The Puritans who were mistreated during the Salem witch trials were not actually Puritans, but rather ordinary settlers of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. By the 1690s, the term Puritan had come to refer to an extreme form of Calvinism, rather than the English separatists who had founded the colony. It is important to note that the Salem witch trials were not primarily driven by religious persecution against Puritans. Instead, they were a result of complex factors, including social tensions, paranoia, and mass hysteria within the community.