Monkey Trial Research Paper

On March 13, 1925 the state of Tennessee passed the Butler Act. This law prohibited teaching the Theory of Evolution in Tennessee public schools. Any teacher who taught a theory that denied the story of the Divine Creation would be punished by a fine. The American Civil Liberties Union offered legal defense to any Tennessee teacher who would break the law and fight it in court. John Thomas Scopes was a teacher in Dayton, Tennessee, and he intentionally taught his class about the theory of evolution, which led to his arrest and trial.

The 1920’s was a time of prosperity and change in the United States, but with change comes disagreements. One of the largest debates during this time period, and still today, was the debate between science and religion. Many people were Christians in America during this time and they believed that the story of how God created the Earth should be taught in public schools. These people were called “fundamentalists.” They believed nothing could compare to or be as powerful as God’s word. The other side to this debate were the Modernists, or the ones who believed in science rather than religion. Modernists wanted to teach the theory of evolution in public schools instead of the Creation story the Fundamentalists believed in (“United States in History”). All of these different opinions led to one of the most famous trials known as the Scopes v. State of Tennessee trial. John Scopes was a substitute teacher in Tennessee who decided to teach the theory of evolution to a science class. Scopes was accused of violating the Butler Act, which states that teaching anything that

Even though many southern states frowned upon teaching evolution because of Creationism being highly influential, Tennessee took the matter up a notch when they were the first state to make the teaching of Evolution a punishable crime. Evolution was like an evil spirit in Tennessee, no one wanted to be associated with it, have it taught in public schools, and especially never be compared to a monkey. This strong opposition against Evolution makes Tennessee an interesting battleground for Creationism and Evolution.

Locals of Dayton pursued publicity from the court case over the actual teaching of evolution. George Rappleyea, the local coal mine manager, attempted to persuade other town leaders that a controversial court case would attract much media attention and "put Dayton on the map." School superintendent Walter White was a town leader present and decided 24 year old general science teacher John Scopes was a suitable candidate for the guilty party. Rappleyea said that "nobody could teach biology without teaching evolution.” Once Scopes was convinced he had indeed broken the law by teaching evolution, he agreed to take place in the trial. The main prosecuting attorney was William Jennings Bryan, a three time presidential candidate and former Secretary of State.

Starting with the Scopes Trial, many more cases have occurred concerning the teaching of evolution. “By 1928 every southern state except Virginia had debated or was considering legislation banning the teaching of evolution in the

Fundamentalists that lived in rural areas saw city dwellers as sinful and disgusting. Since the fundamentalists lived so closely with nature and so far away from the rapidly growing cities, it was difficult for them to abandon their viewpoints for new developments and theories in science. William Jennings Bryan was the leader of the fundamentalists. The fundamentalists had attempted to eliminate the teaching of evolution in schools, and had been moderately successful. This led to the "Scopes Trial." Clarence Darrow represented Scopes. Darrow did an excellent job at showing the nation just how outdated the fundamentalist frameset of mind was. He humiliated Bryan on the stand:

The summer of 1925 was a controversial period of time in the town of Dayton, Tennessee. There had been a law that banned evolution taught in classrooms; the American Civil Liberties Union challenged said law with the help of John Scopes, who was a teacher that taught the theory of evolution in his classroom. In the trial, Clarence Darrow represented Scopes and faced off William Jennings Bryan, who was against evolution being taught and a well-known criminal defense lawyer.

“In 1925, Tennessee outlawed teaching the theory of human evolution in public schools.” This ban of evolution was taken to court and was named the Scopes Monkey Trial, since the Tennessee teacher John Scopes was the defendant in the case. However, as Ronald Numbers states in his book, Galileo Goes to Jail: and other myths about science and religion, this was a response “to the invitation of the American Civil Liberties Union, which opposed the statute on free-speech grounds, [so] town leaders in Dayton, Tennessee, decided to test the new statute in court by arranging a friendly indictment of a local science teacher named John Scopes.” In this trial many celebrities in politics and law presided over this trial, in the end it was more of a publicity stunt than anything else. Yet for many years, this trial was believed to be entirely about how the very Christian based community of Tennessee didn’t agree with the teachings of evolution. This event was misconstrued so much that it was even printed in school books that give examples of Sciences fight against the tyranny of Christianity. Newspapers printed headlines about this trial for years to come and it lead the public to believe that this was not just about publicity but about the actual fight of science vs

It was stated that Scopes didn’t deliberately teach the theory of Evolution, but the classroom assigned book by the state featured a chapter on it(Armstrong). The whole trial proved that the judge treated everything with extreme bias, from allowing a prayer before each day to making it nearly impossible for Darrow to get a good argument that would be allowed to stay in the records(Noah). When Scopes was asked what point in time that he taught Evolution he said that he didn’t remember if he did at all because it wasn’t in his lesson plans(Noah). This case was held with the most disrespect a judge or state could give a

In one corner we had William Jennings Bryan who was an unsuccessful presidential candidate and seasoned leader of the Democratic Party. Although Bryan was a conservative Christian he was also a complex man. The fundamentalist man was far from a legal or political dummy; he'd previously served as secretary of state and he was an exceptional public speaker. Bryan was also a strong, verbal critic of the teaching of evolution in the United States. With experience and his legal and political expertise aiding his legal preparation Bryan attempted to make his personal beliefs, objectives, and motives a supplementary aspect in favor of creating a more nuanced basis for his argument. As Bryan focused on subtly weaving in his core Christian, fundamentalist beliefs into his argument he put himself in a position that allowed him to center his argument against teaching evolution in public schools at the taxpayer's expense. Bryan and many of his followers thought it was unfair that the Bible and Christianity could not be taught in public schools along with evolution. Many felt that taxpayers were paying for the instruction that they believed was undermining children's faith in their parents' religion. Bryan was also against teaching evolution as fact instead of just theory. As a result, Larson forces us to see a picture of conflict between the democracy, represented by Bryan, and individual rights, represented by Clarence Darrow and the

In the late nineteen-eighties, Edwards v. Aguillard argued that a Louisiana law was against the First Amendment of the Constitution. This law prohibited public schools from teaching about evolution and the evolutionary processes unless the topic was taught alongside religious based creation theories. More specifically, this law imposed on public schools was argued to have broken the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. This clause simply says that absolutely no law can establish or support a religion (“Establishment Clause”, 2011). Many people challenged the state’s law including local parents and teachers as well as men and women with religious affiliations. Ultimately, the Supreme Court found that the state’s act was unlawful according to the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment due to the fact that there was no non-religious basis to the act. The creation theories are entirely based around the idea that an all-powerful god created the human race. Therefore the state is promoting this religious teaching. Although it was argued that the act was to give students more opportunities to learn, the point was made that the teachers lost the power to make decisions in his or her own classroom. Furthermore, the law inhibits the learning of children by banning the teaching of evolution unless creation is also taught in the classroom. The law

The Scopes trial, writes Edward Larson, to most Americans embodies “the timeless debate over science and religion.” (265) Written by historians, judges, and playwrights, the history of the Scopes trial has caused Americans to perceive “the relationship between science and religion in . . . simple terms: either Darwin or the Bible was true.” (265) The road to the trial began when Tennessee passed the Butler Act in 1925 banning the teaching of evolution in secondary schools. It was only a matter of time before a young biology teacher, John T. Scopes, prompted by the ACLU tested the law. Spectators and newspapermen came from allover to witness

Due to the dramatic changes in the culture of the United States like flappers and such, many of these fundamentalists, who had mainly protestant and traditionalist ideals, felt as if what they were so passionate about was being disregarded and disrespected. Moreover, this cannot be seen more like in the monkey trial. As noted in the article, “Change and Reaction in the 1920s”, many states enacted a law that did not allow schools to teach evolution because that went against the bible, on of those states was Tennessee. A teacher from Tennessee named John Scopes was soon put on trial due to him breaking this law. Also, “Scopes trial was the first ever broadcast over radio and became a national event primarily because of the notoriety of the attorneys representing each side…

The Edwards v. Aguillard case was the first major blow against creationists in their fight for getting creationism taught in schools. In 1981, Louisiana’s state senator drafted a “Creationism Act”, which stated that wherever evolution was taught in schools, creation science should also be taught, essentially requiring that both topics be covered with equal time. Proponents of the bill claimed its intention was to protect academic freedom, but Don Aguillard, six years later, challenged the bill and filed suit, claiming it violated the Establishment Clause, which stated that there should be a separation between Church and State -- religion should not be directly involved in any part of the government. In 1987, when the Edwards v. Aguillard case

The Scopes Trial, a Dayton, Tennessee legal case involving the teaching of evolution within the public school system, induced a pivotal point in American history. This world-famous trial represents the ongoing conflict between science and theology, faith and reason, individual freedom of speech, and overruling opinion of the majority. The preeminent purpose of the case was to decide not only the fate of an evolution theory teacher by the name of John Scopes, but also to decide if fundamentalists or modernists would rule American culture and education. An object of profound publicity, the trial was identified as a battle between urban modernism and rural fundamentalism.