Salem Witch Trials Essay

The Salem Witch Trials The witch trials of Salem had an effect of 20 executions along with more than 200 others falsely accused of witchcraft. The town had many problems leading up to the deaths. The people accused and turned on each other, while the court struggles to find the real witches. Salem had many tensions before the trials, there was trouble sorting out witches, and a lot of repairing to do afterwards. There were many tensions in Salem before the witch trials had begun. A war had been started with Salem included as the article says, “In 1689, English monarchs William and Mary started a war with France in the American colonies” (Blumberg). Salem was fighting a battle with the English before having an inner battle in their town.

Many people in the town had their issues with others. Therefore they would accuse eachother of witchcraft to get rid of their problems. The author states,“More than 200 people were accused of practicing witchcraft—the devil’s magic—and 20 were executed” (Blumberg). This quote tells that Salem had many false accusations, making it more challenging for the court to find the real witches. Similarly, people in the village that were known for their good reputations, were being accused which confused the court even more. The text says,“If she could be a witch, then anyone could” (Blumberg). This was said about Martha Corey who was a very loyal member of the church, so when she was found guilty, the court did not know how to find the people practicing witchcraft. Relating to that, the court knew innocent people were being accused, but could not tell who was innocent or guilty. The article says,“It were better that ten suspected witches should escape than one innocent person be condemned” (Blumberg). This shows the court did not want innocent people to die, so releasing one possible witch was better than many innocent people dying. All of these quotes show the troubles the court had gone through to catch the witches, but the aftermath was also hard for

The judges of the court were a big part of the executions so they had apologies to the town, along with the main accusers. In the article, the author states,“In the years following the trials and executions, some involved, like judge Samuel Sewall and accuser Ann Putnam, publicly confessed error and guilt.” This shows that the court and accusers felt guilty for what they had done, but also they wanted to restore their good reputations. Although they were not the only ones with their reputations repaired. The text says,“And in 1711, the colony passed a bill restoring the rights and good names of many of the accused…”(Blumberg). The people who were accused by others got to be freed and have their lives back. Differing from the court apologizing so quickly, the state of Massachusetts took much longer. The author states,“But it wasn’t until 1957—more than 250 years later—that Massachusetts formally apologized for the events of 1692”(Blumberg). Salem had already repaired itself before the state had gotten to fixing it. Although Salem restored the good names for its people, the issues with witches had already caused a large amount of damage to the