Salem Possessed Lesson Plan

What are some of the reasons that record-keeping tended to be poor on the Village Committee, and what might some of the implications of this poor record-keeping be?

Students may cite the informal processes of the political system within Salem Village, given the unfamiliar territory of the ambiguous political status of the Village. They might also explore what the effects this situation were, including that people could easily take control of the Committee or of the Village’s whole political apparatus through manipulative, exploitative means. Students may also point out that this also explained another reason why records may have continued to be poor: “Those men who...