The Library of Congress profiles Massachusetts in this fact-filled article about the "Old Colony State."

Religious tolerance was an important but often misunderstood contribution of the colonial era. Tolerance developed only after time. Groups such as the Pilgrims and Puritans who left Europe to escape religious persecution often were...

Describes what happened in the Puritan town of Salem, Massachusetts in 1692 when a group of young girls began to have visions and were accused and tried for witchcraft.

In 1692 a group of adolescent girls in Salem Village, Massachusetts, became subject to strange fits after hearing tales told by a West Indian slave. When they were questioned, they accused several women of being witches who were...