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Case Study of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti Essay

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Case Study of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti

Italian anarchists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were arrested near Boston in 1920 and charged with the murder of a shoe factory paymaster and the guard of the factory. Frederick Parmenter and the guard were carrying $16,000 in payroll money for the South Braintree shoe factory on April 15, 1920. They were attacked, robbed, and shot. The two killers escaped in a getaway car. A similar crime was committed in the nearby town of Bridgewater four months earlier. Bridgewater police chief arrested Sacco and Vanzetti, who were two poor Italian immigrants, and anarchists. Vanzetti was indicted for the Bridgewater robbery attempt. Frederick Katzmann, …show more content…

The Tennessee state legislature passed the Butler Act in 1925 that banned any public teaching of the theory of evolution. The American Civil Liberties Union promised to defend any teacher brought up on charges for violating the Butler Act. George Rappleyea, a local businessman and evolutionist, began to create a plan to bring the impending case to the national level. John Scopes was chosen as the teacher to be arrested for violating the law. He was a football coach and biology teacher at Dayton High School. The textbook he used was a pro-evolutionary book, though it had several modifications from the Darwinian theory. The case brought national attention. William Jennings Bryan was strongly against the theory of evolution. Clarence Darrow, considered by many to be an atheist, was the most famous trial lawyer in America. He offered his services to defend Scopes.

The trial began on July 10, 1925. Judge John T. Raulston oversaw the case. The courtroom was filled with reporters, microphones, and film cameras. All but one of the jurors were church members, and most of them were uneducated farmers. The prosecution's case was brief. The defense's case was built around expert testimony on evolutionary theory, but the jury was not present during the defense's case. Darrow then called Bryan to the stand to ask his view on evolution. This lasted for two hours before Raulston stopped

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