AP American Peter Straubinger

LeFauve Period 5

My Esteemed Lords,

It is with a heavy heart that I now set pen to paper, in the hopes that I can avert a

decision which will surely lead to disastrous consequences spanning the entirety of the

American colonies. However, it is my faith in almighty God and my love for the colony

of Massachusetts which has enabled me to stand fast against this potential catastrophe.

Make no mistake, my lords; the incidents of 1692 are unmistakably, inarguably

tragic. There is a black mark upon the souls of all Christian men that the atrocities were

allowed to come to such a horrible peak. But we must not let our judgment be clouded by

reckless emotions, lest we make a second error nearly as grave as the first!

It is not the colony of Massachusetts which is to blame for the recent horrors in

Salem. It is not Puritanism, which values morality and the communal good above all else.

The blame cannot even be put to Salem, the eye of the storm! It is my firm belief that the

blame lies, instead, with the wickedness that lies within the hearts of all men. It was only

through diabolical fortune that Massachusetts was chosen to be host to this tragedy. I beg

of you, sirs, think before you damn an entire colony for the errors of a small few! Were it

but for the grace of God, what occurred in Salem could just as easily – nay, was far more

likely to come about –in another colony!

Massachusetts was, and still remains today, the model of piety. The forces which

worked to murder those twenty individuals were the dark tendrils of hysteria, fear,
paranoia, jealousy, and superstition, all of which the Puritan faith works to combat like no

other! I must say, though it pains me to do so, that what occurred in Salem was simply a

result of that which lies in the heart of all men! In the name of God, may we never see

such a tragedy from here to the end times; but let Salem serve as a warning, not a death

sentence!

There could be no graver error than the abolition of Massachusetts. We are not a

colonial success; we are the colonial success! From its very founding, Massachusetts’s

backbone has been the values of the community. We are a colony that was built by the

efforts of pious, Puritan families, law-abiding and God-fearing like no others. We

represent the model of self-sufficiency, serving as an example to all other colonial efforts

that a community can, with faith in God, law, and the fellow man, establish itself from the

ground up into a virtuous utopia unique across the world!

Compare this benevolent foundation to that of Virginia, a colony which skirts the

bounds of lawlessness with greater and greater audacity. Those who hold residence within

Virginia are men who’ve not yet reached their prime; young, rough folk, seeking not to

build and create for the glory of God, but for their own fortunes. It is oftentimes the man

who has squandered his fortune, through either vice or oversight, who now looks to

Virginia as a means to amass new wealth with no regard for his fellow man. They are a

solitary, untrusting folk preferring to shirk the spirit of congregationalism which has

bound together all of New England’s good people.

Much of Virginia remains plagued by vice of the basest sort. As their

slaves toil in the fields, amassing wealth to fuel their masters’ greed, these men engage in

levels of gambling inconceivable to any reasonably civilized man. It is as though they

amass their fortunes to squander them; perhaps the cause of this lies with their

unprecedented slave trade. When it is not you who have earned your wealth, by the sweat

of your brow and the strength of your arms, it must be far easier to throw it away in a

sinful game of chance. Compare this, now, to the good people of Massachusetts. We have

always held together, trusting in the collective will of the to guide us to a more Godly

existence. In Massachusetts, what belongs to a man is still his and his alone; it belongs to

him far more than anything built on the backs of slaves could belong to another. Yet the

ownership of property does not fuel a covetous fire. As Puritans, my fellow colonists

know that it is by God’s grace that we have the very clothes on our back. We are

reminded every day, whether by the faces of our neighbors, or the hymns sung in praise,

or the meeting houses dedicated to the worship of our Lord, that we are little more than

what we make of ourselves as a community.

And what we have made of ourselves! I ask of you, look to the good minister

John Harvard! John Harvard, who gave us the very model of colonial education!

Harvard’s efforts have stood nearly sixty years to this day, a testament to the dedication

of Puritans to all things good and holy in the New World. Virginia was left wanting for a

college until hardly two years ago this day, while Massachusetts has moved past simply

establishing a school and has now declared it a necessity for all children. Ask this of

yourselves: would it be truly prudent, in any way, to rub out the most educated colony in

America? Pride is a sin, my lords, but this is fact.

The Puritan community proves its worth yet again with our dedication to our

faith. Surely, we would not deem to call the Virginians “faithless”. However, it is

immediately apparent that dedication to the Church and our faith is unrivaled by our
southern counterparts. A citizen of Massachusetts is a citizen who attends church. While

our laws dictate this to be so, they are all but unnecessary. By nature, we are a pious

people, who would not seek to excise the Church from all matters regarding the

formation of policy; is it not wholly ludicrous to believe that one could simply neglect

Godliness in regards to governance? Instead, we embrace our faith in all forms, and allow

it to guide our colony’s government towards the good of all people. Every devout

combine, from the smallest congregation to the Cambridge Platform, follows a path to

righteousness set out by the most supreme of rulers. Our ministers teach; our teachers

preach, for in the end they hold the same profession.

It is this which is the spirit of Massachusetts, and of Puritanism: We all toil under

the eyes of God, we are all held within His embrace, we are all guided by His light.

Nothing can equal this. Not political doctrine, nor military might, nor rampant fear can

ever hope to overcome the bond, forged in faith and tempered by piety, which binds the

Puritan people. And this, my lords, is the God’s honest. Yes sir.

Let not Salem’s tragedy tarnish your view of an entire colony. Let not the errors of

the few damn the many. Let not fear, Satan’s most insidious weapon, guide you straight

into accomplishing the Devil’s will. Instead, we must all educate ourselves so that such

madness as Salem’s can never infect the soul of man again, not in ten nor ten thousand

years. Your decision be what it may, the Puritans will work to this end.

Good sirs, you may be asking yourselves why it was a man such as I who was

chosen to plead for the sake of all Massachusetts. I am no preacher, who seeks to

enlighten others in the words of the Lord. I am no lawyer, who understands the intricacies

of law and edict. Nor am I a teacher, a minister, a poet, a magistrate. By profession, I am

a carpenter. I do not come to you now as such. I stand before you as a Puritan, and as a

citizen of Massachusetts. I stand before you in the stead of my fellows on behalf of my

wife, and my children, and my neighbors, and my faith, in the hopes that you will allow

Massachusetts, as great a bastion of decency and holiness as any other, to endure and

flourish.

Samuel Taylor
1695