The Puritans were a religious group from England in the 1630s who settled in the New England area. The colony was known as the Massachusetts Bay Colony (Foner, 2012). The Puritans ran the show and had a strict religion full of rules that they believed would reform the Church of England. The Puritans felt they were like the ancient Israelites of the Exodus when they were delivered by God (PBS, 2010). They had to found a new, pure Christian common wealth. Their leader John Winthrop reminded them of their duties and obligations under the compact (PBS, 2010). If they honored them, then God would bless them and if they failed, they would be rebuked. They had many different ideas about what was holy and what was not (PBS, 2010). They thought that women inherited Eve's original sin so that they could be as good as men (PBS, 2010). Also because of this woman could not be trusted due to their sinful ways (PBS, 2010). They were the root of all the world's problems and humans can solve them. Even among the chosen few could join the church and they were the men at the center of Puritan society (Foner, 2012). Those who could join were those authorized to vote in the colony (PBS, 2010). Church attendance was mandatory for both men and women (PBS, 2010). If you didn't participate you could be punished because it was a crime in their society. They did not allow musical instruments to be played inside or outside the church (Foner, 2012). They also saw Native Americans, European settlers of other faiths, and unpredictable natural disasters as forms of the devil himself (PBS, 2010). Now, during this time period, most people believed in whiteness. The Puritans saw them as the incarnation of the devil. Since they thought the Devil was more interested in... middle of paper... old court, they were wrong. On September 9, six more people were found guilty and sentenced to hang. They were Martha Corey, Mary Easty, Alice Parker, Ann Pudeator, Dorcas Hoar, and Mary Bradbury. Cotton Mather wrote a letter complaining about how they ignored this request and five people were convicted and hanged and would allow ghostly evidence meaning evidence of dreams and visions (Saari, 2001). Mather wanted the court not to be able to use that type of evidence (Blumberg, 2007). Governor Phipps responded to Cotton Mather by creating a new trial court and not allowing spectral evidence (Blumberg, 2007). In May 1693 Phipps pardoned all those in prison on charges of witchcraft. In total 19 people were hanged, Giles Corey was forced to death, several died in prison and almost 200 people were accused of being witches (Saari, 2001).