The Scopes Trial Induced A Pivotal Point

In the first segment of the book, Larson lays the basis for the trial by analyzing the socio-political connection in the United States throughout this time. While development and religion had coincided generally concordantly throughout the mid nineteenth century, more fossil findings, the ascent of religious fundamentalism, and expanded participation in broad daylight secondary schools affected the ascent of the opposition to advancement development in the United States. The development, headed by William Jennings Bryan, contended that advancement speculations were risky and ought not be taught inside the general population school

Part one is everything leading up to the trial and sets the stage for the rejection of Darwinism and evolution theories by Protestants and fundamentalists. Larson characterizes the emerging conflict as “populist majoritarianism and traditional evangelical faith versus scientific secularism and modern concepts of individual liberty” (Larson,83). Larson uses his knowledge of history to touch on the fact that before the 1920s both science and Christianity had a cordial relationship. Fundamentalist Christians would stir up the issue of evolution in the 1920s leading to the antievolution crusade. Larson goes into further detail of the theory of evolution, Darwinism, the fundamentalist and Protestants, and the idea of poisoning children with evolution leaving a lot of social unrest. Larson uses all this history to set up the conflict between the famous politician William Jennings Bryan and the American Civil Liberties Union. Bryan is a leading antievolutionist and is involved in many of the antievolution laws during this time. The American Civil Liberties Union was originally founded to defend protestors during world war one then shifted focus to defending labor union

They resisted the increasing flood of immigration and changing role of Christianity in society by appealing to middle and lower class native-born Americans. Mary Mullet’s admiration of Charles Lindbergh, the first person to fly from New York City to Paris,, also represents the classic American values still fighting for support: “he was…clean in character…strong and fine in body…modest…courageous; …these are the things which we honor most in life” (Doc F). In addition to these values, Prohibition promoted Christian values as alcohol was attacked. Finally, one of the most basic aspects of Christianity, the creation of Earth, faced opposition in 1925 when Tennessee teacher John Scopes went to court for teaching evolution. Though he was found guilty for breaking the law banning evolution in schools, ACLU lawyer Clarence Darrow dealt a blow to a religion already being questions while interviewing a persecuter: “I am examining you on your fool ideas that no intelligent Christian on Earth believes” (Doc C). The Scopes trial embodied the struggle between the old ways and new ideas throughout the 1920s.

Through the 1920s, conflicts regarding the teachings of religious values versus Evolution, along with the increasing fight for women’s independence, caused a great deal of tension within America. Prior to the ‘20s schools taught the Bible and Christianity’s principles were stressed. It was in 1925 when Clarence Darrow defended John Scopes, a biology teacher, who was put on trial in the court for teaching the theory of Evolution (Doc C). This document illustrates the dialogue of

Darrow, an atheistic man, believed that science should rule America and didn’t like that people who weren’t scientists were trying to control science and dictate what could and could not be done. His former friend, and opponent, on the side of religion was Bryan. Bryan believed that creation was the way humans came to be and was appalled by evolution and people’s desire to learn it. This conflict cut Americans to their souls and in July of 1925, it was given to the courts to decide once and for all which side was right, Darwin and his evolution, or the bible and creation. However, the courts could not decide which side was right, and instead stuck to its decision of whether or not Scopes broke the law, which he was indeed guilty of. This trial definitively proved that the tension between faith and reason might never be resolved by a jury’s verdict. The Scopes trial also galvanized fundamentalists and scientists alike, changed children’s education, and revealed a deep division within our nation. After Bryan’s wishes,

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.

In America, in the 1920s, two significant cultural movements arose that eventually clashed. A Christian fundamentalist movement arose in America and the fundamentalist’s goal during this time was to recover and publicly institutionalize old time religious fundamental values. Fundamentalist believed in a literal interpretation of the Bible, and thus strongly objected to the teachings of Charles Darwin, since his theory of evolution contradicted the origin of man as found in the Bible. In the 1920s, the Christian fundamentalist began to gain political power across America and started passing legislation banning the teaching of Darwinism in state funded schools. At the same time cultural modernism was also rising in America. Modernist believes in a secular government and their agenda was education, democratic reforms, and economic progress. These two conflicting ideologies would inevitably clash, which occurred in the Scopes Trial of

In the “Monkey Trial” William Jennings Bryan spoke as the leader of the Christian fundamentalist, what him and his followers wanted to do was for the people and court to find out how unfair it was for something that they perceived as “materialistic and anti-religious be taught in the very same classrooms from which all religious instruction had been banned” (Thomas, 2009 p. 25). This situation created a lot of debates among the people. Many things changed in the American public schools that arise because of the evolution theory and religion.

The Scopes trial is a standout amongst the most well-known trials in American history. The trial was a lawful case in 1925 in which a substitute high school teacher, John Scopes, was charged with violating Tennessee 's Butler Act, which made it illegal to teach Darwinism in any state-financed school. This trial was a gathering between various polar opposites, for example, Fundamentalism and Modernism. The fundamentalism and modernism conversion during the Scopes Trial had an extreme impact on the American Education System.

1. Great Migration The Great Migration is when African Americans moved from the rural South to the cities up in the North, Midwest and West. The event was important because it began to build a new public life for African Americans which leads to creating a new black urban culture that would influence the United States later on. 2.

After the Scopes “Monkey Trial,” a. fundamentalism disappeared outside the rural South. b. John Scopes was sentenced to serve time in

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

On January 20, 1925, a Tennessee state senator named John A. Shelton proposed a bill to make it a felony, or a criminal act, to teach evolution in the state’s public schools. Fundamentalists had been supporting and pushing the passage of laws such as this, because the teaching of evolution and Darwinism contradicts the religious beliefs of creation in Christianity. Popular evangelist, Billy Sunday, undertook an eighteen-day crusade in Memphis in support of the prospective bill. Night after night, Sunday’s audiences grew until more than two-hundred thousand people heard him preach against the evils of evolution. The bill, known as the Butler Act, was officially passed on March 21, 1925, just 3 months after its proposal. Just as state legislators suspected, the ink had hardly dried on the Butler Act before its first challenger emerged.

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

In 1925, a young Tennessee school teacher named John T. Scopes defied the state’s law prohibiting the teaching of evolution. Scopes was arrested and the case immediately got national headlines causing William Jennings Bryan to announce his intention to join the prosecution. Then, the ACLU got involved and offered to defend Scopes. When Darrow heard about the case, he said he would defend the school teacher free of charge. To Darrow’s thinking, Bryan was the embodiment of all those aspects of rural America that Darrow had escaped so many years before.