1/3/2019 Cotton Mather's Writings: Magnalia Christi Americana, Pillars of Salt & Other Writings - Video & Lesson

eo & Lesson Transcript | Study.com

Cotton Mather's Writings: Magnalia Christi Americana, Pillars of Salt

& Other Writings

Lesson Transcript

Cotton Mather, an important Puritan minister, wrote the rst American true crime book and an in uential book
about the religious history of the New World. In this lesson, we'll learn more about Mather and his two most
in uential books.

The Voice of His Era

Cotton Mather was a famous Puritan minister and writer in New England in the 17th century.
Mather was the son of a prominent minister and the grandson of two other ministers. Mather was
a proli c writer who composed more than 450 books and pamphlets during his life. Due to the
volume of his works, as well as his standing in the community and his persuasive abilities, Mather
had a heavy in uence on the politics of his day and became an in uential voice during his lifetime.

One area of in uence that Cotton Mather has become notorious for was during the Salem Witch
Trials of 1692. During that time, Mather publicly spoke out about the accused witches and used his
ability with words to increase the superstitions about witches.

More importantly, he wrote the document that encouraged the court to use spectral evidence,
which meant that the accusers could claim that a ghost of the accused was torturing them. For
example, a girl claimed to be pinched by the specter of a woman accused of being a witch. Despite
the fact that the accused woman was in clear view in the courtroom the entire time, and her
protestations of innocence, the court allowed the girl's accusation to be entered as evidence in the
trial.

Pillars of Salt
Mather's interest in the justice system went beyond the courtroom. When someone was publicly
executed, Puritan ministers like Mather would preach an execution sermon, describing the crimes
that led to the execution and condemning of the convicted. Afterwards, the sermon would be
printed up in pamphlet form and sold.

In 1699, Mather collected 12 of his execution sermons together and printed them in a book he
titled Pillars of Salt. Though the sermons could be read as religious fodder, the book is considered
to be America's rst true crime book. In the years after it was published, true crime became a

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popular genre, one that remains popular today.

Magnalia Christi Americana

Despite the success of Mather's sermons and pamphlets during his lifetime, his most in uential
and enduring work has been his 1702 book, titled Magnalia Christi Americana.
Americana The title is Latin and
can be translated to mean 'The Glorious Works of Christ in America'.

The book, which Mather himself considered to be his biggest contribution to the literary world, is a
religious history of the colonies. That is, it tells the history of America from a religious standpoint.
To Mather, no history mattered except the Puritan in uence on New England. The massive volume
includes seven di erent books. The rst book tells the story of the Puritans who founded the
settlements of New England. In it, he talks about the New World as a place ordained by God to
spread the 'true' religion of Puritanism.

The second book tells the lives of the politicians who shaped early New England, including the
in uential governors and magistrates. The third book includes biographies of church leaders
whose ministry shaped the day-to-day life of Americans. The fourth book is a history of Harvard
University and a list of its graduates. The fth book lays out the faith and dedication of the
churches of New England and their role in shaping the moral character of the colonies.

The sixth book describes miracles and signs from God in support of the Puritans in the New World.
In this way, Mather takes the chance to rea rm his claim in book one that the New World was
chosen by God to be the chosen land. In this book, he also discusses the Salem Witch Trials and
downplays his role in them. In the years since the trials, much criticism had been levied at those
who were involved, and Mather takes this opportunity to try to distance himself from the important
role he played in them.

The seventh and nal book describes the issues that faced the Church. Speci cally, Mather
describes the battles and a ictions that the Church has had to overcome in the New World.

Style and In uence

Magnalia Christi Americana celebrates the Puritan Church and faith. The book is heavily biased in
favor of the Puritans, even going so far as to paint settlers of other Christian religions, such as
Rhode Island founder Roger Williams, as enemies of the Church, and as an extension of God. But
despite the fact that it is steeped in the Puritan faith, it is markedly non-Puritan in style. The Puritan
writers of the day wrote in a simple style without fancy words, but Mather writes in a heavily
embellished language that some people of his day criticized him for.

Regardless of the criticisms leveled at Mather, Magnalia Christi Americana became an in uential
book in American literature. Nineteenth century writers, like Edgar Allen Poe, Harriet Beecher
Stowe and Nathaniel Hawthorne, all drew from Mather's books in their own descriptions of early

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America. Even today, it continues to be an important piece of American literature and is often cited
when discussing the Salem Witch Trials.

Lesson Summary
Cotton Mather was an in uential Puritan minister in early America. His book, Pillars of Salt, started a
trend of true crime books, and his religious history of the colonies, Magnalia Christi Americana, tells
the story of the colonies from a Puritan view. As a history book, it is heavily biased, but it still
in uenced many later American writers and shaped the way Americans view the early days of
America and the Salem Witch Trials.

Learning Outcomes
After seeing this video, you should be able to:

Recognize Cotton Mather as an important in uence on Puritanism and literature in early America

Remember that Mather wrote Pillars of Salt, the rst crime book, and Magnalia Christi Americana, a history
of religion in the colonies

Recall that as a Puritan minister his elaborate writing language was still heavily in uenced by his rm belief
system

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