William Jennings Bryan

He led a fundamental crusade to ban teaching Darwin’s theory of evolution in classes. In his “Cross of Gold” speech at 1896 Democratic Convention, and he pointed out that teaching evolution may undermine tradition values. Bryan and his supporters succeeded in banning teaching evolution in fifteen states, and Tennessee was one of it (law2.umkc.edu). Darrow volunteered to serve for the defense of Scopes trial. ACLU’s first choice for the defense team for Scopes was formal

trial is based whether or not evolution should be taught in schools, a controversy that very much plagues the United States. The trial will put an infamous criminal lawyer Clarence Darrow and the famous fundamentalist religiosity politician William Jennings Bryan against each other in a

The Scopes Trial induced a pivotal point in American history because it symbolizes the conflict between science and theology, faith and reason, individual liberty, and majority rule. This trial was to decide not only the fate of an evolution-teacher, but also to decide if traditionalists or modernists would rule American culture. An object of intense publicity, the trial was seen as a clash between urban sophistication and rural fundamentalism. On January 20, 1925, a Tennessee state senator named

1. An ethical dilemma occurs when two moral imperatives contradict one another. In the case of the Scopes Trial, for example, while the Bible stated that God created humans on the sixth day of creation, Darwinian evolution argued that humankind evolved through natural selection over a period of millions of years. This dilemma created a heated debate that impacted the entire country. Describe the circumstances and developments that allowed the dilemma to become an issue in Tennessee in 1925. (See

The Populist Movement ultimately failed to survive because of their desire for inflation and the support for the coinage of silver, as well as the fact that they merged with the Democratic Party to combat the Republicans. The 1896 election undermined agrarian insurgency, and a period of rapidly rising farm prices helped to bring about the dissolution of the Populist Party. Another important factor in the failure of the party was its inability to affect a genuine urban-rural coalition; its program

Cultural Confrontations of the 1920’s The 1920s were a time of change for the United States. Following the First World War there was a rush of new cultural, social, and artistic dynamism, partly fuelled by the Progressivism movement that was cut short when American entered the Great War. This decade was defined by a change from more rural farm life to industrialism in big cities. The shift from the frugality and traditional family values or previous generations to the happy-go-lucky consumerism

The Scopes Trial is part of a series most commonly known as the trial of the century. In this series there are many trials which are looked as revolutionary and important part of history. But even though some trials may be big, they don’t make it into the trial of the century just because their concept and ideology isn’t a very controversial and doesn’t make you choose one side or the other. The Scopes Trial, also known as the “Monkey Trial,” didn’t have much do with the case itself but what it actually

This trial took place in Dayton, Tennessee in 1925, and the central figure was a twenty five-year-old science teacher named John Scopes. Scopes was under the umbrella of advancing America, and the trial was dubbed The Scopes “Monkey” Trial. In 1925, John Scopes was encouraged to challenge the Butler Law. This law was passed in the state of Tennessee to bar teachings contrary to those in the Bible. Teachings from an evolutionary text, Scopes broke the law and drew the attention

and the views of its people were changing. Many different ideas were surfacing about issues that affected the country as a whole. The Republican Party, led by William McKinley, were concentrating on the expansion of the United States and looking to excel in power and commerce. The Democratic Party at this time was led by William Jennings Bryan, who was absorbed in a sponge of morality and was concerned with the rights of man. The nation’s self-interest was divided into different ideas between the two

win for governor. But this was passed through when Mr Darrow called his surprise witness --William Jennings Bryan-- and thought that if he couldn’t talk about evolution then he would talk about the Bible and try to trick Mr Bryan. Mr Darrow called Mr Bryan because he “considered himself an expert on the Bible,” and tried to make Mr Bryan himself say how the Bible may be wrong. In the end of the debate Mr Bryan won the trial but he was depressed because the point of this trial was not to win but to