Salem+Witch+Trial

  Was killing justified as a result of the Salem witch trials? (MC-SOTH, JaS-SOTH)

=**Why is this important to American history**? = When the people turned to violent acts to rid their town of "witches" the townsmen lost faith that God would protect them. They took matters into their own hands and decided to kill off all the people who they thought were endangering themselves and their families. We as Americans are all for equal rights. We try not to be racist and we are tolerant of religion. During the Salem Witch Trials the people of the town of Salem decided to discriminate against certain people even though there was no real evidence against them. In many of the court cases the victims were discriminated against and executed with no real evidence against them. If anything like that happened to anyone today it would be all over the news and a big ordeal would be made out of it. All sorts of groups would fight that it is discrimination and maybe it is. But all the townspeople were for the extermination of the alleged witches. Now America is against discrimination and maybe the Salem Trials helped us realize the evils of discrimination and helped our country fight against it. ~ JAS-SOTH  I don't think I agree with killing people to get rid of people using witch craft. Just because some kids were messing around doesn't mean they had to freak out and kill people to get rid of it. I think they did the right thing by taking them to court and asking questions to try and understand what they were actually doing. In my Christian faith, I believe these people had the devil in them or they were demon possessed is probably the right term. Why would some kids just totally start doing witch craft out of no where and freak everyone out. The three women that showed these girls what witch craft really is, I think they are crazy. The three women were actually really different in their own ways. -MC-SOTH

= Why was or why wasn't killing justified? = The puritans may have over reacted but they did not realize that the girls were not really being harmed. A lot of what happened during the Salem Witch Trials was just misunderstanding and people not realizing that what they were doing could really hurt other people. A lot of the people who were accused of witchcraft were really being discriminated against and because of that now we can look back on that and realize all the trouble that can come out of lying to get revenge and discrimination. We are all really worried about being racist and most people think of discrimination against different races but you can discriminate against people who are not a rich as you are or who are richer than you are. Sarah Good was a poor beggar and many of her neighbors did not think that she was very “proper” or that they way she was living was right for their society. Maybe the accusation of witchcraft was a way to get rid of her. Tituba, another alleged witch, also was not well liked. She was a slave. I am not saying that the Salem Witch Trials was the right way to handle the situation but God can bring good out of it, and now I personally am more careful about the way I think and act towards certain people.~JAS-SOTH

I agree with all of that. I think that God has a plan for everything and he knows what he is doing. My confirmation verse was Jeremiah 29:11 which is "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." I think this verse sums up all of history because we think everything is going wrong but really God knows his plan and it is a good one indeed. I think that killing was not justified because nobody deserves to be killed for something they did wrong because God forgives us. We talked about in history one day about how that man say "Hey Baby" in the north and he was from the south where it was okay to say stuff like that. The women that night told someone in authority about it. Then, the next day he was captured and killed on the spot. I think they should have told him what he did wrong instead just taking his life from him. It says in the 5th commandment that "We shall not murder". Instead they should have taken him to jail and say hey this is not appropriate and this is not allowed in the north. We like to treat our ladies with respect. Then, he would have understood what he did wrong and that way he would stop. I think its the same way with the people that we doing witch craft. They needed to say stop that and this is what you are doing wrong and then if you don't stop then they have the right to kill them. They don't have the right to just kill someone for one thing they did wrong. (MC-SOTH)

You were saying it was wrong to kill people so do you think that it is wrong to use the death sentence? The people of Salem did not realize that the people, in many cases, were not hurting the other people. Many people’s kids were saying they were being tortured and would go into convulsions. If you were a parent and you child was spontaneously going into convulsions, and someone suspected that a devil possessed person was purposefully harming that child wouldn’t you want to have that taken care of? In the case of the Salem trials killing the people may have been the only way to save the children. I am sure if that at the time the jury had known many of the people who were claiming to be tortured by someone’s specter they would not have taken such severe action against the alleged witches. They were very concerned about the children and at the time it seemed as if killing the witches off was the only way to save their village.~JAS-SOTH

Today there are a lot of countries; most often in the Middle Eastern areas of the world, there is discrimination against certain peoples. A lot of the people who were convicted during the Salem trials were convicted by children’s witnesses. Children are not a bad source of evidence but they are very easily persuaded to think and honestly believe one thing. When you were a child your parents most likely told you to that Santa Clause brought you presents on Christmas. And you believed them. You would run out and rip open the gifts Santa “brought” you and you believed that Santa really did bring you the gifts. Your parents usually gave you accurate information so when they told you about Santa you naturally believed them. As a child you will believe almost anything. We need to be suspicious of a confession if the confession was the result of a torturing. If admits something to doing something only after you have twisted their arm to get it out of them, is it an accurate confession? We are human and mistakes are made. Through Jesus Christ we have been forgiven. However being forgiven does not make us perfect. During the Salem trials the people were all victims of hysteria. They all freaked out over their well being. Sometimes that happens but at times we need to think things through not once but twice before we act on them especially when the lives of others are in peril by your decision. ~JAS-SOTH





Primary Source- [|Salem Witch Trials] [|www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/f] [|**trials**] [|/] [|**salem**] [|/] [|**salem**] [|.htm] [|www.nationalgeographic.com/] [|**salem**] [|/] [|http://www.wsu.edu/~campbelld/amlit/witch.htm] [] []

