Part one of term paper
The Salem Massachusetts witchcraft trials of the late 1700’s have been the subject of debate for centuries. There are many theories as to why this hysteria took over the Puritan community during this time. One theory is that it was just a product of the times, because during this same time period, there were also witch-hunts in Europe. A se ...

Part two of term paper
... order to understand the different theories, it is important to present a brief summary of what happened during . The most popular historical perspective of what occurred is that in early 1692, the Rev. Samuel Parris's 9-year-old daughter Elizabeth and his 12-year-old niece Abigail Williams, “began to fall into horrid fits” (“Witch”). The village doctor William Griggs gave his opinion that the girls were the “victims of witchcraft” (“Witch”). There has been discussion as to whether ...