The villagers of Salem were Puritans who left Britain to pursue their religious freedom. However, their quest for the sacred land was only a dream; when they set foot in the new land, they faced numerous challenges. In the article, Boyer and Nissenbaum highlight: “the problems [facing] Salem Village…: the pressure of commercial capitalism and the social style that [accompanies it]; the detachment of peripheral areas from the mother cities… the shifting of the seat of authority within individual communities and society as a whole” (Text 194). These social and economic problems created a conflict between the village of Salem and the city of Salem – in other words, the gap between poor and rich, “a community…whose inhabitants experienced two different economic systems, two different ways of life, inevitably neighbors". align; and so politically structured that it was almost impossible to locate” (Text 195). These differences were directly responsible for socioeconomic tensions. However, socioeconomic issues were not the only reasons for the tension as the authors believe that factionalism also plays a role. According to the authors, "[t]he charges against Daniel Andrew and Phillip English, for example, closely followed their election as Salem Town selectmen" (Text 195), so these charges were simply a reason to purge political opponents. But that wasn't the worst thing, the population of the village was divided into two factions: pro-Parris and anti-Parris. After analyzing many different cases, the authors conclude, “supporters of the trails generally belonged to the pro-Parris faction, and those opposed to the