Salem Witch Trials

Were the Salem Witch Trials a peculiar, aberrant moment in an age of superstition, or did they reflect common human psychological and social anxieties that could appear in any age? How harshly should those who prosecuted the "witches" be condemned?

Slavery

Why did slavery grow to be such an important institution in colonial America? What were the effect of slavery on the Africans who were brought to the New World?

Europeans and Indians

What commercial, religious, and nationalistic incentives drove Europeans to embark on the hazardous course of establishing overseas colonies? What happened to both the Europeans and the Inndians when their worlds collided after 1492? In what ways were b oth societies changed?

Revolution

What was the Revolutionary movement really all about and the amount of taxation? The right of government to tax? The political corruption of Britain and the virtue of America? The right of a king to govern America? The colonies' growing sense of national identity apart from Britian?

The Declaration of Independence

What was radical and new in the Declaration of INdependence and what was old and traditional? What did statments like, "all men are created equal" mean in their historical context and what did they come to mean later?