SALEM WITCH HUNTS VS MCCARTHYISM The Salem Witch Hunts that occurred in 1692 had many similarities to the Red Scare known as McCarthyism that occurred in 1950’s. The Salem Witch trials began after one girl Abigail Williams along with her friends spread rumors of witchcraft. This caused panic and major disorder in the town of Salem. The Red Scare began after Senator Joseph McCarthy began accusing Americans of being communist, this caused chaos and hysteria across the United States. While these two events were decades apart they had many similarities.
There was a gender imbalance during this time which was basically starting some of the women being accused. This article was saying that the whole reason of the witch-hunt has been attributed variously to the religious, economic, demographic, social and political changes of the late sixteenth century. Moreover, it is often assumed that these changes must somehow account for the womanhood of most of the witch-hunt’s victims. The article overall view was that the expectation that ‘bad’ witches would be female, then, seems to have been established long before the beginning of the Elizabethan witch-hunt and to have merely persisted into the early modern period. Its origins can have had nothing to do with the economic or other problems of the later sixteenth century and that a universal explanation for why the ‘witch-craze’ happened when it did will probably always escape us, for there are too many unknowable
What Caused the SWT’s? The Salem Witch Trials were a time of widespread terror throughout the colony of Salem. At this time during 1691 hundreds were accused of being witches and were put to trial. Over twenty people were sentenced to death because of the vast amount of accusations. The witch-hunt ended in the autumn of 1692, but the destruction had already been done.
These ideas were then widely supported and imposed upon people by theologians and lawyers[7] making diabolic interference central to the idea of witchcraft. By the end of the sixteenth century the demonic conception of witchcraft has been defused into popular culture and most popular denunciations for witchcraft in most parts of Europe involved the devil. The spread of diabolism “led inevitably to a great feminization of witchcraft”[8]. Ankarloo argues that only after these learned ideas were injected into the lower level of society could the persecution of witches on a large scale begin during the 16th and up to the 17th
In 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts, a series of afflictions, convictions, accusations, and even executions played out known as the Salem Witch Trials. Among the over 200 people accused of practicing witchcraft was a woman by the name of Susannah North Martin. She lived in colonial Massachusetts of said time period and as a widow of 67 was executed for performing witchcraft, in conjunction with many other innocents blamed for similar faults. Witchcraft was known as the “Devil’s magic,” and many assorted Christians and often Puritans had a strong belief that the Devil could grant certain mortals power to harm in turn for their loyalty; these mortals were known as witches. Among the “witches” convicted were Sarah Osborne, Tituba, and Sarah Good, who had all been in a distressful state.
Tensions increased in the communities because people wanted ownership of land. Certain families wanted to own more land, so they accused others of witchcraft so they could be executed. Women were mostly accused of witchcraft rather than men. Male dominance and social structures couldn’t be changed, and Puritans feared women being in power. Witches were described as “outspoken” and were said to be widows who received land and money from their dead husbands.
From the late 1400’s to the 1700’s, a witch craze spread throughout Europe, resulting in the deaths of over 100,000 ‘witches’. Though witches were persecuted all throughout Europe, trials were most popular in Western Europe; torture was a common practice during these trials. These persecutions were mostly popular in Europe but, they spread to America and later to parts of Africa. Through the evidence provided by testimonies of witnesses and statistics, the three major reasons for the persecution of witches were social prejudices, economic greed and religious beliefs. Though the accused witches were not strictly female, the accused were predominantly women and more specifically older women, older women were seen as more fragile and impressionable so the devil could convince them to do his dirty work quiet easily.POV Two Dominican monks, Kramer and Sprenger, wrote a handbook used to identify witches by the Inquisition.
Dear diary, I have travelled the world and witnessed many conflicts, but the days of 1692 was by the far the highest, it was a time of fear and hysteria of people being convicted of witch craft. I am beginning to feel that conflict doesn’t just resolve matters it can bring the best, worst or unexpected reactions of people. Conflict in my opinion is to fight or battle over the one idea; it can also take over people’s survival instincts. Conflict can bring people together or tear two people apart and this can affect someone badly. The fears I had in Salem in 1692 was that the most honest and caring people were being prosecuted and murder by their innocence.
Massachusetts was the location of the Salem Witchcraft hysteria from 1692 to 1693, stemming from uncompromising moral codes and religious beliefs. However, despite problems experienced in farming due to the harsh climate and rugged terrain; Salem also faced political and economic upheavals within the community, during this time. The hysteria commenced when an Indian slave named Tituba was accused of witchcraft by 3 young girls (Roach, 2002). Eventually, under an intense flailing, Tituba was forced to confess of witchcraft to a court official. Tituba's confession ignited a series of witchcraft manhunts leading to women and men being hanged, one man crushed to death by heavy rocks, and 150 more men were held in prison awaiting trail .
The whole story is about a group of girls who were telling lies and accusing people of witchcraft. The cause for this whole thing was personal grudges and rivalries between certain people. The Salem witch trials were all about jealousy, grudges & rivalries. People in the town had bad information on other people in the town and that lead to the town being destroyed. Innocent people died because of