In this sense, the only category of convicts which were burned to death was that of the so-called "satanic Blacks" as this was considered to be the only way of destroying their 'evilness.' In Puritan New England ideology, Blacks were associated with Satan. This belief was the remnant of an old European image of Satan as a black man which dated back to long before the contact between Africans and Europeans in the New World. However, one must note here that Satan was never seen as a Native American. Whites only feared Native Americans because of the constant warfare between them. "In fact there has been speculation that witchcraft outbreaks occurred when there was a great deal of anxiety among Whites resulting from intense raids by Native Americans."

Evilness' vs. Illness

With Calvinism being the dominant religious ideology in both England and most of its colonies, witchcraft trials were not...
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