Compare and Contrast The Salem Witch Trials, and The Red Scare
American history is filled with situations where someone was blamed for doing something, or where someone was a scapegoat. Two famous examples of this are the Salem Witch Trials and the Red Scare. The Salem Witch Trials of 1692 happened when a bunch of girls started having seizures, and acting crazy. Everyone was scared, because they thought that this was work of the Devil. Quickly, the girls were forced to blame some of their friends as witches. The people blamed were often punished or killed. This is very similar to the Red Scare of the 1950s. The Red Scare was a period in American history, when many Americans were worried about Communism in the Soviet Union. Similar to the Witch Trials, people were forced to tell the government if they knew anyone who might be a communist. If people didn’t say, then they would be suspected of hiding information. When someone was accused of being a communist, they were forced to either name three other communists, or to spend time in prison. Naturally, people chose not to go to prison. They tended to name other people that they knew, regardless of whether or not those people were communists. Luckily for us, the Salem Witch Trials, and the Red Scare both ended. Otherwise, imagine what our life would be like today!
How did they end? Well, The Salem Witch Trials ended when the governors’ wife was accused of being a witch. As soon as this happened, the governor said that they had found all of the witches, and that they should stop looking for them. The Red Scare ended because of the checks and balances of our government. Many people including myself complain about how slowly the government operates, because of the checks and balances. But we do need to understand how important those checks and balances were to ending one of the worst periods of time in U.S. history.
Although the Red Scare and The Witch Trials are both horrible times in our country's history, there were some major differences. During the Salem Witch Trials, catching all of the witches wouldn’t have done anything to solve the problems of the colony. The main reason for this is that there weren’t any witches (because witches aren’t real). However, during The Red Scare, there really were Soviet spices in America. Although I don’t support the way we tried to find them, trying to find them was a good idea. If we had found all of the spies, one of our major problems would have been solved. Unfortunately, the stupidity of some people in government let the search for spies get out of control.
American history is filled with situations where someone was blamed for doing something, or where someone was a scapegoat. Two famous examples of this are the Salem Witch Trials and the Red Scare. The Salem Witch Trials of 1692 happened when a bunch of girls started having seizures, and acting crazy. Everyone was scared, because they thought that this was work of the Devil. Quickly, the girls were forced to blame some of their friends as witches. The people blamed were often punished or killed. This is very similar to the Red Scare of the 1950s. The Red Scare was a period in American history, when many Americans were worried about Communism in the Soviet Union. Similar to the Witch Trials, people were forced to tell the government if they knew anyone who might be a communist. If people didn’t say, then they would be suspected of hiding information. When someone was accused of being a communist, they were forced to either name three other communists, or to spend time in prison. Naturally, people chose not to go to prison. They tended to name other people that they knew, regardless of whether or not those people were communists. Luckily for us, the Salem Witch Trials, and the Red Scare both ended. Otherwise, imagine what our life would be like today!
How did they end? Well, The Salem Witch Trials ended when the governors’ wife was accused of being a witch. As soon as this happened, the governor said that they had found all of the witches, and that they should stop looking for them. The Red Scare ended because of the checks and balances of our government. Many people including myself complain about how slowly the government operates, because of the checks and balances. But we do need to understand how important those checks and balances were to ending one of the worst periods of time in U.S. history.
Although the Red Scare and The Witch Trials are both horrible times in our country's history, there were some major differences. During the Salem Witch Trials, catching all of the witches wouldn’t have done anything to solve the problems of the colony. The main reason for this is that there weren’t any witches (because witches aren’t real). However, during The Red Scare, there really were Soviet spices in America. Although I don’t support the way we tried to find them, trying to find them was a good idea. If we had found all of the spies, one of our major problems would have been solved. Unfortunately, the stupidity of some people in government let the search for spies get out of control.