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What was the impact of the Salem witch trials on American society?

The witch trials, which took place in Salem, Massachusetts, from 1692 to 1693, resulted in the term witch-hunt being used to describe the searching out and hounding of people with uncommon or unpopular opinions. During the Salem trials several teenage girls accused two hundred people of practicing witchcraft, and many of the suspects appeared before a panel of unqualified judges (they were not trained lawyers) who considered spectral evidence (testimony that a ghost or evil spirit had attacked a victim) without requiring physical evidence to support the accusations. Nineteen people were eventually hanged and one person crushed to death for practicing witchcraft. Alarmed by the number of trials and convictions, Massachusetts colonial governor William Phips (1631–1695) ordered that the court be disbanded. However, a second court was...

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