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by Enders Anthony Robinson (Author)
The iron-handed rule imposed on Massachusetts Bay Colony by the ruling Puritan old guard was in severe jeopardy bY 1692. Everyone in the colony was required to attend church services, pay ministry taxes, and to adhere to the strict Puritan code. Only the elect, about four or five percent of the people, were allowed to vote and participate in the colonial government. These visible saints of the Puritan church were those who had obtained the high honor of church membership. All of the others were known a common people. The common people, in a quest for democracy, had begun to question the very basis of theocratic government. An undercurrent of dissent was growing, not only among the disenfranchised, but also among liberal church members who favored a plural society. Leading merchants, such as Thomas Brattle of Boston and Philip English of Salem, joined in expressing these viewpoints. In 1692 the various forms of dissent broke out in the form of the Salem witchcraft delusion.The Salem witchcraft delusion can actually be broken down into two separate fire-storms, together with a lot of smaller conflagrations. The fire-storm at Salem Village took place in the spring of 1692 has been well documented and studied over the ensuing centuries. The Salem Village fire-storm is called Phase 1. The companion fire-storm, the one at Andover, an inland town adjacent to Salem Village, took place in the summer of 1692. The Andover fire-storm is called Phase 2. More people were accused of witchcraft in Andover than in Salem Village. However, because the Andover event came later it has been treated as an appendage to the one at Salem Village, and has never been documented in its own right. This book pieces together what really happened in Andover.
