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Summary Of Judge Sewall's Apology

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Richard Francis is a historian on American Culture, an author, and a biographer. Francis was an American Studies Research Fellow at Harvard, taught at the universities of Manchester and Missouri for American Literature. Some of his well known published books include Judge Sewall's Apology, Ann the Word, Bingo, Blackpool Vanishes, Prospect Hill, and many more.
Judge Sewall's Apology is about Samuel Sewall who was one of the main judges of the Salem witch trials of 1692. Sewall was one of the only judges of the nine appointed that heard the case and made a public apology. Also, Judge Sewall's Apology was Sewall's life before and after the crisis of the trials. Richard Francis (author of Judge Sewall's Apology) showed how the Puritans viewed the world especially Massachusetts through a moral and religious sense.
Richard Francis thesis for Judge Sewall's Apology is show the reader the impact of Samuel Sewall's apology to the people of Salem and all of Massachusetts. Francis wrote about Judge Samuel Sewall to explain about the Salem witch trials and give an understanding about the crisis. Having Francis mentioning Sewall's family life, what the people said during the trials, …show more content…

Judge Sewall's Apology came off as dry at some parts throughout the book. The author included parts that wasn't needed for him to prove his thesis or for the reader to really need to know to get a better understanding. For example, Francis mentioned how Samuel Sewall felt towards periwigs which was unnecessary although interesting. The evidence Francis used was mainly convincing because it did come from a primary source instead of his opinion. Francis thesis was not poorly constructed because he started off the book with the thesis for the book and revisited it in later chapters. The authors writing style improved his thesis mainly because it gave the reader more details to support his thesis for Judge Sewall's

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