Compare And Contrast The Salem Witch Trials And Mccarthyism

The Salem Witch Trials of 1692 were a series of prosecutions of people who were accused of acts of witchcraft or of being a witch in Salem, Massachusetts through the time period of February 1692 through May 1693. This was a dark time in history as more than 200 prosecutions took place and at least 20 people were killed during this time of fear and hysteria. The accusations began as three girls Tituba, Sarah Good, and Sarah Osborne were accused of witchcraft from other young girls in the community. During this time period, fear of the Devil was common as people in Salem were very devoted to their religion and religious practices. As one of the accused girls, Tituba, confessed to working for the Devil and admitting to being a witch, this caused panic and hysteria as a massive witch hunt took place to find more of these witches. This confession was the main reason behind months and months of fear and mass panic as it triggered more accusations.

What was the Salem Witch Trials? During 1692 and 1693, colonial Massachusetts accused more than 200 people and executed twenty women for practicing witchcraft. Witchcraft at the time was known as the Devil’s magic. Several centuries ago, many religions had a strong belief in the Devil. Among these religions was Christianity. The religions believed that the Devil would give the witches the power to harm others. The witches, in return, would offer the Devil their loyalty. Between the 1300s and the end of the 1600s, more than ten thousand women were executed due to be involved with witchcraft. The Salem Witch Trials occurred when Reverend Samuel Parris’s daughter and niece started to behave strangely. Samuel Parris was Salem’s first ordained minister

History is known for having ways to replay itself, for example, the Salem Witch Trials and the McCarthy Trials. The Salem Witch Trials were a sequence of hearings and accusations that took place between 1692 and 1693. In these trials over 200 people were accused of having contact with the Devil and around 20 were victims of false accusations and death. The McCarthy trials, extremely similar, a series of hearing were Senator Joseph McCarthy accused the U.S. of allowing communist to have a seat in their government causing over 2,000 government members to lose their employment. Both the McCarthy Trials and Salem Witch Trials display history’s repetitions with the similarities of mass hysteria, the absence of proper evidence, and accused outcasts.

The Salem witch trials and the story of Joseph McCarthy are very similar; they both accused innocent people of doing things that were “bad” at the time. The Salem Witch trials were persecutions of men and woman on account of performing witchcraft. Two girls accused a woman of doing witchcraft and then the accusations continued, people accused other people to relieve their own punishment in a last ditch effort to save their lives, but it was in vein. After the witch trials were over “19 had been killed and an elderly man pressed to death under heavy stones”(Linder). “Some accused of witch craft were burned at the stake all in the name of justice”(Brown). Others were finally let out of jail after being in imprisonment for months at a time.

In Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible” it tells the tale of the Salem Witch Trials. At the time of the play, the McCarthy trials, named after Sen. Joseph McCarthy, were underway. Though, instead of hunting for witches, they were hunting for communists. These two trials may have happened at different points in history, but were in many ways the same. Whether it was death to job loss a lot of lives were changed on account of these trials. “The Crucible” and the McCarthy trials have become historically important because they show the process of power, fear, and turmoil.

The United States of America is filled with many historic events, enriching its history. Many events that occur are compared to past events in our history. In particular, the McCarthy Era in the 1950’s was compared to the Salem Witch Trials which occurred in 1692. This correlation was first made by Arthur Miller who wrote the play “The Crucible”. He connected the time period of McCarthy to where there was a hunt for communists, to the Salem Witch Trials where there was a hunt for witches. Following that, many comparisons and contrasts have been made between the two. The Salem Witch Trials and McCarthy Era are both similar, yet different.

The Salem Witch Trials were a series of accusations, trials, and executions based on the supposed outbreak of witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts. The trials began during the spring of 1692, and the last of them ended in 1693. It all started when two young girls, Abigail and Betty Parris, began experiencing violent convulsions and outbursts, which were thought to be brought about by witchcraft. Whether they were faking these symptoms, were afflicted with an actual sickness, or were experiencing them because of some sort of psychological reason is widely debated, though it is known that the sisters accused their maid, Tituba, of forcing them to participate in witchcraft with her. Some who theorize about the causes of the trials dismiss the Parris girls involvement in the beginning and instead attribute the outbreak of accusations to judgement upon the members of society who break social or religious rules, or who struck the upright members of society as ‘strange’ and ‘suspicious’, such as the homeless, the poor, and old or widowed women. The cause of the hysteria that went on in Salem after this is what is speculated by so many. There are probably hundreds of theories out there, but a few in particular are more widely known, accepted, and supported than others.

Hysteria (noun); meaning an exaggerated or uncontrolled emotion or excitement especially among other people. The Salem Witch Trial and McCarthyism’s connections run deeper than what appears on the surface. Joseph McCarthy was a U.S. senator. Joseph was born and raised in Appleton, Wisconsin during the early 1900’s. He was elected in 1946, four years later McCarthy came out publicly stating that there were around 205 communists that have invaded the U.S.. This makes him known for his ways of accusing those without actual factual evidence to prove his suspicions. Both of these incidents have caused a grand amount of hysteria and both happened because of suspicion and personal vendettas and both made a lasting impact on history (Brooks).

The “communist” scare was causing people to go ballistic and the government had to try and find some means of controlling the public. They began to prosecute and imprison anyone who they suspected of being involved with communism. The government gave people very little chances to prove their innocence and instead just wanted to get rid of them. They had to show that they were in charge and make the American people feel safe in their own country. This account in the McCarthy era is very similar to that of the Salem Witch Trials. The government persecuted anyone they thought to be a “witch”. They had very little to no evidence that these accused people were ever even involved in witchcraft, but they wanted the fear to cease among the people. The occurrences in both the McCarthy era and the Salem Witch Trials mirror each other. Both governments wanted their people to feel safe and for them to know that they were in

The Salem Witch Trials was a dark time in history for the American colonies in 1692. People were wrongly accused and killed because other colonists thought they were witches. The trials impacted the beliefs of people’s thoughts on witches and other mystical beings. It has also impacted both Salem and America equally. The Salem Witch Trials is a dark chapter in American history that helped define societal beliefs.

In this process essay the reader will learn how the Salem Witch Trials and McCarthyism are similar. Both situations ended up taking on a mob mentality. The Salem Witch Trials started in 1690s when the Trials began, and by the end, over 200 people were accused of witchcraft. The people had a strong belief of the devil and were very religious. The outside threats that were surrounding the people of Salem had created a fear and suspicion within the town. Eventually, the people in Salem realized their mistakes.

Many people in this world are accused of crimes so absurd that when put to trial, they name others of the same crime to redirect the focus from them to others like it happens in the actual day, every year, with minor cases. McCarthyism was one of those cases that changed history, likewise the Salem Witch Trials. McCarthyism had the same effect on people, people who were accused of communism blame others to lessen their penalty like in the Salem Witch Trials, so how the Salem Witch Trials and the McCarthy Era can connects although the great difference in time?

Like Slavery the Salem Witch Trials are a part of history that all would like to erase. In Salem Massachusetts the colonist were mostly made up of Puritans. Puritans were lead on the firm foundation that the Bible was, is and still the only word. This lead to the belief that this was the only way to convict, judge and execute those of a satanic faith, such as witch craft. The Salem Witch Trials were mostly conducted between the months of February 1692 through the middle of May 1693. By the end of this period over 200 men, women and children were accused of being witches. These accusations were brought on by a group of girls in age of 12 to 20 years old.

The Salem Witch Trials were a series of prosecutions of people who were accused of acts of witchcraft or of being a witch in Salem, Massachusetts through the time period of February 1692 through May 1693. This was a dark time in history as more than 200 prosecutions took place and at least 20 people were killed. The accusations began as three girls Tituba, Sarah Good, and Sarah Osborne were accused of witchcraft from other young girls in the community. During this time period, fear of the Devil was common as people in Salem were very devoted to their religion and religious practices. As one of the accused girls, Tituba, confessed to working for the Devil and admitting to being a witch, this caused panic and hysteria as a massive witch hunt took place to find more of these witches. This confession was the main reason behind months and months of fear and mass panic as it triggered more accusations.

The salem witch trials was a series of hearings and court cases that had to do with witchcraft. The first accusations started in 1692 when the daughter and niece of Samuel Parris, Salem's first ordained minister, started to exhibit strange behavior. Later, several other children would start to show the same behavior of making odd sounds/screaming, contorting their bodies and throwing objects. Two magistrates, Jonathan Cornwin and John Hathorne, pressured the girls to name the people who caused this. Out of the three women, Sarah Good, Sarah Osborne, and Tituba, only one confessed to witchcraft. Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne would confess their innocence, and later die. The only one to confess was Tituba, Revered Parris' slave. She confessed that she was cursing the girls. She said, "the devil came to me and bid me serve him.”