Judge Sewall's Apology: The Salem Witch Trials and the Forming of an American Conscience

by Richard Francis

The Salem witch hunt has entered our vocabulary as the very essence of injustice. Judge Samuel Sewall presided at these trials, passing harsh judgment on the condemned. But five years later, he publicly recanted his guilty verdicts and begged for forgiveness. This extraordinary act was a turning point not only for Sewall but also for America's nascent values and mores. In Judge Sewall's Apology , Richard Francis draws on the judge's own diaries, which enables us to see the early colonists not as grim ideologues, but as flesh-and-blood idealists, striving for a new society while coming to terms with the desires and imperfections of ordinary life. Through this unsung hero of the American conscience -- a Puritan, an antislavery agitator, a defender of Native American rights, and a Utopian theorist -- we are granted a fresh perspective on a familiar drama.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Biography, American History, Witches, 17th Century, Religion

432 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2005

About the author

The idea for writing TEAM came after the 9/11 attacks when
search and rescue dogs were used to find victims and possible survivors in the rubble. Why not have a dog help find the hostages and rescue them with his handler. On hikes and walks I would carry a note book and write down ideas for the story. And of course my inspiration and co-worker LT. has been to all my booksignings and also signs the book.

Reviews

[Pete daPixie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read. Enjoyed it more and more as it went on. Based on the rich diary of Samuel Sewell, here is a wonderful time travel back into 17th century New England, that lets the reader almost live and breath in the society of Puritan Boston.
Sewell was one of the judges in the Salem witch trials, so this book exposes the mind sets of the rural second generation colonists in their swirling wild world, beset by savage native Indians to the west and a pirate plagued ocean to the east, stuck between the two was a frontier society striving to build a shining city on a hill. The stark cold hardship of life in this fledgling Massachusetts New Jerusalem was always at the mercy of their Christian God, where harvests and the weather were subject to his good grace.
Here is a fascinating life story too, with all it's human triumphs and tragedy. Samuel Sewell was a family man, a New Englander still tied to the old. A trial judge. Anti-slavery agitator and believer of Native-American inclusion into this New World.
In 1689 Sewell became one of the very first American tourists, (without check jacket and camera) when he visited England to assist Increase and Cotton Mather with negotiations for a new charter. Hints here of politics to rise one hundred years later.

[Katherine Addison · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a biography of Samuel Sewell, who was one of the judges in the Salem witchcraft trials. It is well-written and well-researched. I would have liked it better if it had been more about the witchcraft trials and less about Samuel Sewell, and I would have liked it better if Francis had not been so concerned to show how remarkable Sewell was, how humane he was and how idealistic, etc. etc. Francis also argues that Sewell marks the transition from allegory to psychology as a way of understanding human lives, but the problem there is that to do so, he has to pretty much ignore the entire Renaissance. Sewell IS that person for the Puritans of New England, and as such is important to the development of American thought, but in his eagerness to show how special Sewell is, Francis tends to forget that the Puritans were 100 to 200 years behind the curve here.

This is a great depiction of life in Puritan Boston around the turn of the seventeenth century, and definitely if you're interested in early American history it is well worth your time. But the subtitle: "The Salem Witch Trials and the Formation of an American Conscience": is a little bit misleading, since the book isn't interested in Salem and doesn't provide any new insights. (I was very disappointed in Francis for heading straight down the FRAUD interpretation without really much nuance.) Honestly, I found much of the day to day minutiae of Sewell's life boring rather than charming and actually FINISHED the book mostly out of pig-headedness. But a different reader will have a different experience. YMMV.

[Sheila Walsh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book! Francis brings this lesser-known figure in the Salem witch trials to full-blooded life in this at-times beautifully written biography. It is so readable, and locates Sewall in his colonial world of Boston and its environs with full attention to his familial, ministerial, judicial, and social relationships. It makes sense of Puritanism and its doctrine of the elect in ways that I understand more fully than from any other account I have read and it is also laugh-out-loud funny in places. If you are interested in colonial New England history, the Salem witch trials, old Boston, or even the use of powdered wigs in the new world, read this book! There are a few unfortunate spelling typos, and sometimes Francis's transitions in blending Sewall's words and other tracts with his own prose are less than smooth, but I just couldn't put it down. It hardly looks like a page turner, but, believe me, it is!

[Brian Aldrich]

Besides Sewall, Ann Putnam made a formal apology.

[Dory Codington · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an important book for anyone interested in the history of American jurisprudence and/or the Salem Witch Trials. Sewall clearly begins his life as a believer the the Puritan tradition of signs. His diaries note rainbows, strong winds and unusual happenings as signs from God. These signs told the Puritans "how they were doing" in relation to earth, heaven and the almighty. This understanding was an important yardstick in a strict covenented community like 17th century Massachusetts.

The Witch Trials call these beliefs into stark observation, and required that grown men believe the religious observations of teenage girls. This was the world turning on its axis.

Over the course of the trials and afterward, Judge Sewall sees that religious understanding and faith have no good place in a capital trial. One of those moments that, although part of a whole, changes everything. That such a man then publically apologized to the community, showed what a great man he really was.

The author, Richard Francis, uses Sewall's amazing and extensive diary and excellent historical explantion to tell the story of this remarkable time and event.

[Taylor Brystol · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to love this book, and I did enjoy the first half. Well enjoy seems the wrong word considering. I appreciated it maybe. The title made me expect a book on the Salem witch trials and Sewall’s difficult transition as he grappled with and ultimately apologized for his culpability in such a vast justice denied.

And I got exactly that for 204 pages.

But the book went on.

Part two is a pure biography. And not just any biography. You know that one friend who is utterly fascinated by a particular topic and wants other to love it as much as he does so he talks at length about it, missing every social cue that screams you don’t care? Richard Francis is that way about Sewall. Gone is the brilliant analysis of the first four paragraphs of the introduction. Gone is the narrative suggested by the title and subtitle. We are left with the biography of a man written with far too much attention to detail (really? A whole chapter on the war of the wigs?) and without a reason to read it.

At the end of the day, this is an alright book that could have been amazing, if only an editor would have reigned in the fanboy enthusiasm of the author.

[Noah · Rating 3 out of 5]

This really is just a biography of Sewall, with the Witch Trials and his later apology making up just some of the pivotal parts of the book. I enjoyed this most for the life it gives to early Boston/New England/America and especially Puritanism (and Old South!). Although many "irrelevant" facts of Sewall's life ended up being significant and/or interesting, some of the other details Francis recounted from Sewall's diary got a little uninteresting to me.

[Jose · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book gives you a good view of what it was like around Salem, And New England, and what happens when you have fundamentalists and hysteria, Book tells you how Judge Sewall was influenced by other judges, Then later he regretted his actions, Although admirable of Him, I believe it was a little too late.Overall good book, and in my opinion very informative in regards to who sometimes where the real villains and how things got quickly out of hand.

[Daniel Werner · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my favorite books I have reread twice. Maybe I like it as a criminal lawyer and being also from this area its interesting to see how something so exotic was actually such an important point in the real legal history of this state and country. This is a history that quotes closely from the original diaries and records and so at times it is boring, but overall I enjoy this more than authors that overly paraphrase and try to bend history into easy reading.

[ECH · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was excited for the topic and the idea being presented, but I don't think it lands. There is a focus problem. The book spends too much time on topics that are neither woven into an interesting portrait of Sewall the person nor well explained as connected to his apology. The exegesis of the apology therefore comes across as a stretch.

[Jo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Samuel Sewall was one of the judges who presided over the Salem Witch Trials and later issued a public apology for his part in it. This is a full biography of the man so the trials are only part of his story. It's an interesting look at the life of people in the early US when it was still a colony and it tells of the social background that caused the witch craze to come about.

[Sarah Key · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have never naturally been drawn to the story of the Salem Witch Trials especially, but after introducing it in my curriculum this year, I am starting to feel like a content expert. It's a bizarre subset of knowledge.

[Marguerite Czajka · Rating 2 out of 5]

The writing is just too dry, I don’t get any feeling or emotion reading about the different characters. The doubts Sewall had seemed to be disconnected from the innocent people who were condemned.

[Joelendil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Samuel Sewall was the only judge from the Salem witch trials to publicly apologize for his involvement. While that apology is the source of the book’s title, the book actually covers his entire life as recorded in his journals. The author presents Sewall as charming and ahead of his time in regard to slavery, the treatment of native Americans, etc. He sometimes lays it on a bit thick and seems to read too much between the lines, but overall this is an interesting, informative look at Puritan culture and religion.

[J.S. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes while reading early American histories I wonder if I might come across a name from my own family history. It's not impossible since one of my lines runs right back to the Mayflower and I believe another goes back to the early Jamestown colonies. Hopefully - if I found one - they would be a good or heroic person instead of a scoundrel... but I guess I'd take a scoundrel, too. But I might have found one while reading this book by Richard Francis.

Samuel Sewall was born in England in 1652, but his parents were from the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and the family moved back to Massachusetts when Sam was 9 years old. He married Hannah Hull, daughter of the influential John Hull, and became one of the most respected men in Boston. But he is most remembered today for his role in the Salem Witch Trials where 24 people (I think) were executed for witchcraft between February 1692 and 1693. Sewall was part of the infamous "Court of Oyer and Terminer" where most of the convictions came from. While this is a biography of Sewall, Francis does recount the events of the trials but he doesn't go into a lot of depth. He attributes the hysteria to a combination of causes: the stress of living on the frontier with frequent Indian attacks, Puritan beliefs of America as a "Promised Land," and a local feud in Salem. The main reason Francis gives as to why Sewall went along with it was a perception that he had earlier been soft on commuting the sentence of a pirate, and his regret at that issue led him to take a hard line in the witch trials.

But the interesting thing about Sewall is that he issued a public apology a few years later. He wasn't the first to suggest that it had been a mistake and that innocent people were hanged (and squashed!), but he was the only one of those involved who took the blame for his role in the tragedy and didn't try to excuse himself by blaming others or circumstances. In fact, Francis portrays a sincere and honest man who - although he certainly had a fair-sized ego - tried to do what he thought was honest and just, both before man and God. And it's an interesting piece of history.

As for the possibility of finding one of my ancestors, it was about 1719 after Sewall's beloved Hannah had died. The Puritans didn't like loose ends and they expected widowers and widows to remarry. So, Sewall found himself courting the widow Winthrop when:

"... something odd happened. Into the room walked Obadiah Ayers, chaplain of Castle William... Ayers hung his hat upon the hook for all the world as if he lived there, while Sewall watched, 'a little startled.'" (pg 334)

I have an Obediah Ayers in my family history from the same area in Massachusetts but he had died about 20 years earlier. However, he had a son named Obediah (born 1670 in Haverhill, Massachusetts) who would have been about the right age, although I have him listed as dying in New Jersey, and it sounds like my Ayers line might have moved to NJ earlier than this. So, while this Ayers might not be an ancestor it's possible he was related to my ancestors. And thankfully he wasn't exactly a scoundrel!

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good book to read because it takes a different view of the Salem Witchcraft trials. The author uses Judge Sewall's diary and other documentation to tell the story of the witchcraze and the story of the judges. Judge Sewall was only one of the judges but he is particularly noteworthy because a few years after the trials, he apologized, which the other judges did not do.

The author did a good deal of research for this book and made good use of Judge Sewall's diary. Mr. Francis is a great writer but I did find the book a little difficult to get into. That is mainly because there was a substaintial amount of background of Judge Sewall prior to the trials and I was mainly just interested in the time period of the trials.

I would recommend this to people who are interested in the Salem Witchcraft trials, and specifically interested in the judges.

[Rachel Parham · Rating 1 out of 5]

Yeahhh... I should know better than to be surprised that a writer can take something as interesting as the 1692 Salem witch trials and render it as exciting as reading a grocery list.

Although the content of this poorly written work is excellent - I was very happy to read the context around the witch trials, such as the history of Salem and the political climate of the 1600s - it was constructed as a series of individual sentences with no flow or feeling. How can you write about the senseless murder of 20 people, and not infuse some sort of emotion into it??? It doesn't have to be flowery or overwrought, but you can make these people come to life so we feel some sentiment at their grossly unwarranted deaths.

Bad. Bad. Bad.

[Nancy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This biography of Samuel Sewall, who was one of the judges at the Salem witch trials in 1692, was written by one of his descendants. Sewall was the only one of the judges to express regret for the way the trials were handled. I generally like biographies a lot, but I thought this was dry. I would like to have learned more about the witch trials; the actual trials played a very small part in the book. I did like learning more about the Puritans, the role of women (many people thought that women wouldn't be resurrected), and the interconnections of the people in Boston/Salem. I think I would give it a 2.5.

[Diane · Rating 3 out of 5]

This biography of the presidin judge at the Salem witch trials presents the most comprehensive introduction to the ideas of that time period that I've found, and is worth reading for that reason alone. It fills in the gap between the founding of New England and the Revolutionary War, and discusses many of the challenges that the Puritans faced in the second generation. Unfortunately, the book tries to be both a biography and a history, which makes it a bit confused. Also, the writing is rather dry in that it includes long passages taken from contemporary diaries that are not paraphrased.

[Bruce · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is some treatment of the trials in the first part, but most of book is a biography of Samuel Sewall. He was an interesting individual who apologized for his part as a judge in the Salem witch trials without shifting the blame and its probable affect on him, making him a better judge. He was for inclusion of the Indians, thinking them a lost Israeli tribe. Allegedly wort the first anti-slavery tract in the us. Was appalled by the misogyny of some.

[BAM who is Beth Anne]

i really wanted to finish this book...but, i mean, it's been on my "currently reading" list for over 4 months now...so, i'm putting it aside. perhaps to pick up another day.

as interesting as i find the idea of the book, the writing was not at all able to pull me in and make me want to read about it.

unfortunate.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this book. It covered Puritan beliefs, early colonial thought, and the role the Indians played in religious goals. It is not a page-turner but it is superfull of facts, and I enjoyed reading about a character with so much source material as JUdge Sewall. I am going to recommend this to coworkers at the colonial site where I work.

[Cindi]

Abandoned about 1/3 of the way through. Wasn't bad. But it was a library book and I had a bunch of other books in-progress when it came due.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good and useful book, but I got bogged down after the witch trials and didn't finish it. Lots of good material on the life and times of the era.

[Kate Hannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little dry, but otherwise fascinating glimpse into the life, times and thoughts of the judge who presided over the Salem Witch Trials.

[Joseph · Rating 3 out of 5]

The part about the witch trials (about 100 pages) was fascinating and thought-provoking. But the rest of the book seemed to wander with no real purpose and not a lot of interest.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting

[Lenka · Rating 3 out of 5]

It wasn't really an apology tbh so I don't take it.

[Lynne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Apparently the only member of the judiciary to apologise. Sadly, it came rather late for all the victims of the so-called witch hunt.

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

A balanced treatment of Judge Sewall. This is more a biography as it goes beyond just the time of the witch trials.