Bias

There was also a great deal of conflict within the town of Salem, Massachusetts. Salem was a community in turmoil in 1692. Bad weather reduced harvests. An epidemic of small pox had swept through the town. Indians renewed attacks on the frontier settlements. The townspeople feared that another conflict like the recent King Phillip's War was about to engulf them. Also, there was great political uncertainty, since the King of England had revoked the colony's charter in 1684. The colonists had been without a sanctioned government since they had forced, though without bloodshed, ejected the King's chosen replacement in 1689. On an ill-fated day in 1692, a harmless childhood game set in motion a chain of events that would forever make Salem, Massachusetts, infamous in American history.