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We hope you will join us for our next series which will explore the origins of the American Revolution in honor of the forthcoming 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Lecture topics will look at the intellectual traditions of the 18th century that drove the Revolution, cultural practices in the colonies, Native American history, women in the lead-up to Revolution, and more, concluding with the battles of Lexington and Concord.
The series will take place in McElreath Hall. Doors open at 1:30pm and lectures begin promptly at 2pm with a brief intermission. Parking is free.
About the Lecture
Witches and Witch Hunting in Colonial British North America
English colonization of North America began at the same time as extensive witch prosecutions in Europe. Pursuing those prosecutions were coalitions consisting of godly rulers committed to bringing witches to justice, learned ministers who hated witches as Satan’s shock troops in his war against God and Christianity, and ordinary persons fearing that witches would turn their occult powers on them. In British North America, such coalitions could be found only in the puritan colonies, but these colonial coalitions were effectively broken up by the murderous debacle of the 1692 Salem witchcraft trials. Colonial fear of witches, however, did not disappear with the collapse of prosecutions. Rumors, suspicions, and failed efforts to get the courts to do their duty again, along occasional outbursts of vigilante justice, continued well into the period of the American Revolution.
Michael Winship, E. Merton Coulter Professor of History Department at the University of Georgia
Michael P. Winship is the E. Merton Coulter Professor of History at the University of Georgia. He is an expert on the religious history of early modern England and America and the author of numerous books on puritanism.