The McCarthy Era and the Salem Witch Trials

The McCarthy era is very similar to the Salem Witch trials. They

are both similar, because they both dealt with hysteria. Hysteria is an

uncontrollable fear or outburst of emotion. Both things had to do with people

accusing each other of people being communist, and people being witches.

The McCarthy era, took place in the twentieth century. It had to do

with people thinking that other people were communist. Since people thought that

others were communist, they accused them of committing communism.

Communism is, when people don't follow what the government says. The people

that were accused of being communist, were persecuted by other people in the

community. Then they were put to death. The U.S. senator Joseph Raymond

McCarthy was the man who was against the rising of communism. His revolts

against communism gave birth to the term McCarthyism.

The Salem Witch trials took place in the seventeenth century in

Salem, Massachusetts. They were considered to be America's most notorious

episode of witchcraft hysteria. As in the McCarthy era, people who were even

accused of being witches were persecuted. Many innocent people were killed

because of the result of false accusations and many other women were put through

many trials to determine if they were witches. Witches were considered outcasts of

society. It was also considered a hysteria because it was blown out of proprtion.

Much of this hysteria soon ended due to the sermon delivered by Cotton Mather.

In his statement he argued against the mass convictions of innocent people. Some

clergy finally decided to listen to his ideas and many of the accused were released

from jail by the decision of the governor and because jails were overflowing.

Hysteria has no place in a society because it is wrong. It causes chaos

and confusion and in these cases death. Hysteria can also cause paranoia and can

cause fear and hatred among societies. Many societies have experienced their own

witch hunts which has damaged societies greatly.

Bibliography

Works Cited

1996 Grolier Encyclopedia

"The Social origins of Witchcraft (1974)"

"The Salem Witchcraft Papers, 3 volumes (1977)"

"Witchcraft at Salem (1969)"

"Reading the Witch Trials of 1692 (1993)"

1996 Encarta Encyclopedia

"Joseph Raymond McCarthy"

Internet Browser

"Joe McCarthy"

http://www.english.upenn.edu/~afilreis/50s/mccarthy-bio.html

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