The Scopes Trial: The Monkey Trial

Summer for the Gods: The Scopes Trial and America's Continuing Debate Over Science and Religion concentrates on the Scopes trial, otherwise called the "Monkey Trial," which happened in Dayton, Tennessee in the mid year of 1925. The trial occurred in excess of a Tennessee law that banned the educating of human development out in the open schools. The American Civil Liberties Union needed to test the law, and a junior instructor named John Scopes, consented to help them. The alleged "trial of the century" united the well known government official and speaker, William Jennings Bryan, who headed the opposition to development campaign; and Clarence Darrow, who was viewed as the best criminal protection legal advisor of the time. The two men, plus their individual direction, clashed in the trail with the indictment in the end ready to maintain the law.

When the trial begins in 'To Kill a Mockingbird' evidence begins to show that Robinson is obviously innocent. Heck Tate and Mr. Ewell take the stand in Tom Robinson's trial, giving further evidence to prove Robinson's innocence.

In an instant life was created. But the type of life that was created differs depending on who is asked. Scientists would claim that single-celled organisms were the first to be created, and only by evolution and survival of the fittest did humans come to be. Religious people would refute that claim and state that humans were created in the image and likeness of god and all other animals came separately and not by chance. This argument has plagued the world since Charles Darwin released his theory in 1859. It came to a point in Dayton, Tennessee with the Scopes Trial, also known as the “Monkey Trial”. This eleven-day trial pitted faith against reason and left a legacy of conflict in schoolrooms and legislature across America.

Drummond is trying to get Brady admit that the exact words of the Bible should not be taken literally. Brady replies, “I mean to state that the day referred to is not necessarily a twenty-four hour day” (Lawrence and Lee 97). Brady confesses that the Bible is not taken literally. Drummond responds by telling the people, “It could have been thirty hours! Or a month! Or a year! Or a hundred years! Or ten million years!” (Lawrence and Lee 97, 98). Brady is explaining to the people that the evolution theory can be incorporated in the Bible instead of going against it. “Darrow’s examination of Bryan became one of the best-known parts if the trial. Darrow had been waiting for the chance to challenge Bryan. Two years earlier, Darrow had written fifty-five questions about the Bible for Bryan to answer” (Freya Ottem Hanson 52). This explains that Darrow had wanted to question the Bible through Bryan to open his eyes to the present day and prove the Bible is not meant to be taken literally. Darrow gets his chance and bested Bryan in the trial. Both Darrow and Drummond put Bryan and Brady to the witness stand to question them about the Bible and prove it does not always have to be taken literally, which leads to the people opening their minds and seeing how evolution and the Bible can both be right. Darrow and Drummond’s beliefs and contribution to the Scope’s Trial shaped how he based his career.

On the upcoming block day we will have a Socratic Seminar in which we discuss the chapters in To Kill a Mockingbird that deal with Tom Robinson’s trial and its aftermath. Your assignment is to prepare for the seminar ahead of time, participate in the seminar and capture the main ideas of the discussion in your notes.

John Thomas Scopes trial began on July 10, 1925, and I watched as the trial unfolded. The famous Clarence Darrow defended Scopes and Williams Jennings Bryan was leading the prosecution. Williams Jennings Bryan had run as the Democratic presidential candidate three times, and he was the fundamentalist hero. After a few days of the trial, many spectators and reporters flocked to Dayton. I watched as the Dayton’s streets became more and more crowded and I saw many preachers with revival tents, who taught how the Theory of Evolution went against the Divine Creation of man.

State of Tennessee trial is part of what made the Roaring Twenties “roar.” Because the trial made national news, many reporters and journalists wanted to come to the small town of Dayton, Tennessee (“United States in History”). This migration caused the town to get major publicity, as well as the issue itself did. By having one person speak out and do what they believe is right like John Scopes did, many more people felt comfortable speaking out for what their own beliefs and opinions were. Scopes v. State of Tennessee was only the start of a series of court cases regarding whether to teach the theory of evolution or the Creation story from the Bible (“State of Tennessee v. Scopes.”). The Roaring Twenties was definitely a time of change for most Americans, and the Scopes v. State of Tennessee trial helped convey this message to Americans wishing to express free

The trial portrays the absurdist ideal that absolute truth does not exist. This ideal destroys the very purpose of the trial, which

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 clash between fundamentalism and modernism during the Scopes Trial had a significant impact on the American education system.

Ever since science began to explain the previously unexplainable, it has caused conflicts with religion. The Scopes “Monkey” Trial of Dayton, Tennessee was one of the most talked about trials in history because it was one of the first and most publicized times that this conflict occurred. The trial showed the schism between the faithful fundamentalists and the newly formed group of evolutionists. Although the jury was reminded that they only had to decide if Scopes had broken the law, the verdict was seen as much more than that. For one of the first times in history, it seemed as if the jury had to choose either religion or evolution. For the time being, there could not be both. The Scopes “Monkey” Trial revealed the ongoing conflict with

Every novel in the English literature has similarities and differences to another. The comparison between the novels is judged from topics such as the setting, laws, characters and daily living. The novel, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee has many similarities and differences with the novel, The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd. Both novels are comparative as the characters in the books, their relationships and community laws portrayed are very similar and different to each other. The following examples and explanations prove that the authors of both novels are trying to convey similar yet different messages.

Inherit the Wind is about a 24-year-old teacher named Bertram T. Cates, who is arrested for teaching Darwin's Theory of Evolution to his junior high-class. Some high-profile Hillsboro town’s people press charges and have Cates arrested for teaching evolutionism in a stringent Christian town. A famous lawyer named Henry Drummond defends him; while a fundamentalist politician Matthew Harrison Brady prosecutes. The story takes place in Hillsboro, which is a small town in Tennessee. Cates is merely trying to teach to his class that there is more to life than just what the Bible teaches. He is not trying to be nonreligious; rather he is just teaching his class to think outside the box. The town’s people think that Cates is trying to push

First is how the work conveys information to the reader. The trial is descriptive in that it shows the reader more directly what the people involved thought happened during this trial. This is in place of the work being prescriptive in which it tells the reader what people thought should happen. As the entire work is the trial’s notoriety, its official record, it can be assumed that those involved had to be absolutely certain of what what happened and who is to blame. So when an inquisitor wrote a letter describing the testimonies, it was what they thought happened, giving the reader a good look into the inner thinking of these men.

     Inherit the Wind, based on the famous “Scopes Monkey Trial” in the small town Dayton, Tennessee, was written by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee. The play was not intended to depict the actual history or the proceedings in the Scopes’ trial but it was used as a vehicle for exploring social anxiety and ant-intellectualism that existed in the Americas during the1950s. Lawrence and Lee wrote the play as a response to the threat to intellectual freedom presented by the anti-Communist hysteria of the McCarthy era. The major themes depicted in the Inherit the Wind include the intellectual curiosity, narrow-mindedness or limited perception, the importance of religion, and the relationship between the perception of

Mencken wished to display how the most religious people are those who do not need to prove their religion to others, but rather participate in it for themselves and their God. This can be seen when Mencken exclaims “Dayton was having a roaring time. It was better than the circus. But the note of devotion was simply not there;” In this, it can be seen that the people of Dayton made the Scopes trial a party of entertainment rather than an example of their undying devotion to their religion. With this, Mencken shows the ironic nature of the people of Dayton, showing that even an item such as Coca-Cola was a “levantine and Hell-sent narcotic” which to Dayton was comparable to the education of evolution. With this, Dayton became a circus, rather than a demonstration of the town’s devotion to God, showing religion “began at the bridge over the town creek, where the road makes off for the hills.”