"The Lord knoweth I have not done this thing of which I am accused. I am as innocent as the child unborn... I shall, as I hope to be saved, speak nothing but the truth before this honoured Court... If it were possible that any one human being could give such evidence as this, I cannot belie my own soul." — Examination of Rebecca Nurse, Salem Village, 1692
Which argument about the Salem episode is most strongly supported by the rhetorical strategy in this excerpt?
- A
Defendants were given full English common-law rights to professional defense counsel
- Bcheck_circle
Defendants drew on shared Puritan religious vocabulary even while resisting the court's accusations
- C
Defendants typically denied any belief in the existence of witchcraft itself
- D
Defendants successfully appealed convictions to the Privy Council in London
Explanation
Nurse invokes salvation, the soul, and divine knowledge—orthodox Puritan vocabulary—while denying guilt. Defendants did not deny witchcraft's reality, lacked defense counsel under contemporary practice, and could not effectively appeal to the Privy Council before executions. Her piety, not procedural rights, is what the source documents.