About Colonial Torture

Throughout the history of Colonial America, there are many accounts and references of citizens being subject to torture, most often between the 1500s and the 1700s. This torture was completely legal, and one of the possible outcomes of Colonial due process. In this work, we will examine the history behind such accounts of colonial torture, as well as its purpose and efficaciousness.

The Facts

For one to properly understand the full effect that colonial torture had on colonial citizens, one first must understand the mind-set of the average colonial citizen. They were much more afraid of mockery and ridicule than we are today. Even the smallest slight or name calling by a friend would be taken as a huge insult to one's personal and social standing. For this reason, every colonial town, no matter how large or small, was rife with feuds. Typically, they went about this feuding in a law-abiding way. The offended party would file a lawsuit with the local magistrate, naming the other party guilty of libel or slander. The huge number of petty lawsuits that were filed meant that the justice system had to find a way to streamline the legal process in a cost-efficient, speedy manner.

Type

There were two types of torture to be used depending on the goal of the torturer. One is a form of legal punishment for those found guilty of minor crimes. Such crimes included malicious gossiping, slander, libel, petty theft, brawling, public drunkenness, vandalism, and other misdemeanors. Often, the guilty party would be punished publicly as an example to others as well as to heighten the sense of humiliation that the guilty felt. The other type of torture is far more sinister, with many stories and legends surrounding it. It involves the trial of suspected witches. A man or woman who had been accused publicly of witchcraft would be put on trial. It should be noted that anyone who pled guilty to such a charge would receive a mild fine and very short sentence provided they ceased all further practice of witchcraft. Those who pled their innocence, the vast majority of the accused, were "tested". This involved dunking the accused in ice-cold water repeatedly until he/she confessed, placing heavy weights on the body and throwing them into a deep body of water to see if the accused would float (a sure sign the accused was a witch), and throwing the accused off a cliff or high building to see if he or she would fly to safety. In all these cases, the accused would have to die to prove their innocence.

Function

Unlike European torture methods, colonial torture methods did not cause the victim a great deal of pain. Typically, they were placed in the stocks or bilboes in the town square. Each of these devices did little more than restrain the victim in an embarrassing and slightly uncomfortable position for a sentence that could last a full week. The punishment was not in the pain that was caused, but the humiliation to oneself, one's name, and one's social standing within the community. For this same reason, people put in bilboes or stocks were often treated kindly by passersby. The passersby would be too afraid of being seen and gossiped about in the community to treat the punished citizens poorly.

Benefits

The benefits of this process of torture were great. The justice system and the communities in which the crimes took place would pay almost nothing to have the guilty party punished by torture. The guilty party always survived the torture with no lasting marks or injuries. No long prison sentences needed to be passed and enforced. No prison complex needed to be built, nobody was required to feed and guard the prisoners. It was a very effective and cheap method of judicial punishment, reliant on the citizens to regulate themselves with fear of ridicule as a motivator.

Geography

While the methods of torture used in colonial America were also used occasionally in parts of Europe, they were far more brutal in Europe. A person in the stocks or pillory in Europe might expect to be beaten, starved, and sexually assaulted by others while he/she was unable to defend him/herself. There is no record of such a thing happening in colonial America. More isolated communities, though, were less hidebound and therefore less afraid of ridicule. To counter this, punishments were more severe, often involving branding with red-hot irons or whipping.