The Scopes Trial: John Scopes- high school teacher who teaches evolution in school. He was arrested, tried, and convicted. Conviction was overturned and fine went away. “Scopes Monkey Trial” play based on this event. This was a gov’t set up, test case for schools to teach evolution.…
We the defense, believe our client is innocent. Why you might ask, becuase no law was ever broken.According to the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, part of the Bill of Rights, prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion and what does this The Butler Act do? It outlawed in state-funded schools, including universities, the teaching of "any theory that denies the story of the Divine Creation of man as taught in the Bible." So John T. Scope never broke a law. The one who should be here instead is Austin Peay for signing a piece of state legislation that was violating the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. The first amedment granted freedom of expression giving Scopes the right to teach evolution and also granted freedom of religion giving Scopes the right to believe in anything he wants. The state requires teachers to use a textbook, Hunter's Civic Biology, which explicitly describes and endorses the theory of evolution, and that teachers were therefore effectively requires Scope to break the law.…
As a result, on July 1st 1925, one of the best lawyers in the country sat down in Criminal Court of Tennessee. On one hand, William Jennings Bryan, three-time presidential candidate, argued for the prosecution. The narrow legal argument offered by the prosecution was that Scopes’ guilt was a matter of incontestable fact and logic: The state had outlawed the teaching of evolution, Scopes admitted publicly that he had taught evolution, therefore Scopes was guilty. Also, after the World War I., Bryan proposed that the Darwinism (he, actually, meant Social Darwinism) was behind excessive militarism and imperialism, which were one of the sins of Bryan’s political theology. Lastly, Bryan did not possess any sympathy for the evolution as he stated:…
The Scopes Trial was the Tennessee legal case involving the teaching of evolution in public schools. A statute was passed (Mar., 1925) in Tennessee that prohibited the teaching in public schools of theories contrary to accepted interpretation of the biblical account of human creation. John T. Scopes, a biology teacher, was tried (July, 1925) for teaching Darwinism in a Dayton, Tenn., public school. Clarence Darrow was one of Scopes's attorneys. Darrow argued that academic freedom was being violated and claimed that the legislature had indicated a religious preference, violating the separation of church and state. He also maintained that the evolutionary theory was consistent with certain interpretations of the Bible, and in an especially dramatic session he sharply questioned Bryan on the latter's literal interpretation. Scopes was convicted, partly because of the defense, which refused to plead any of the technical defenses available, fearing an acquittal on a technical rather than a constitutional basis. Scopes was, however, later released by the state supreme court on a technicality. Although the outcry over the case tended to discourage enactment of similar legislation in other states, the law was not repealed until 1967. William Jennings Bryan, three-time Democratic candidate for President and a populist, led a Fundamentalist crusade to banish Darwin's theory of evolution from American classrooms. Bryan's motivation for mounting the crusade is unclear. It is possible that Bryan, who cared deeply about equality, worried that Darwin's theories were being used by supporters of a growing eugenics movement that was advocating sterilization of "inferior stock." More likely, the Great Commoner came to his cause both out a concern that the teaching of evolution would undermine traditional values he had long supported and because he had a compelling desire to remain in the public spotlight--a spotlight he had occupied since his famous "Cross of Gold" speech at the…
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Religion was perhaps the biggest source of this tension in America. The most prominent of this conflict was that between fundamentalists, who interpreted the Bible literally, and modernists who were more readily willing to interpret the Bible more flexibly. The most notable of these conflicts was undoubtedly the Scopes Trial, in which high school biology teacher, John Scopes, was arrested for teaching the theory of evolution, rather than the bible. Document C shows Scope’s attorney, Clarence Darrow, skillfully cross-examining prosecutor and Bible expert, William Jennings Bryan. Darrow's cross-examination forced Bryan to explicitly state the incredible inflexibility and rigidity of fundamentalist beliefs. As a result of the trial, which was broadcast across the nation via radio and newspaper, many Americans were more readily willing to consider modernist religious interpretations. Another example of this fundamentalist idea was the WCTU's arguments against smoking, which is shown in Document G. Although the content of their message is unsurprising, the fact that the religious organization relied upon scientific evidence for its appeal represents the growing respect for science, even in religious circles. Other conflicts, however, also arose within religion. Aimee Semple Macpherson was simultaneously revered and criticized for her superficial, glamorous religious services, as detailed in part by Document I. Predictably, conservative religious groups condemned her non-traditional…
Jennings-Bryan was the seemingly perfect candidate for the fundamentalist lawyer, as his devout faith and good political campaigns gave him the nickname “The Great Commoner”. This case would become the capstone of his very prestigious career, and serve as a structural backbone for his previous views on evolution which were illustrated by his participation in the World Christian Fundamentals Association, and having quotes such as “the (evolution) most paralyzing influence with which civilizations has had to deal with in the last century,… promulgated a philosophy that condemned democracy,… denounced christianity,… denied the existence of god, overturned all concepts of morality,... and endeavored to substitute the worship of the superhuman for the worship of Jehovah.” which he told the World Brotherhood Congress. The evidence was clear that Jennings-Bryan was obviously a devout Christian, and a complete opponent to the theory of evolution and anything it stood…
The trial began in the city of Dayton. The Scopes Trial was the biggest event for the argument between Creation and Evolution. William Jennings Bryan was the defender of Creation when the Scopes Trial had started. The trial had taken place at the Rhea County Courthouse. The trial began on Friday July 10 and the jury had…
There were people who believed in teaching evolution and on the opposite side were anti-evolution. The case was about Scopes, but Scopes played a little part in the trial, the trial basically turned into a circus. Darrow was questioning Bryan on his beliefs.…
The Scopes Monkey Trial was perhaps one of the most famous trials in our history. John Scopes was a high school teacher in Dayton, Tennessee, and was arrested because he was teaching the theory of evolution in his high school biology class. During the 1920’s it was against the law to teach anything other than the theory of creation as written in the Bible. These laws were a result of a strong fundamentalist movements spreading throughout the United States. In 1925 the American Civil Liberties Union volunteered to defend any teacher willing to challenge these laws concerning the teaching evolution. John Scopes agreed to their challenge, and after teaching Darwin’s theory of evolution. Scopes arrest duly followed.…
The biological determinism theory is best displayed during the time period between 1865 and 1890. The icon that best demonstrates biological determinism is Darwin. The mid to late 1800s was a crucial time period for biological determinism because Charles Darwin came up with his idea of “Origin of the Species” in 1859 which Darwin discussed evolution and help set up the stage for ideas that promote heredity and biology as causes of criminal behavior. Although Darwin did not directly state that biological traits could determine human behavior, many people concluded biological determinism theory after reading his book. This was also the time when Cesare Lombroso, an Italian doctor, began studying the bodies of criminals and developed the theory of “born criminal” (360degrees). After carefully examining the criminals’…
The Scopes Trial is one of the most known trials in American history. It is one of the most known because it is the perfect example of the conflict between science and religion. In the summer of 1925, a high school biology teacher named John Scopes was on trial in Dayton, Tennessee for violating the law against the teaching of evolution. The prosecutor was a very famous attorney named William Jennings Bryan, who was a three-time Democratic presidential nominee. Clarence Darrow, who was agnostic, represented the defense. The American Civil Liberties Union had newspaper advertisements offering to defend anyone who violated the law. George Rappelyea, a Dayton booster, realized that the town would get an enormous amount of attention if a teacher…
Another problem with the case was that there was a very unfair jury and judge, seeing as they were all very Christian and went to Church every week, this makes it so they were very unequal to everything the defence said against anything along with instant verdict on the case. On the first day of the trial there were nearly one thousand people in attendance in a town of only 3000 people. The trial was held in the Rhea County Courthouse, the only courthouse that was close to the town, which was barely big enough to hold everyone The mayor actually wanted this popularity in the town because it had been on the decline in population for a while now and this could really help. Many people everywhere had a strong opinion of the case before it had even started, this case wasn’t about Scopes or if he taught a class about evolution or not, this was about which belief had a place in this…
Scopes and a group of civic leaders to test the Butler Act, a law prohibiting teachers from teaching evolution in the state of Tennessee. Scopes would be the defendant, and would be arrested for teaching Darwin’s theory of evolution at the Dayton high school. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) had issued a challenge to any Tennessee teacher willing to defy the act, and vowed to represent him or her should they choose to accept the task set forth. Rappleyea anticipated that the trial would bring news coverage and national attention. The men wanted to put Dayton on the map, and bring more attention to their small corner of the world.…
We live in a society that is continuously surrounded with conflict between religion and way of life. From the very beginning of time, there has always been a battle between the values of religion and those of the individual. During the era of Jesus, they were in a dilemma of following the basic laws of Judaism that had already become outdated by about two thousand years or those of the Romans. Since the development of science in more recent years, issues such as these have come even more into light and relevance. Today the world fights topics such as homosexual marriages and abortion. In 1925, these conflicting ideas were different but on a similar topic, evolution. In the case of Tennessee vs. John Scopes, “the Monkey Trial,” the recent discoveries of Charles Darwin had brought into question, are we related to monkeys? Even though the Butler Act was not scientific and not based on truth, its purpose was to maintain the traditional lifestyles that had been practiced for centuries.…