salem essays

salem essays The Salem Event History Essay The Salem Event is a part of American history that has had continual ripple effects in areas of politics, religion, social and cultural climates up to present time. To understand this, first you will need to know what the Salem Event exactly was, the factors that were responsible for this, and if certain personalities incited or calmed the raging waters of this event. Also, because this was such an important event, what lessons have or have not been learned as they are applied to present day USA. To fully comprehend this, lets start from the beginning. The Salem Event occurred in Salem, Massachusetts in the year 1692. During this event, nineteen alleged witches were hung, and hundreds more were accused and awaiting trial when it had ended. It all began after a handful of girls had a fortune-telling session with a West Indian slave. The girls started to exhibit hysterical behavior and began accusing people of the town of witchcraft. Unfortunately, family and close friends of these girls largely supported the accusations which resulted in the involvement of the local minister, Samuel Parris. Samuel Parriss home had been where the outbreak began after his daughter began exhibiting this strange behavior. With his encouragement, the accusations escalated, trials were held, and almost twenty supposed witches were executed. Ever since then, historians have been studying the event, trying to uncover the possible causes which may have been responsible for the terrible things that had taken place in Salem. There are many possible causes that resulted in this unfortunate event in history. Some believe that economic tension was to blame. In Salem, there had been disagreements between neighbors about the location of boundary lines and the reach of property. It is very possible that some people used these trials as a way to force a man to forfei...