Samuel Sewall

Samuel Sewall (1652-1730) was an associate magistrate at the Salem witchcraft trials. A devout Puritan, he emigrated from England to the Massachusetts colony in 1661. He settled in Boston, where he attended Harvard University, hoping to study for the ministry, but he eventually left to pursue a career in business. He also entered local politics, and was elevated to the judiciary that in 1692 judged the people in Salem accused of witchcraft. It was his harsh stand on the cases, motivated by his religious ardor, that earned him the reputation of the "hanging judge."

Despite this, Sewall could also be very liberal in his views. In The Selling of Joseph (1710), for instance, he came out strongly against slavery, making him one of the earliest colonial abolitionists. His Diary, kept from 1673 to 1729, describes his life as a Puritan against the changing tide of colonial life, as the devoutly religious community of Massachusetts gradually adopted more secular attitudes and emerged as a liberal, cosmopolitan-minded community. As such, it is an important work for understanding the transformation of the colony in the days leading to the American Revolution.