What would your reaction be if you were accused of something and were innocent? This is what happened to many people in the Salem Witch Trials and in McCarthyism. Innocent people were being punished for crimes that they did not commit. Even though there was little evidence, they were being hurt simply because somebody did not like their personal beliefs. These two events were similar because innocent people were being accused, there was little evidence, and people stood up for what they believed in.
In the Salem Witch Trials and in McCarthyism innocent people were accused of wrongdoing. In the Salem Witch Trials over a hundred people were accused of being witches. In McCarthyism over three hundred and twenty people were accused of trying to overthrow the United States government. The accused people did not know that they had done anything wrong, and they could not have stopped things used against them from happening. In the Salem Witch Trials Rebecca Nurse is accused of murdering seven of Ann Putnam's children. The children most likely died of natural causes and Rebecca had nothing to do with it. During the time of McCarthyism people were fired from their jobs in Hollywood, just because they were Communists. In many cases, the people were not Communists, but were just accused of being one. The communist's intentions were not to overthrow the government. The Conservative's just did not want the competition against the Communists. Most of these people who were accused were innocent, and should have been left alone.
Likewise, there was no evidence to prove if any of the people convicted were actually guilty. During the Salem Witch Trials there was absolutely no evidence that any of the citizens were witches, besides Abigail and the other girls who would scream. Still, this was not hard evidence. The girls could have been lying simply because they did not like that certain person. In McCarthyism many people in the Hollywood Motion Picture Industry were put out of work because they were communists.
