The Sacco and Vanzetti Trial

The Sacco and Vanzetti Trial

In the trial of Massachusetts vs. Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, the two men were accused of robbery and first degree murder. At the end of the trial the two men were found guilty and sentenced to the electric chair. After their death, many people had questioned whether or not the men had received a fair trial. There was an obviously inadequate amount of evidence against them. Many believe that since both Sacco and Vanzetti were known anarchists at the time, the court had used them as scapegoats to whoever had committed the crime. Yet looking back at the ideals of the time, as well as new evidence, it is clear that both Sacco and Vanzetti were innocent.

After the end of World War I the “Red Scare” took hold of the United States. A series of anarchist bombings in 1919 brought upon nationwide fear of socialists, anarchists, communists, and other groups. As a result of the bombings, many innocent people were jailed for expressing their views. Civil liberties were ignored, and many Americans feared that a revolution was at hand. The nation was gripped with fear and prejudice against anyone with views opposed to democracy. In the 1921 trial vs. Sacco and Vanzetti the prosecution had claimed that the accused would be tried for murder and nothing else