Written by Harriet Beecher Stowe, [BLANK-1] was a novel that became a bestseller and the most famous piece of abolitionist literature in United States history. The novel described the treatment of slaves on a plantation and provided many northerners (mostly women) with their first glimpse of the graphic horrors of the practice of slavery. Stowe particularly targeted women with her emphasis on families and her rhetoric appealing to universal motherhood. Her work was effective and increased calls for emancipation in the North. During the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln jokingly chastised her about the effectiveness of her book, “so you’re the little lady who started this great big war!”

The most controversial aspect of the proceedings of the Court of Oyer and Terminer during the Essex County Witch Scare was the decision to allow the use of [BLANK-1] and their claim that Satan could not imitate the appearance of an innocent person. The examiners used Richard Bernard’s A Guide to Grand Jury-Men (1627) to inform their proceedings, but ignored Bernard’s specific warning not to use this type of testimony or proof, “the Devil can lye more often…than speake truth.” The tormented accusers described seeing and speaking with accused witches even when their physical bodies were many miles away or even in prison. The witches’ projections could hurt the accusers and often made confessions to them in private (though the actual accused witch denied those confessions in court). Examiners put a great deal of emphasis on the accusers’ reactions during the trials, noting that they would fall into hysterics and pain when an accused witch looked at them or denied the charges but becoming silent and calm when a witch confessed. They employed the touch test (by which the accused witch would touch the tormented accuser during a fit – if the fit stopped immediately after the accused touch, then that was considered proof of guilt). Following the sensational examinations of Abigail Hobbs and George Burroughs in April, 1692, the court began to rely almost exclusively on these types of testimony and tests to verify the guilt of the accused. By September, public opinion began to turn sharply against the use of these kinds of tests and burdens of proof as local religious leaders Increase Mather and Cotton Mather made the claim that the Devil could take the shape of innocent persons. By January of 1693, the court fully abandoned these tests and adopted a more rigorous burden for truth. Governor William Phips conceded “we were convinced and acknowledged that their former proceedings were too violent and not grounded upon a right foundation…the new trials have adopted another method.” From that point forward, none of the accused witches were executed.

Not all members of the Second Continental Congress were in favor of declaring independence from England. Representatives from Pennsylvania, particularly [BLANK-1], who had previously written Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania (where he compared the quarrel between England the colonies as a fight between overly strict parents and their children) and The Olive Branch Petition, the last-ditch effort to avoid war with England. As John Adams led the faction in favor of Independence, this man led the faction opposing independence. He abstained from voting to approve the Declaration of Independence and refused to sign the document; however, he is one of the few founding fathers who actually took up arms and fought against the British during the American Revolutionary War.

[BLANK-1] was an American Revolutionary War general and hero. He was a rival of George Washington’s and had attempted to have him replaced as commander of the Continental Army at certain points during the war; however, he was very popular and could have had a promising political career. He was likely the person chiefly responsible for the Newburgh Conspiracy, a planned coup d’état in 1783. He encouraged the army (which would soon be disbanded) to march on the capital, Philadelphia, and force congress to pay all soldiers five years of full pension funds immediately rather than a lifetime pension of half pay. Had such a coup attempt been carried out, it may have ended American Democracy. In a surprise move, George Washington showed up to the meeting called by this man and delivered a speech encouraging soldiers to avoid marching on congress and forcing them to make laws at the point of guns. Washington’s speech worked, this man’s legacy was ruined, and America henceforth established a longstanding pattern of military subordination to civilian authority.

[BLANK-1] was the central part of Alexander Hamilton’s financial plan for the early United States. Although the move to create this institution was controversial, and particularly opposed by Thomas Jefferson and his faction, it received congressional approval and was essential to the United States’ economic vitality. It served as a depository for federal funds, printed paper currency backed by hard specie, helped control inflation, and gave wealthy people a vested interest in the federal government’s finances. It also gave the United States a boost in early industrial capitalism.

The earliest person to confess to being a witch in the 1692 Essex County Witch Scare was the slave woman [BLANK-1]. She was the slave of the community’s minister, Samuel Parris, but had previously come from the West Indies (where folk magic and spell casting were commonly practiced). Her race is unknown, although she was likely at least partly Native American and was married to another Native American slave named John Indian. She had been heavily involved in the incidents that likely caused the symptoms in Abigail Williams and Betty Parris that were later attributed to witchcraft. Objectively, she did attempt some beneficium (good magic or harmless magic). She taught the girls magic divination (fortune telling) likely with a Venus Glass and had participated in the Witch Cake trial with the Parris’s neighbor, Mary Sibley. During the first witchcraft examinations, Abigail and Betty accused her and others of using invisible agents to pinch and bite them. This woman confessed and claimed that Satan had come to her and demanded that she hurt the girls; she also accused the two other women being examined at the time, Sarah Good and Sarah Osbourne, of being worse witches that forced her into the harmful acts. Young Abigail and Betty, who had been quite agitated throughout the examination, immediately calmed down once she had confessed, leading credence to her confession. Unlike every other accused witch examined that day, this woman survived the scare and was never executed (despite her confession and being a slave woman of color).

Between 1800 and 1860, the percentage of Americans who were [BLANK-1] rose from 12 to 40%. Most were unskilled laborers, women, and children and they faced an increasingly demanding schedule. Unlike in the shop system where apprentices would live with their masters and long-term commitments were expected, these laborers did not live with their masters and the relationship between owner and laborer was more impersonal. Further, these laborers could be hired or fired as the market dictated.

At the turn of the nineteenth century there was a strong [BLANK-1] to the United States led by Tecumseh’s Confederation. Organized by Shawnee leaders Tecumseh and Tenskwatawa, it encouraged Native Americans to set aside their individual squabbles to focus on fighting United States expansion and the revitalization of their own culture. In the early years of the nineteenth century, this was a serious challenge for the United States. Tecumseh and his allies won some significant victories before a major setback at the Battle of Tippecanoe in 1811 diminished his confederacy and defeats at The Battle of Moraviantown in 1813 and the Battle of Horseshoe Bend in 1814 crushed serious armed action against the USA.

One of the earliest and staunchest advocates of English colonization efforts in America was [BLANK-1]. This person wrote Discourse on Western Planting in 1584 where they amassed the supposed religious, moral, and exceptional economic benefits of colonization.

Women were also involved in the American Revolution, though they were not allowed to officially fight for the Continental Army of militias. One such case was [BLANK-1], the wife of a Connecticut militia leader. As her hometown was attacked, she calmly evacuated her household and when her husband was captured by loyalists, she wrote letters for his release. When those attempts failed, she spearheaded an effort to capture a prominent Tory leader to exchange for her husband’s freedom.