Parallels+to+the+Salem+Witch+trial-4

Melissa-p4

Joseph McCarthy-**Parallels to the Salem Witch Trail**
The Salem Witch Trial started in 1692 and lasted about only a year. It took place in Salem, Massachusetts, a town near Boston. The Salem Witch Trial and the McCarthy Hearings are very alike. Joseph McCarthy came up with both ideas because he and all the Americans were afraid and scared of communists taking over the country or the world.

Most of the witches were from Massachusetts, where many people from England immigrated. England was where people believed there was witchcraft. A female is called a witch and a male is called a wizard. When the people from England immigrated to the United States they brought the belief of witchcraft with them.

The Salem Witchcraft Trial works through a procedure. To start there has to be a person who thinks someone is a witch. They do not have to have evidence of this. So, the person states their complaint. Then the accused witch is issued a warrant and is arrested. After the witch is arrested they are taken to be examined, and the witch gets to tell their side of the story. Most likely the accused person is guilty and is sent off to jail to await their trial. For the trial, the case is led by a Grand Jury. Both the person who accused the person of being a witch and the witch enter the room. If the Grand Jury thinks the person is a witch, the witch is tried before the Court of Oyer and Terminer. The Court of Oyer and Terminer give out death sentences. Then the accused witch is given a specific date to be hung. On the correct date a sheriff takes the witch and hangs him/her.

During the Cold War there was something called the McCarthy Hearings. This was when Joseph McCarthy accused people of being communist. People were killed and put in jail without any evidence. People in the United States do not like communists, but they really didn't like the fact that Joseph McCarthy would actually kill people without any evidence of them really being communist.

There are many stories about how people used their "magical powers" and were accused of being witches. One story is about village girls in Salem who started behaving very strangely. People said they uttered weird sounds and crawled under tables. They would also scream that they were being tortured.

There were also girls that named people who were witches. When the people they named were standing right in front of them they kept insisting that they were being pinched, beaten and abused. This happened to eight 11-20 year old girls that have been told witchcraft stories before. This is how bad things got during the trials.

The McCarthy Hearings and the Salem Witchcraft Trials are alike in many ways. First, they accused people of being something they might not be even if they don't have any proof. If someone said you were a communist, like they did in the McCarthy Hearings, you would be put in jail or killed, even if someone was joking around. Both the trials had the same procedures but different complaints. One was a complaint about witchcraft being used and the other was a complaint about accusing someone of being a communist.


 * Bibliography:**

Web Pages: "Around the World." Witches.Net. 2005. 12 Feb. 2007.

Linder, Duglas, ed. "Salem witchcraft Trials 1692." http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/salem/SALEM.HTM. Jan. 2006.

Boyer, Paul. "Salem witchcraft trials." World Book Online Reference Center. 2007. Feb. 2007

Gundersen, Joan R. "Colonial life in America." World Book Online Reference Center. 2007. Feb. 2007

Book: Zeinert, Karen. "McCarthy and The Fear of Communism." Springfield, NJ : 1998