Unit 2: Vocabulary from Reading 2

“I am afraid that ages will not wear off that reproach and those stains which these things will leave behind upon our land.”

Modern witch hunts include the roundup of Japanese-Americans during World War II, the pursuit of Communists in the ’50s and, according to an increasing number of critics, some of today's outbreaks of community hysteria over purported sex abuse in preschools.

Often their distress was traced to local women who, it was said, had entered into a compact with the Devil and were now recruiting new witches by tormenting the innocent until they succumbed.

Often their distress was traced to local women who, it was said, had entered into a compact with the Devil and were now recruiting new witches by tormenting the innocent until they succumbed.

If a prisoner was released or a jury decided to acquit someone, the girls went into such shrieking torments that the court quickly reversed itself.

Life could be dreary for girls in 17th century Salem: their place was home and their duty was obedience; many were illiterate, and there were few outlets for youthful imagination except in the grim lessons of Puritan theology.

Life could be dreary for girls in 17th century Salem: their place was home and their duty was obedience; many were illiterate, and there were few outlets for youthful imagination except in the grim lessons of Puritan theology.

Historians have long believed that local feuds and property disputes were behind many of the accusations, and in “Salem Possessed” (1974), Paul Boyer and Stephen Nissenbaum uncovered patterns of social and civic antagonism that made the community fertile ground for a witch hunt.

I speak as briefly as possible because too much harm has already been done with irresponsible words of bitterness and selfish political opportunism.

The United States Senate has long enjoyed worldwide respect as the greatest deliberative body in the world. But recently that deliberative character has too often been debased to the level of a forum of hate and character assassination sheltered by the shield of congressional immunity.