Salem Witch Trials In America

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America is known for being the land of the free. It’s seen as a place where people can do anything and be anything without anyone getting in the way. However, it certainly didn’t start off that way. From the slave trade to the Salem witch trials, persecution has been part of the foundation of America since before it was established. The slave trade tore people out of their homes and forced them to work for someone else’s benefit. The witch trials showed the accused as guilty no matter how they defended themselves. The enslavement of indigenous people in the Indies forced innocents to give up what was theirs so others could make a profit. While many people came to America to escape persecution, these events led to America becoming a country …show more content…
Equiano was a boy from Nigeria who was kidnapped and sold as a slave in Central America. His story first described the terror children faced while the adults were at work, saying that they had to hide as best as they could to avoid being kidnapped. One day, kidnappers took Equiano and separated him from his sister. He said, “I now saw myself deprived of all chance of returning to my native country…” (Equiano 3). Equiano showed that the kidnappers made him lose all hope of coming home again. For a child, this would have been terrifying. The people who were kidnapped were treated terribly on the ship. For instance, Equiano wrote about the time the crew caught several fish. He said that “they tossed the remaining fish into the sea again, although we begged and prayed for some as well as we could, but in vain…” (5). The slaves begging and praying for food emphasized how badly they were treated. If anyone tried to take some of the fish, they were punished. Upon reaching land, the slaves were corralled into another small space. They were “pent up together like so many sheep in a fold...” (6). He showed that he and the other slaves were treated like animals, as if they weren’t equal with their captors. Overall, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano illustrated the persecution of Africans by slave owners. Equiano’s …show more content…
In this story, a group of girls led by Abigail Williams accused people in the town of being witches. More and more girls began accusing others once it was seen as the right thing to do, seeing that they won’t be punished if they gave up the names. This is evident towards the end of act one as Tituba gave up names and Abigail and Betty joined in. The accusations spiraled out of control until all the girls who were involved with the dancing testified against the accused in court. There was no way for people to defend themselves; if they confessed, they were let go, but seen as terrible people. If they said they weren’t witches, they were declared guilty and sentenced to death. The powerful majority, the accusers, were able to dominate the weaker minority, the accused, with little opposition. That is, until several characters, including Reverend Hale and John Proctor, noticed how flawed this system was. In act two, Proctor said, “Why do you never wonder if Parris be innocent, or Abigail? Is the accuser always holy now? Were they born this morning as clean as God’s fingers? I’ll tell you what’s walking Salem--vengeance is walking Salem” (Miller 1179). Proctor argued that Abigail and Parris should have been questioned along with the accused. He said that the accusations were motivated by vengeance, and that the accusers all wanted something out of the trials. Abigail
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