Salem 2

From June through September of 1692, nineteen men and women, all having been convicted of witchcraft, were carted to Gallows Hill,a barren slope near Salem Village, for hanging. Another man of over eighty years was pressed to death under heavy stones for refusing to submit to a trial on witchcraft charges. Hundreds of others faced accusations of witchcraft; dozens languished in jail for months without trials until the hysteria that swept through puritan Massachusetts subsided. …

…than anyone for the tragic episode, refused to apologize or explain himself, He criticized Phips for interfering just when he was about to "clear the land" of witches. Stoughton became the next governor of Massachusetts. The witches disappeared, but witchhunting in America did not. Each generation must learn the lessons of history or risk repeating its mistakes. Salem should warn us to think hard about how to best safeguard and improve our system of justice.