Scopes+Trial

=Scopes Trial=

The infamous "Monkey Trial" took place in July 1925 in the Rhea County Courthouse in Dayton, Tennessee. Though the full case name of the trial is //The State of Tennessee v. John Thomas Scopes//, perhaps it can be more aptly labeled as rural traditionalism v. urban modernism.

The Scopes Trial was certainly not the commencement of the controversy regarding evolution; rather, it was the climax, at least for the time being. The evolution controversy was, in fact, evolutionary--at least fifty years in the making. Southern evangelicals had been denouncing the teaching of [|evolution] (which came to be known as Darwinism after Darwin's [|On the Origin of Species] was published) since the 1870s. During the post-Civil War era, while the northern conservative Protestants were content to focus on defending the authority of Scripture, their southern counterparts became actively involved in combatting the teaching of evolution.

The controversy intensified in the 1920s. By 1925, Oklahoma, Florida, North Carolina, and Texas had all attempted to prohibit the teaching of evolution in the public school system. Their efforts were only semi-effective. Then, in the spring of 1925, Tennessee passed the [|Butler Act], which outlawed the teaching of "any theory that denies the Story of Divine Creation of man as taught in the Bible, and to teach instead that man has descended from a lower order of animal." Many Tennesseans were displeased with the passage of the bill, as it was the most hardline anti-evolution act of the time.

It was at this point that the trial's namesake, John Scopes, reluctantly entered the controversy. Twenty-four-year-old Scopes was a science teacher at a Dayton public high school who incorporated evolution into his curriculum. In early May, he agreed to meet with a local mine manager and a druggist (who was also part-time chairman of the schoolbook committee). Knowing that the [|American Civil Liberties Union] had vowed to back any teacher who tried to challenge the law, Scopes and his cohorts decided to do just that. Soon thereafter, Scopes' partners organized his arrest for teaching evolution. And soon after that, the ACLU readied itself for the impending trial by appointing [|Clarence Darrow]--an eminent defense attorney for political and labor extremists and a professed agnostic--as Scopes' lawyer. On the opposing side was the counsel for the State, [|William Jennings Bryan]. Bryan was a Christian, a pacifist, a foremost Presbyterian layman, and a three-time democratic candidate for the U.S. presidency. Bryan was a proponent of literal interpretation of the Bible and viewed evolutionary thought as the adversary of Christianity. This belief was evidenced by his involvement in many highly publicized anti-evolution cases.

The trial was deemed the "trial of the century." Reporters flocked to the Rhea County Courthouse by the hundreds, bringing toy monkeys with them. The surrounding streets, lined with concession stands, soapboxes, and bookstands, were more like the setting of a carnival than a high-profile lawsuit. The inside of the courthouse was crowded, as well, with radio broadcasters and photographers. The trial occurred at "the height of the age of...media-generated national crazes, as well as controversies over changing mores, jazz, new dances, styles of dress for women, and sexually-suggestive Hollywood movies" (as described by historian George M. Marsden). Knowing the context of the trial, it is not surprising that everyone--the "defenders of the old-style Victorian mores" and the "proponents of the new, more lenient culture" (Marsden) alike--was intrigued by it.

Passionate deliberations persisted for eight days. These deliberations did not aim to assess the validity of the Butler Act, but rather, to assess the validity of the Bible and Darwin's theory. Even Bryan took the stand as an authority on Scripture, stating that evolutionary theory was "millions of guesses strung together" that made man "indistinguishable among the mammals." Darrow sought to find inconsistencies and inaccuracies within the Genesis account of creation, which he characterized as "fool ideas that no intelligent Christian on earth believes." While some declared Bryan a disgrace to Protestants for not being able to adequately refute Darrow's assertions, others applauded hisability to adeptly present his arguments.

Eventually, the jury decided upon a verdict. It declared Scopes guilty and he was fined $100. Though anti-evolutionists considered Bryan the victor, Darrow had won the argument, according to the press. After all, he and the ACLU had managed to publicize scientific evidence in favor of evolution. Bryan's victory was, indeed, short-lived. He died of a heart attack five days after the trial. Unlike Bryan, the jury's verdict endured for another forty-two years. The teaching of evolution in the classroom was not revived until the 1960s. Eventually, the Tennessee Supreme Court, despite maintaining the constitutionality of the Butler Act, nullified Scopes' judgment on a technicality.

=References=


 * http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/tserve/twenty/tkeyinfo/tscopes.htm
 * http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/08/2/l_082_01.html
 * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scopes_Trial

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