ShmoopTube

Where Monty Python meets your 10th grade teacher.

Search Thousands of Shmoop Videos

The Salem Witch Trials 10335 Views


Share It!


Description:

It's the year 1692 in colonial New England—Salem, to be precise. In a courtroom, someone is being accused of witchcraft. Totally crazy, right? We agree, but the Salem Witch Trials really did happen. Before everyone came to their senses, 19 people were hanged and 2 dogs were killed, and Arthur Miller had the tragic subject for one of his most famous plays.

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:00

Unit 2: The Loneliest Unit Since the Unit 1.

00:15

So… how was our country as we know it today… born?

00:20

Do we have one of those “chicken and egg” paradoxes on our hands?

00:32

Was America left in a basket on someone’s front door step?

00:36

Or did it result from a couple of other countries… gettin’ busy?

00:41

Okay, so maybe it’s not that simple.

00:45

However, there were a number of formative characters and events that certainly helped

00:54

shape our nation. You’ve got the Puritans, whose religious

00:59

beliefs might be considered extreme by our standards…

01:04

… but their uncompromising devotion to those beliefs paved the way for our modern spiritual

01:09

society. The Salem witch trials may seem outrageous

01:13

to us… …but it wasn’t that long ago that we dealt

01:19

with McCarthyism in this country…

01:22

…and many others have been unfairly persecuted since.

01:27

Like those poor Olsen twins. Even the way we get information has undergone

01:36

a considerable makeover.

01:38

We live in a time where media rules the day…

01:44

…but that media got its start several hundred years ago with the advent of the modern printing

01:59

press. Things have changed since then…

02:02

…but if not for those first newspapers, we wouldn’t have “I Can Has Cheezburger”

02:08

today… Without revivalism and the Great Awakening…

02:12

…we might not have separation of church and state.

02:19

And without the establishment of those first 13 colonies…

02:23

…well, we never would have been able to add the 37 others, right?

02:27

Interested to find out how America got its start?

02:31

Take a trip with us back through time…

02:33

… and we’ll tell you all about her.

02:36

Ain’t she a cutie?

Up Next

Why Does the Constitution Still Work for Us?
5721 Views

Ever heard of a "living document"? They eat and breathe just like the rest of us! They even walk around on their own two legs. Okay, fine—maybe t...

Related Videos

The Puritans and the Division of Church and State
1280 Views

If the Puritans had gotten their way, religion would play a much larger role in lawmaking these days. Want to know more? Watch the video for all th...

Shays' Rebellion
6345 Views

What happened between the creation of the Articles of Confederation and the ratification of the current U.S. Constitution? This video analyzes the...

There's More Than One Way to Crack a Modernist Egg
539 Views

The Modernists thought the world had a lot of problems, and they were intent on fixing them—or at least talking about fixing them. Unfortunately,...

Federalism
2532 Views

This video explains Federalism and the quest for a fair balance between state and national power. It covers the progression and compromises of Fede...