Future education
- Next few years: textbooks in Tennessee had all information of evolution removed
- Just three days after Bryan died: an anti-evolution bill was put before the Georgia state legislature.
- 1926: similar bills were presented to three more state assemblies.
- 1927: no less than eighteen different anti-evolution bills were submitted in fourteen states.
- Overall, two-thirds of all anti-evolutionist political activity in the 1920s occurred after the Scopes trial ended.
- 1967: Butler Act was repealed
Media
- 1st trial to broadcast live on radio
- 1st trial covered with full arsenal of modern media
- Trial was filled for newsreels in theaters
- Nearly a thousand people total came-- 300 standing
- Case was moved outside due to worry of floor collapsing from weight
- Hordes of spectators and reporters came to Dayton
- Carnival-like atmosphere
- Exhibit featuring two chimpanzees and a supposed "missing link" came to town
- Vendors sell toy monkeys, Bibles, food, etc.
- Radio broadcasters and photographers crowed courtroom
RESULTS:
- Verdict was thrown out on a technicality on an appeal
- Volunteered to defend John Scopes' right to teach evolution
- Gained previous recognition from the Leopold and Leob Case.
- Argued that academic freedom was being violated
- Claimed that the legislature had indicted a religious preference; violating the separation of church and state.
Clarence Darrow
John Scopes
- 24 year old high school teacher and a coach.
- He was a substitute for a biology class in Dayton, TN
- Asked by the ACLU to indict himself
- He agreed
William Jennings Bryan
- Soon after "teaching" the subject of evolution, he was arrested and charged for going against the Butler Act
- Attorney for the state of Tennessee
- Believed Bible should be interpreted literally
What happen in the trial?
- 1922: begins his anti-evolution crusade in Kentucky, speaking out against the Darwinian
John Thomas Scopes
- Campaign catches fire in Tennessee
- Jury consisted of mostly churchgoing farmers
- Judge Raulston destroys the defense's strategy
- Ruled expert scientific testimony on evolution was inadvisable
- Because: Scopes was on trial, not the law he violated
- Believed that evolution theory led to dangerous social movements
- Judge Raulston overrules the defense's motion to have the Butler law declared unconstitutional.
- Trial is moved outside b/c afraid weight from spectators will give out the floor
- Darrow called Bryan to testify as a biblical expert
Clarence Darrow
- Bryan accuses Darrow of making a "slur at the Bible"
- Darrow mocks Bryan for "fool ideas that no intelligent Christian on earth believes."
William Jennings Bryan
Died 5 days after the trial ended
What caused the trial?
Over view
- Darwin announced his theory that humans had descended from apes
- By the 1920s, most of the urban churches of America had been able to reconcile Darwin's theory with the Bible
- In 1925, the Tennessee legislature passed the Butler Act
What is the Scopes "Monkey" Trial of 1925?
Citation Page
Johnson, M. Alex. "Lessons Learned from Monkeying with History." Msnbc.com. N.p., 18 July 2005. Web. 09 Feb. 2016.
"Monkey Trial Begins." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 09 Feb. 2016.
"An Introduction to the John Scopes (Monkey) Trial." An Introduction to the John Scopes (Monkey) Trial. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Feb. 2016.
"The Scopes Trial, The Twentieth Century, Divining America: Religion in American History, TeacherServe, National Humanities Center." The Scopes Trial, The Twentieth Century, Divining America: Religion in American History, TeacherServe, National Humanities Center. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Feb. 2016.
"The Monkey Trial." Ushistory.org. Independence Hall Association, n.d. Web. 17 Feb. 2016.
"Timeline: Monkey Trial." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 22 Feb. 2016.
"Digital History." Digital History. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Feb. 2016.
1859: Charles Darwin's Origin of Species is published
1922: William Jennings Bryan begins his anti-evolution crusade in Kentucky, speaking out against the Darwinian (campaign catches fire in Tennessee)
1925: Tennessee governor Austin Peay signs into law the Butler bill
May 4, 1925: Newspapers throughout Tennessee carry a small notice from the ACLU offering to pay court costs for any Tennessee teacher willing to test the anti-evolution law in the courts.
May 5, 1925: John Scopes agrees to become the ACLU's defendant
May 13, 1925: Bryan agrees to represent the World's Christian Fundamentals Organization
May 25, 1925: indict Scopes or violating the Butler Law
July 10, 1925: The State of Tennessee v. John Thomas Scopes, comes before Judge John T. Raulston
July 13, 1925: Clarence Darrow hopes to convince Judge Raulston to declare the Butler Law unconstitutional.
July 15, 1925: Judge Raulston upholds the Butler Law and the trial continues
July 17, 1925: Judge forbids the defense team's scientific experts to testify before the jury.
July 20, 1925: Because of the heat and the crowd, Judge Raulston re-convenes court outside; Darrow's relentless interrogation of Bryan
July 21, 1925: Verdict found guilty
July 26, 1925: Bryan dies in his sleep in Dayton.
- Who? John Scopes vs. Tennessee legislature
- What? American legal case in 1925
- Where? Dayton, TN
- When? July 10, 1925 - July 21, 1925
Evolutionism vs. Creationism
Evolution: the process by which different kinds of living organisms are thought to have developed and diversified from earlier forms during the history of the earth.
Creationism: the belief that the universe and living organisms originated from specific acts of divine creation, an in a biblical account
The Butler Act: (March 21, 1925) : prohibited Tennessee public school teachers from teaching evolution or anything contradicting the biblical account of the origins of man.
- Case publicized the Fundamentalist-Modernist controversy
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) : sought after teachers willing to challenge the Butler Act
George Rappalyea: local coal company manager
Fundamentalist
- interpreted Bible word for word
- saw the Bible as the only salvation from a materialistic civilization in decline.
Modernist
- Arrived at the drugstore with a copy of a paper containing an the American Civil Liberties Union announcement
The Scopes "Monkey" Trial, 1925
Taylor Cook