Salem Witch Trial and the Crucible
It is not a coincidence that the first official witch trial took place in Massachusetts. A witch trial is when a person is accused of being a witch; they will then have to go to court to be testified to be seen guilty or innocent by a judge. This first witch trial happened in 1648, to a woman named Margaret Jones. The man who accused her was John Winthrop. He was governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony at the time. His reason for accusing Margaret of being a witch was because anyone who touched Margaret was taken with deafness, vomiting, sickness or pains. She was seen practicing physics, which women were not allowed to be learning about at the time. Also, anyone who she tried to help got worse and she foretold events that came true. The main reason why Winthrop accused her was because he was getting questioned about his authority by Margaret. Since she was a woman and was questioning him, he thought the best way to get rid of her was to send her to jail...
Cited: Rice, Earle. The Salem Witch Trials. San Diego, CA: Lucent, 1997.
The Salem Witch Museum - Salem, Massachusetts. Web. 02 Nov. 2010. <http://www.salemwitchmuseum.com/>.
"The Salem Witchcraft Trials of 1692." UMKC School of Law. Web. 02 Nov. 2010. <http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/salem/salem.htm>.
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