History: The Salem Witch Trials

The year of 1692 identified a significant event in history in the town of Salem, Massachusetts. The Salem Witch Trials revealed series of prosecutions of people being accused of witchcraft, which resulted in the executions of twenty innocent people. Out of the twenty people, fourteen of them were women were hung to death and the others died in prison. It all began with several girls that experimented with magic, which the Puritans believed they were collaborating with the Devil. Based on the Puritan beliefs, the meaning of witchcraft was the Devil’s magic. The group of young girls affirmed to be controlled by the devil and accused other women in the town of witchcraft. In American history, these trials affect the modern idea about American

But significantly, after twenty years later, the government apologizes to the families of those convicted because it is approved that there were not enough evidence in executing the people. “The colony admitted the trials were a mistake and compensated the families of those convicted” (Boyer and Nissenbaum 302). For this reason, the colony passed a legislative bill bringing back the rights and good names of the accused people of witchcraft and agreed to give six hundred pounds as a compensation to their families later in the years. “The witch trials [...] and triggered a distrust of government” (“The Salem Witch Trials, Scholarly Articles). The government felt sorry for killing innocent people so the rewarded the families that had members involved in the executions. Also, it lost the trust from the public because of being unfair and killing innocent

In the courts, the judges only believed the witnesses, which sometimes are the accusers, and insubstantial evidence brought from the witnesses. As a matter of fact, this is very dangerous because the authorities could abuse the victims until they confessed. For instance, if the accused one recited the Bible or the Lord’s Prayer to the judges in the court, then they were not a witch. In other words, the court judges were biased because they only trust the confession the accused ones make, which is unfairly prejudiced for the innocent people. “Rather than try people in the order they were arrested, the court started with the accused with the strongest cases against them” (“The Salem Witch Trials, scholarly articles). This was the concept in how the court charged the cases of each victim. The judges only listened to the girls that lies and just kill everyone that was accused, making the trials unfair. The trials were biased because it all started when a slave, Tituba, was accused of witchcraft. As a slave, she could not defend herself. In fact, many of the accused witches were people who have different religious beliefs from the Puritans or the town dislike the person. Thus, making it easier to have them convicted of