But I would bet that with Increase Mather et al. noisily being hardcore Puritans for quite a while before the trials, the local magical population had some suspicions that their fellow colonists might follow in Europe's footsteps with regards to witch-hunting well before it actually happened.
I'd question that ANY magikal folk lived amongst the Puritans, either when they first came over, or subsequent influxes. I mean, what self-respecting witch or wizard would CHOOSE to leave England to move in with a bunch of religious fanatics whose fanaticism includes not only banning witchcraft, but excuting those convicted of practicing it?
Of course, there'd always be the occasional witch or wizard born into a nonmagikal Puritan family...but it seems to me that the kid would quickly learn not to show any magikal abilities, else they'd be severely punished. They'd either suppress their magikal abilities, or move away as soon as they were old enough to do so.
The Salem Trials certainly might have been the last straw that convinced any doubters in New England that the Statute was a good idea (drat, we didn't get away from that nonsense by moving across the ocean after all!), but they look a bit late to be the impetus.
Just my opinion, but I see it as just the opposite -- that the secrecy statute would have given certain wizards and witches a reason to immigrate to the New World that they otherwise would not have chosen. When it took months to travel by ship, and one can only apparate to a place one knows and can visualize, it seems to me that it would have been mighty hard to enforce the statute in the colonies.
Even if you had some sort of extension of the Ministry here in America, you'd only have a couple of wizards/witches in a couple of big cities, perhaps Boston, New York, and Philadelphia. They'd still be hard-pressed to enforce the statute out in the wilderness/frontier. Again, they would not be able to apparate to where the offender lived, and it would take weeks, if not months, to travel there by foot or horse.
So I see the colonies -- and not just America, but Australia, India, Hong Kong, etc. -- being a refuge for magikal folk who didn't agree with the secrecy statute.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2011-06-04 06:06 pm (UTC)I'd question that ANY magikal folk lived amongst the Puritans, either when they first came over, or subsequent influxes. I mean, what self-respecting witch or wizard would CHOOSE to leave England to move in with a bunch of religious fanatics whose fanaticism includes not only banning witchcraft, but excuting those convicted of practicing it?
Of course, there'd always be the occasional witch or wizard born into a nonmagikal Puritan family...but it seems to me that the kid would quickly learn not to show any magikal abilities, else they'd be severely punished. They'd either suppress their magikal abilities, or move away as soon as they were old enough to do so.
The Salem Trials certainly might have been the last straw that convinced any doubters in New England that the Statute was a good idea (drat, we didn't get away from that nonsense by moving across the ocean after all!), but they look a bit late to be the impetus.
Just my opinion, but I see it as just the opposite -- that the secrecy statute would have given certain wizards and witches a reason to immigrate to the New World that they otherwise would not have chosen. When it took months to travel by ship, and one can only apparate to a place one knows and can visualize, it seems to me that it would have been mighty hard to enforce the statute in the colonies.
Even if you had some sort of extension of the Ministry here in America, you'd only have a couple of wizards/witches in a couple of big cities, perhaps Boston, New York, and Philadelphia. They'd still be hard-pressed to enforce the statute out in the wilderness/frontier. Again, they would not be able to apparate to where the offender lived, and it would take weeks, if not months, to travel there by foot or horse.
So I see the colonies -- and not just America, but Australia, India, Hong Kong, etc. -- being a refuge for magikal folk who didn't agree with the secrecy statute.