Students
in Mr. Nekrosius's humanities project groups recently researched,
wrote, and designed online newspapers about the Salem Witch Trials. To
learn more, there is a link to the newspapers below.
For Mr. Drogos's humanities classes, here is your blog post assignment:
Choose
ONE of the online newspapers created by Mr. Nekrosius's project groups
and spend twenty-to-thirty minutes browsing through the various pages (you can
find links to the two newspapers here). When have finished reading the newspaper, post a comment in which you write the following:
1.Three things you learned about the trials and/or the people of Salem--be specific, and be thorough.
2.
A detailed connection between the events of Salem and the events you
studied for your project (or, if you are in Mr. Nekrosius's project
group, a connection between something you read and something you wrote for your own article.)
3. One question for an author or one of the designers of the newspapers.
(If you are in Mr. Nekrosius's project groups, you should post on the other class's newspaper.)
Remember:
You should include ONLY your first name and your class period (NO LAST NAMES) at the end of your blog post.
Also, remember to be positive, constructive, and detailed in your responses! Your posts are due Tuesday, November 27th.
The first thing that I found out was that inisind girls were the ones that started all the disruption. The second is that magic was illegal and if you had weird dreams then you were brought to court. The third thing is that some people did not want to go to church because they did not want to hear the gossip.
ReplyDeleteThe connection that I found between the events of Salem and the events that I studied were the way the court functions. They both were in a way bias or unfair. In the case of the Puritans you had to believe in the revised church of England, and in Salem you could not be a witch.
One of the questions that I had was: "What kind of back round do the girls have who started the disruption in Salem?"
1) -I learned that a lot of power and lives were put into two little girls hands. They went about accusing anyone they chose, and in Salem being accused was a death sentence.
ReplyDelete-Many of the would not risk any humiliation and continued to live on choosing to ignore what they had done. Only one of the girls actually apologized for what she had done. No one questioned them for what they had done and were treated the same by everyone.
-Tituba was captured and then sold into slavery. From there she served the Reverend Samuel Parris. After that She met another slave called John Indian. soon after they married and had a child called Violet.
2) No connection found. Salem was way after The Mystic Massacre.
3) How are the children given so much power when Salem is set in a "mature" Government?
1. I learned that the Salem witch trials were started by one woman (Tituba). She was the slave of a minister, she would tell his kids (among others) witch stories. When she was charged with witchcraft she pleaded guilty. I learned that during the Salem witch trials a man and his pregnant wife were hung for witchcraft. I learned that a four-year-old girl was imprisoned for witchcraft. During that time her mother was hung.
ReplyDelete2. I was in the documentary project on Anne Hutchinson. In our project I researched Anne Hutchinson's trial. Like many of the "witches" she had an extremely unfair trial. Both "witches" and Anne Hutchinson were tried in Puritan courts. Anne Hutchinson most likely would've won in an American court today. Most "witches" also would've won in an American court today. One big difference is the time period these events occurred in. Although both went on in the 1600s The witch trials were near the beginning of the century and Anne Hutchinson's trial went on close to the end of the century.
3. If I could only ask one question it would be: How did you know what sources to trust for your research? What were they? How did you get them? (I would cheat and ask three)
1)
ReplyDeletea) I learned the native American wars actually affected and made the hysteria worse
b) I learned that the first person to be accused were not actually the three women ( Tituba, Sarah Osbourne, and Sarah Good) but Bridgett Bishop
c) I learned that Giles Corey was not actually pressed to death he was taken out of the presser then he pleaded innocent and the judges didn't beleive him so they killed him
2) I was in Salem Witch trials - I found some similarities in me writing and some of theirs like I put my lede up one space and some of them did too
3) For web designers, when i was looking at your web site i noticed that there was a recommendation bar and the things to click would gray out after i clicked on them i was wondering how you did that.
1) One thing I did not know about Salem Witch Trails were about all the rules all the rules, and the food, or the clothing the people of Salem wore
ReplyDelete2) Another thing I did not know about were the Indian wars against the puritans.
3) I also did not know what a witch hunter was.
My question is for the web masters and how dream weaver is different then IWEB.
1. What I learned was that Witch Hunters were slimy, evil (not always but most of the time) people. They tried to find worts, birthmarks, and other things like that to try to draw blood. If the 'witch' did not feel pain, then she/he was a witch. Sometimes the Witch Hunter drew blood with a hollow needle and the person could not feel a thing, they were innocent.
ReplyDelete2. What I find so similar to the project I did was that Indians almost started the Witch Trials in a way. Tituba, a South American Indian starts the Salam Witch trails by telling stories, and 'jinxing' the girls. In the project I did, the war was about land, and the Indians where on both sides. Another similarity is that there was a 'war' in Salam, Witch vs. Non Witch, my project was France vs. England.
3. What I would like to ask is this, what made you chose the topic you did? Was it hard to information why or why not?
#1) I learned that Tituba was married at age 14.
ReplyDeleteReverend Samuel Paris was kicked out of Salem and that Tituba was later bought by another owner.
#2)In my article I mentioned how the girls were most of the time just accusing people to get revenge or to get attention but in the other articles even the adults were doing that too.
#3)When Reverend Paris got kicked out of Salem where did he go? (Taylor B.)
Reading The New Englander, I learned more about Tituba than I had before. I learned what her stories were, and more about how the hysteria began. I also learned about Rebecca Nurse. I learned that after she was accused and sentenced to death, the people of Salem had started questioning accusations, and witchcraft as a whole. They did so because she went to church regularly, and a respectable person, so much that when she was accused the people of Salem made a petition to say she was innocent when she was accused.
ReplyDeleteI read about Rebecca Nurse and John proctors trials. Since my group article was on court procedures, I had read about how the ideal trial/ how most trials worked, but I had not inspected the unusual trials happened in depth.
What prompted you to pick the title The New Englander? Was it an easy or difficult decision?
First, I learned that one of the people accused of being a witch, a slave named Tituba, told stories about witchcraft to her owner's daughter, named Betty, and Betty's cousin, Abigail.
ReplyDeleteSecond, I learned that the court of Oyer and Terminer had a specific procedure for deciding whether or not someone was a witch. They tested to see if the person being accused could recite the Lord's Prayer without disruptions, float when put in water, or hurt the afflicted person simply by touching them. If the person being accused had bite marks on them, and does not feel pain when a needle is stuck through them, they were a witch.
Third, I learned that 24 people died during the trials. 19 were hanged, 4 died in prison, and 1 was crushed by rocks.
In both the Salem Witch Trials and the Trial of Anne Hutchinson, there was a trial against someone, and, today, we realize that what judges did to people in trial was not a good thing. The trials were unfair and don't make much sense, and they both accused people of doing things that they didn't necessarily mean to do.
My question for people in the newspaper project is: Why were some parts of the paper written in past tense, as if it was being written today, and others in present tense, as if it was being written at the time of the Salem Witch Trials?
I read about the court procedures. I learned that there were four ways of seeing if a person was a witch or not. I also learned about the history of how the court of Oyer and Terminer started and how it ended. One thing I learned was what happened when people were accused of being a witch. This article and mine both focused on the history of how the trials ended. also by reading this article I find things I could of wrote to give my reader more information. This was a great article, but I had some confusion on the past and present tense. thank you for letting me learn about this interesting topic, Sarah.
ReplyDeleteWhy did you chose this article?
I learned from this newspaper that the people that were sometimes even friends and/or family to the people who were supposed to be witches were very willing to let their friends and family die for mostly being falsely accused. Also, that people thought that the witches were evil and that they should be put to death. The people never thought to show kindness to them. When the "mysterious fits of hysterics" happened, the people chose to blame it on the witches instead of sicknesses, or the people themselves just gone mad. A connection I noticed between the mural project and this newspaper project, was that there was lots of points of views in both, that were shown very well. For example, from the "witches" point of view, and the obviously scared point of view of the people of the New World. The question that I thought of while reading this newspaper was why were the people of the New World so positive that there was a witch? What convinced them that there was one?
ReplyDeleteIleana
11/26/12
5th-6th period
1.) I learned the names of the two girls who started the salem witch trials (Elizabeth Parris and Abigail Williams), I learned when the witch trials ended (october 8th, 1692), I learned that the judges were past soldiers.
ReplyDelete2.) A connection was about the judges who where past soldiers and fought against the indians and we were studying native americans and there education.
3.) How much research did you guys have to do to write the newspaper?
1.) I read the article, "The Dissolving of the Court of Oyer and Terminer by Allen J" Sir William Phips was born February 2, 1651, in Maine. He founded the Court of Oyer and Terminer May 27, 1692. The Court of Oyer and Terminer had one sole purpose, to convict witches. The meaning of the courts name Oyer and Terminer came from Latin and French roots. It means to hear and determine. The court was dissolved October 29, 1692 because the people of Salem realized that most of the evidence from previous cases was false which ment that all of the "witches" died for no reason.
ReplyDelete2.) My topic for the Puritan project was the mural. I studied the mystic massacre. The puritans allied with indian allies the Mohegans and Naragansett. They then marched to a Pequot fort and slaughtered everyone there for land. But the Puritan people justified killing all those Pequot people because they were devil worshippers. Its the same deal with the innocent women who were branded witches, a bunch of wrongful deaths.
3.)One question for Allen J, what happend to the people who provided all the false evidence?
1. One thing I learned about the Salem Witch trials was that men could be accused of witchcraft too. I always thought that women were the only ones that could be witches. Something else I learned was about Rebecca Nurse. She was a 70 year old woman who spent was really sick and got accused of being a witch. I didn’t know how cruel the people of Salem were and how suspicious they were. I also didn’t know that these trials began in the church. They are about the devil but began in the church, a religious holy place. I always thought the people decided to have witch trials entirely out of suspicion.
ReplyDelete2. I was in the Mural project and we learned about the Native Americans, the Europeans and their relationship with each other. I thought there was a connection between the people of Salem and the people being accused of witchcraft. In my mural we displayed how the English and the Native Americans thought of each other. They HATED each other. The English called the Native Americans “monsters” and “devils.” They had no good feelings for each other. I thought this bad relationship was also with the people of Salem and the accused witches. The people of Salem thought the “witches” were being persuaded by the devil and were horrible, they deserved to die. This is not a good relationship to have with the people of your town.
3. How did you separate the different articles into the different categories? Did you start with the categories and write a certain number of articles for each section?
In one of the entries I read, it talked about the Lucifer getting people who are weak and disordered to sign his book and follow him. I also read that after signing the book, the Lucifer gives the new Witch a "familiar" which is a cat-like animal that can change into any other animal as well. After getting accused, the court gives the accused a "run", where they try to find Spectral Evidence, use Torture and The Bible in order to find out if the accused is a witch or not. Since I was in Mr. Nekrosius's period 1-2, I already knew about Spectral Evidence and also knew a little about the Tortures, but I didn't know that they used the Bible in order to tell if someone was a Witch or not. In the article, it said that if the accused can recite the 10 Commandments, they are innocent, and if they can't, they're a Witch. I think this is very unfair because most of the accused didn't go to Church, or weren't able to- like Tituba, who was a slave. Slaves couldn't go to church. There was always a story behind the reason of not going to church. And when they used the Tortures, besides dunking the accused in water, or finding 2 red marks, or beating the accused, I didn't know that the more horrifying torture was when the court dislocates your arms out of their sockets or gets an iron oval, snugs it tightly around your calve or your fingers and crunches your bones!
ReplyDeleteI found connections between my article and the articles I read- mostly the connections between the same causes of the Salem Witch Trials and how they accused people. I found that in most of the articles, they said that the accused didn't go to church for some reason. I also noticed that most accused people said that they were innocent and that they didn't/wouldn't die in vain. I also noted that some people (mostly the accused) trusted the whole Salem community and that even though their neighbor accused them, the accused person would forgive them, and still trust them. I thought that was amazing.
My questions are:
1. Why would your neighbor invent some lie in order for you to die?
2. How did the 2 girls come up with the hysteria? How did they think it up? Did they think it up?
3. Why did the Salem Court trust the girls? They're just children? Why?
i learned that the person who started the rumors about witch craft was the reverends servant. The people used to dunk people into the river and if they were alive when they brought them back up they were a witch. also when the girls started acting spooky and animal like it was because of the stories they heard from the stories they hear.
ReplyDeleteIn both group of colonies they preach from the bible and are very strong in religion. Also in both colonies they have troubles with the indians that lead them both into war against the indian tribes that they trouble with.
a question in general to anyone is... why were they so against witch craft there's more to it than just saying that it was the bible that made them so strict when it came to witch craft? and did anyone actually look at it both ways and how witch craft could actually be good?
1. Tituba was one of the women who was accused of witchcraft during the Salem Witch Trials. She was an Arawak Indian that was born in South America and brought over to work for the Paris'. She told the
ReplyDeletegirls in that household stories that frightened them so much that they said that Tituba was a witch. She denied that at first but then she got beaten until she confessed. She had a husband and a daughter named Violet.
I also learned that Bridget Bishop was the first woman to be hanged in the Trials.
2. The stories of Anne Hutchinson and Mary Dyer are similar because there is unfairness in both of them. In Anne's story the unfairness was that the
Puritans that were judging her were also accusing her and the unfairness in the Salem Witch Trials was that Titbua's confession was because it was beaten out of her. Another similarity is that in both cases there was someone getting hanged (Mary Dyer). Also, in both cases these things were happening because the Puritan leaders had lots of fear.
3. Why did the girls have to tell on Tituba? Just how scary were those stories that the girls started to go crazy like that?
1. Tituba was one of the women who was accused of witchcraft during the Salem Witch Trials. She was an Arawak Indian that was born in South America and brought over to work for the Paris'. She told the
ReplyDeletegirls in that household stories that frightened them so much that they said that Tituba was a witch. She denied that at first but then she got beaten until she confessed. She had a husband and a daughter named Violet.
I also learned that Bridget Bishop was the first woman to be hanged in the Trials.
2. The stories of Anne Hutchinson and Mary Dyer are similar because there is unfairness in both of them. In Anne's story the unfairness was that the Puritans that were judging her were also accusing her and the unfairness in the Salem Witch Trials was that Titbua's confession was because it was beaten out of her. Another similarity is that in both cases there was
someone getting hanged (Mary Dyer). Also, in both cases these things were happening because the Puritan leaders had lots of fear.
3. Why did the girls have to tell on Tituba? Just how scary were those stories that the girls started to go crazy like that?
I learned that rev. Parris held the informal trials, that rev. Parris brought not one but two slaves with him to Salem, how the Red Scare and the Salem Witch Crisis were similar, and much more. Whitney T's article talked about Salem believing in spectral evidence, which connects to how the Salem villagers believed the girls that Tituba was a witch, something that i reasearched. I would like to ask Molly, Florence, and Aden (the salem journal) why Mary Warren accused Mr. Proctor of being a witch, when she was his servant?
ReplyDelete1.I learned that there were many accused witches and wizards in the Salem witch trials. One of these accused witches was Giles Corey, who was killed using an illegal method called pressing. The victim (or accused) was placed under a board, then, stones were slowly placed onto the board until the victim was pressed. I learned that he was pressed on September 19th, 1692. His pressing made the people of Salem think a little more about whether the accused were witches or not because Giles did not seem like the kind of man who would be accused. I also learned that the slave of Reverend Parris, Tituba, told many girls stories of black magic and voodoo, and this resulted in her being accused of witchcraft. I also found out that sometimes what a person does is evidence that they were a witch. For example, low status people were accused more often then high class people.
ReplyDelete2.I was in Mr.Nekrosius's class for this project so, in my reading I did find a few things that connected to what I wrote about. In the readings , it seemed as though spectral evidence was important. When I wrote my article about Dorcas Good, the accusing girls claimed that Dorcas had a specter that would bite them. Also connected was the fact that you may have been accused if you were related to someone who was already accused. For example, in my reading Giles Corey's wife was also accused of witchcraft. In my writing Sarah Good's daughter was accused of witchcraft as well.
3. My question for the authors is, why did you choose to write a soft lede or a hard lede?
1.I learned that the people of salem were very religious. A lot of the things they do seems to revolve around their religion. Another thing is that I don't think the authorities were very fair. It seems like they just accused random people of being witches. They didn't have very smart ways of finding out if people were actually witches. Also, I learned that if you were accused, then you would most likely die because if you said you were innocent, they would kill you, or if the authoriteis tested to see if you were a witch, you might die because if they put you on a chair in the water, you would either float or sink. If you floated, then they would say you were a witch and kill you.
ReplyDelete2. A connection between the salem witch trials, and my colonial project( The Anne Hutchinson Documentary) was that the authorities, I think were very unfair. In the Salem witch trials, the authorities accused a lot of people , and killed a lot of them. In the story of Anne Hutchinson, the puritan leaders wouldn't let people practice their religion freely, and they even made a law that said if you were a quaker, you couldn't come to Massachussets.
3. One question I have is I'm wondering what Reverend Samuel Parris said to the girls at first when he saw them acting strangely in churh. Maybe the answer is in here and I just missed it.
1. I learned that the in Salem were very protective of there religion. They did lots of things that had to do with there religion and stuck up for what was right. The people who have authority weren't very nice to them.
ReplyDelete2. A connection between my project and the witch trails is that the people in each town never gave up on what they believed in, and even though some people were meaner than others they weren't going to back down
3. My question to the authors is how much time did you spend on each little part of the research and was it hard to find everything
1)The Salem Witch Trials began when Tituba, servant of the Reverend Samuel Parris, told stories of witchcraft, of Black Magic and Voodoo to the Reverend's daughter and niece. People who told stories such as those were considered witches. And soon, other girls came to the Parris house to listen to more stories. That is how the Witches began.
ReplyDeleteWomen have always been thought of weaker than men, docile creatures made to serve men. Though this bias had been founded in the Bible, it is especially true in Salem. The women accused of being witches are more than triple the men being accused of wizardry. As for being sent to death, women nearly triple men. Many Puritans overall believe that women are more susceptible to following the Devil than men. This dates back to the story of Adam and Eve, where the Devil (disguised) persuades Eve to eat the apple that God told her not to eat. Women were being unfairly accused because of a long-standing bias.
A four-year-old, Dorcas Good, was sent to jail for being a witch. Dorcas unknowingly gave magistrates and local officials "evidence" of she and her mother (Sarah Good, who was already accused) being witches by telling where the bite mark on her finger came from. Dorcas sat in jail for months with nothing to do. She was deprived of sunlight and all possessions other than her clothes. Many believed that a four-year-old should not be in jail. Dorcas did not quite understand the capacity of the predicament she had been placed into, therefore jail time would not serve her as moments to think, recollect, and "correct" her "wrongs". Jail was to punish the witches, and leave them nothing to do but think about witchcraft and how it was better not to do it again. Dorcas, a child, did not quite understand why she was being put in jail, therefore the punishment is seemingly worthless. The only service it provided was then to deprive Dorcas of sunlight, and have her listen to her jail-mates scream and wail.
2) The outcomes of the events were quite similar in that both cause quite a bit of economic turmoil. After all, the British poured much of their money into the French and Indian War for reinforcements. They were in debt long after the war came to a close. During the Salem Witch Trials, many men and women were accused. They spent their time in court, away from their crops and/or businesses. The lack of maintaining crops and businesses caused the economic stability to go awry. In both events, the economy was shaken for a while after they were over.
3) How did people decide to divvy up the subjects? Was it by interest, or were they assigned? I noticed that the articles discussing patriarchal society and the stereotyping of women were written by girls. I was just wondering, did the people who wrote the articles get to choose their topics? Was there preference as to who wrote which articles?
1.I leaned that only one person in the whole town of Salem made an apology for accusing others for being a witch. Her name was Ann Putnam and she accused 62 different girls of being a witch. It took Ann 13 years to get the courage to apologize. By that time there was a new leader of Salem who help Ann make her decision. Another thing I leaned was any women with a temper could be thought of being a witch.In Salem like ever else women had no rights. Women in the society of Salem they had very important jobs, but still did not have any rights. Another thing that i leaned was the court has been separated form the church. This happened because the witches are supposedly associated with the Devil. The people did not want to be associated with the devil. It was more official because the trails
ReplyDeletewere run in the church.
2. A connection between the Salem Journal and the Anne Huchinson Documentary was women's rights. In the movie Anne had little to none rights, and in the trials for Salem the women had little to none rights to. The women just did what they were told and when they spoke out they just got hurt.
3.What made the people think it was ok to just say that you were a witch?
2.
1)-I’ve learned a lot about Tituba and who she is in general and as a person. Tituba was captured and then sold to a man named Samuel Parris. Tituba then met John Indian. They got married and had one kid.
ReplyDelete-The Puritans also had a very strong belief of witches. They feel like witches are bad creatures helping the hand of the devil.
-I also learned about the Puritans daily life. The town meetings and important gatherings were usually populated with men. “Salem is a man’s world.”
2)Mary Rowlandson didn’t have a great life. Her village was raged by Indians and she was taken captive. Mary Rowlandson described the Indians as Barbarous creatures, savages, ravenous bears, hellhounds etc. The puritans also judged people. The puritans called witches bad creatures and helping the hand of god.
3)What do you mean by “real toys”? What is the difference between toys and real toys?(specifically to Alex Blocker)
1. I learned that during the trials they accepted spectral evidence. I thought that was interesting because spectral evidence was basically on the honor system because if the girls that were accusing the people of being witches said that the "witch" was controlling something that the girl did the judges didn't have to see it they just assumed it was true. I learned that even though its called the Salem witch trials there was a Salem Village and a different Salem Town. I also learned that while the trials were going on there was a war at the same time.
ReplyDelete2. I saw a connection between the conflict of Salem Town and Salem Village and Samuel Parris not being able to be trusted.
3.I would ask why the judges believed the girls.
1) I read about John Proctor, and I learned that he was a savior and was not afraid to stand up for what he believed in. John’s neighbors envied him, because he was fortunate enough to own a farm and a tavern, however most people respected him. John was born into a family of farmers in Massachusetts. When John was 60 years old a small group of people started to accuse people of witchcraft, which he did not agree with. Proctor, unlike many of the other people in the community, was not afraid to stand up to the court. This resolved into John and Elizabeth being accused of witchcraft as well and were sent to jail.
ReplyDelete2) I know that Anne Hutchinson was also unfairly accused of something. Anne was accused of believing in something other than what the Puritans wanted her to believe in and protesting against it.
3) Coming into this project, what did you have in mind? Any surprises or unexpected events?
I learned that Reverend John Hale was a very respected minister. His wife was accused of being a witch but was not convicted. Another thing I learned was that all but one of the afflicted girls didn't apologize. They moved away, married, changed their names. They have been lost from history. Also, I learned that only 12 of the jurors took responsibility for their actions. I have connections from one article about the Court of Oyer and Terminer. I also made a connection between my writing about Samuel Sewall and many other peoples writing about him in their articles. How did you decide to format the newspaper that way and why?
ReplyDeleteDuring this project I learned how strict the Puritans were. There dress codes, acts and even public speakers. A connection I learned from writing my article and reading columbus was that religion was a huge impact on there lives. What they did and how they behaved. I would like to know why this ended so quickly.
ReplyDeleteDuring this project I learned how terrible and stupid the ways to find witches were. They would throw a person into the water and if they drowned, they were not witches. But if they floated, they were witches.
ReplyDeleteA connection from the first thanksgiving and the salem witch hunt is that they were both VERY strict when it came to religion. One question would be why did people have such stupid ways to find out if you were a witch?
ReplyDeleteI learned that the Putnam family was the ringlet leader of the afflicted girls and a huge key in the Salem Witch trials. I also learned that the people in Salem did not burn witches at the stake, that was banned during the English witch hunt. I also learned that in Nuremberg, Germany during the time of the Salem Witch Trials. Gottfried Leibnitz invented the calculator and Johann Christopher Denner and his son Jacob Denner had invented the clarinet by making an improvement of the Chalumeau.
A connection I had with my Giles Corey article and the Red Scare was that it played on peoples irrational fears, Giles Corey believed in witches, black magic, and voodoo, he had even accused his own wife of witchcraft. When he was arrested and tried as being a wizard he forgot his fear of witches and black magic and realized it all really was not real, just like the people in America who were accused of communism must have felt.
In the aftermath articles they say that because of the Salem Witch Trials people would learn a lot. What would they learn? Did they put this information to good uses?
1. While reading the newspaper my classmates wrote, I learned many new things about the people of Salem and their trials. I learned that there were seven court members, and that the chief justice was named William Stoughton. Twenty people died during the trials, nineteen were hanged, four died in prison, and rocks crushed one. I also learned about the different ways the court members judged who was a witch, and who wasn't. A witch cannot recite the Lord's Prayer, a witch would float, and a non-witch would drown. A witch also had two devil bite marks, the court members would stick a needle through the bite marks and if the witch felt pain, they were guilty, if they did not feel pain, the accused witch was innocent.
ReplyDelete2. For the Colonial America Project I studied Anne Hutchinson and her effect on the Massachusetts Bay Colony. In both the Salem witch trials, and the effect Anne made on the colony people were hanged for unjust reasons. In the Salem trials, people were hanged because they were accused of being a witch. Their court trials were biased towards the afflicted person, since no court member wanted to side with the accused witch, because that might result in them being accused a witch. Hutchinson along with many others in the Massachusetts Bay Colony was hanged for speaking what they believed in, and challenging authority.
3. In the article entitled Court Procedures, the author wrote that one of the ways to be accused of being a witch would be to go into the court yourself and announce that you were a witch. why would one accuse oneself of being a witch?
1. The court processes that were used to find people guilty or innocent were not always fair and just systems. A big part of why this was, is because in the Court of Oyer and Terminer spectral evidence was accepted as evidence.
ReplyDeleteThe girls that accused the townspeople had a lot of power put into their hands. No body could have known if they were fair and just accusations or wether they were just silly made up guesses.
A test that determined if you were a witch or not was that people would throw you into water and if you sank you were not a witch, but if you floated you were one.
2. I wrote about the court procedures during the trials, and I read a lot of the same information. I focused on the main picture of the forms of court, but some people focused more specifically on the aspects and evidence that was allowed in the court of over and terminer.
3. This question is directed towards any author who researched the trials. Do you think that the girls should have been trusted? Why or why not?