Samuel Sewall

Oliver Scheiding (Johannes Gutenberg Universität Mainz)
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Samuel Sewall is one of a number of important public figures of the colonial period. He is probably best known as one of the witch judges who helped sentence twenty people to death during the notorious Salem witchcraft trials (1691-1693). His penitence and deep contrition for the share he had in them later made him an advocate for human rights and a spokesman against the injustice of the institution of slavery. John Greenleaf Whittier remembered him as the “the Judge of the old Theocracy / Whom even his errors glorified” (1894, 67). Although he was closely related to the orthodox religious leaders of New England – foremost among them Increase and Cotton Mather – he took part in the reexamination of the ‘New England way’ in the closing years of the seventeenth century. As one…

3049 words

Citation: Scheiding, Oliver. "Samuel Sewall". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 23 December 2008 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=4026, accessed 19 March 2024.]

4026 Samuel Sewall 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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