Diane"],"dc:date.available":["2024-11-18T08:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["Within this thesis, I examine several historians who discussed the social, historical and political, and religious contexts of witchcraft accusations in 17th Century colonies, particularly in New England. Additionally, I take as my case study an examination of the Elizabeth Garlick case in 1657. Elizabeth Garlick lived in the Long Island town of what is today East Hampton. However, from the town’s beginning in 1649 until 1664, the half of Long Island settled by the English was considered part of the Connecticut Colony and submitted to all the laws and appurtenances thereof. Several historians have commented that despite its geographic distance from New England, the Long Island colonies remained much in attitude and “flavor” the same as New England. Therefore, I apply the contexts of New England witchcraft accusations in the case of Elizabeth Garlick to see if the ideas put forth resonate with her case. I contend that the social, historical and political, and religious contexts of 17th Century Puritan colonies together created conditions for Elizabeth Garlick to stand trial as a witch. In terms of social, I specifically include consideration of demographics, economic status, social interactions, and popular beliefs shared by Puritan society. I combine historical and political to discuss the wars and events that affected Puritans even on a psychological level along with the political consequences of those wars and events. Finally, by religious context I mean the belief system of Puritanism with its conviction of war between God and the devil, the role assigned to heresy, various crises that threatened Puritan views such as Antinomianism, and the special role of women within the Puritan belief system.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgu_etd/871"],"dc:subject":["colonies","Puritan","witch","witchcraft","women","United States History"],"dc:title":["17th Century Colonial Witchcraft: Before Salem"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["School of Arts and Humanities"],"thesis:degree_level":["Open Access Master's Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["History and Archival Studies, MA"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:40:49Z"}