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Historical Context

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Puritans-Beliefs

  • Total depravity- human beings are inherently evil think think downfall of Adam and Eve

  • Predestination-Salvation belongs to the “elect”, or God’s chosen. No good works will help you become saved.

  • Grace-God’s grace is fully given to those who accept and believe

  • The Bible is the supreme authority on Earth.

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Puritans-Sabbath

  • preparations began the day before. All of the food had to be cooked and clothes ready.

  • No labor, not even sewing, could be done on the Sabbath.

  • required to read the Bible not doing so was thought that they were worshiping the devil.

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Salem Witch Trials-the start

  • 1692-1693 Salem, Massachusetts

  • New England, under the English legal system, witches would be subject to arrest, trial, conviction and sentenced to hanging

  • two young girls; Betty (the daughter) and Abigail Williams (the niece) of the Salem Village minister, Reverend Samuel Parris had unexplained behaviors

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Salem Witch Trials- Causes of Hysteria

  • Strong belief in Devil giving power to witches (disease, natural catastrophes, bad fortune…)

  • Disputes, Rivalries and Personal Differences (Putnam vs Porters)

  • Teenage Boredom

  • Confessing "witches" Tituba-was influential in bringing others to trial

  • Ergot poisoning-rye grains contaminated with a fungus known as ergot causes hallucinations and convulsions similar to those reported

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Salem Witch Trial-Results

  • more than 200 people were accused unjustly of practicing witchcraft.

  • 20 executed 13 died in prison

  • Giles Corey, was pressed to death when he refused to plead.

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Salem Witch Trials-the end

  • Eventually, the colonial government acknowledged that the trials were a mistake, and compensated the families of those convicted.

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McCarthyism

-The Start

A period of intense suspicion of Communist sympathizers in the United States during the early 1950s.

It began when Senator Joseph McCarthy, a U.S. senator from Wisconsin, claimed that communists had infiltrated the Department of State

The House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) was formed to investigate allegations of communism, which anyone could claim.

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Prosecutions- “Witch Hunts”

  • During this period, everyone but especially those in the public eye became the subjects of aggressive “witch hunts” often based on inconclusive, questionable evidence.

  • Persons accused of being communists were often denied employment in both the public and private sector.

  • over 300 actors, writers, and directors were denied work in the U.S.

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McCarthyism

- the End

McCarthyism a campaign or practice that endorses the use of unfair allegations and investigations (Google)

1954-a famous CBS newsman, Edward R. Murrow, aired an investigative news report, which revealed McCarthy as dishonest in his speeches and abusive in his interrogation of witnesses.

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Arthur Miller

-Personal Life

  • Born October 17, 1915
  • raised in Brooklyn, NY
  • Attended the University of Michigan and majored in English
  • Married three times
  • Had four children
  • died of a heart attack on February 10, 2015

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Arthur Miller-Career

  • 1947- All My Sons

  • 1949-Pulitzer Prize for Death of a Salesman

  • 1953-wrote The Crucible
    • Allegory for the Salem Witch Trials and McCarthyism “witch hunts”

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Arthur Miller-in Politics

  • was investigated by the HUAC for possible associations with the Communist Party

  • 1954-was denied a passport to attend The Crucible London opening

  • Because he refused to “give names,” he was found guilty of contempt of Congress, sentenced to
    • a fine and prison sentence
    • blacklisted
    • disallowed a passport.

  • His sentence was later overturned.

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