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How Did The Salem Witch Trials Changed America Today

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When you hear the word witch, you might think of an old green lady riding a broom with a wicked laugh. During the witch craze, you could be accused of witchcraft if you were female, male, rich, poor, old, young, if you didn’t follow the same rules as everyone else, or even if you had a disagreement with someone. The most popular witch hunt was the Salem Witch Trials that occurred in Colonial Massachusetts. The Salem Witch Trials could be viewed as the catalyst of the reformed American Legal System, as they went on the words of children. This paper will show what happened, why it happened and the results and impacts it left in America today. In 1692, the citizens of Salem, Massachusetts turned on each other and accused hundreds of their own neighbors of being witches. The puritans’ goals for when they moved to America was to have a model community where everyone followed what the bible said. Many of the citizens believed “thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.” Exodus 22:18 (Wood, Chapman, and Morton, pg. 30). A group of young women who were said to be possessed by the devil, accused many people mainly older women of poor standing of practicing witch craft. Tituba, a Native American slave from Barbados, practiced voodoo and people thought she was the reason their kids were acting strange since she was a maid in …show more content…
In Salem one man was crushed to death by rocks, nineteen people were hanged and many others that were accused died in jail awaiting trial, a four-year old girl with her mother in jail passed away because poor living conditions and sickness. As men and women were executed it left families sad, lonely and on verge of dying. As years passed, apologies were given to the families of the accused. as the citizens suffered so did the crops; with no one there to watch over them the dried out limiting food

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