The Scopes Monkey Trial Research Paper

The Scopes Trial To twenty-four hours phylogenesis is taught in public schools in America, still it has not always been that way. The legal battle that led to the educational activity of phylogenesis in public schools has been a very foresighted aceness. Creationism was taught in public schools until the late 19th century. Following Darwins theories being introduced in 1859 many began to accept growing during the 1860s. This would continue in America until a flamboyant, Christian, rightfulnessyer named William Jennings Bryan campaigned against the teaching of evolution.Bryan bring supporters very easily because of a basic movement in America following World War I which was a vast change in edict that led commonwealth towards a simpler and more religious lifestyle. This movement led several states to render justnesss banning the teaching of evolution in public schools. Bryan and his movement was of demarcation opposed by many which led to the legal battles that have tak en America from a non-evolution teaching society to the evolution teaching society it is today. In this paper I will discuss the first study hook case that brought significant national attention to these laws.The first major(ip) court case that brought significant attention to the laws banning the teaching of evolution in public schools is The Scopes Trial or The Monkey Trial in Dayton, TN in 1925. This rivulet was the State of Tennessee vs John Thomas Scopes, who was a exalted school football coach that was also a substitute. Although this case would deviate out to be more about Scopes breaking a law than the teaching of evolution in public schools it was significant in livery national attention to the laws.After the state of Tennessee passed the Butler Act, which banned the teaching of anything that contradicted the melodic theme of creationism from the Bible, there was a group of production linemen from Dayton, TN who felt they could bring employment and attention to the ir small town thanks to the rising law. They devised a contrive to find a local teacher willing to oppose the law by teaching evolution in the classroom. They were able to find such(prenominal) a teacher in John Thomas Scopes Scopes was the perfect candidate. He was young (25), new to teaching (first year), new to town, and was well liked by the towns mountain.It took little convincing to tolerate Scopes to oppose the law and he did so while substituting a high school biology class. When intimacy of Scopes teaching evolution was make public he was arrested and taken to trial. The trial quickly grew in fame when two of Americas most swelled lawyers took the case. William Jennings Bryan volunteered to serve as the prosecutor for the State of Tennessee which led to Clarence Darrow becoming the argue lawyer in the case. Darrow was a famous Agnostic, demur, lawyer who wanted to prove Bryan wrong more so than to prove Scopes innocence.With the new celebrity lawyers on board for t he trial the case quickly gained fame. The business men of Dayton, Tennessee were quickly pleased to see their plan had worked. There were vendors, tourist, and media flocking to Dayton for the trial. The vendors were selling hot dogs, and water outside of the courthouse. The many curious people who came to Dayton to reckon the trial caused the town to be flooded with people. All of the hotels were so affluent it led to many members of the media staying in a warehouse and sleeping on the floor.For the first time there was a national radio glow from the courtroom of the trial and the trial was recorded on film. There were so many people in the courtroom that the weight caused the support beams to garble in the courthouse. The buckling of the beams lead to the trial being held outside one day then returning inside with a limited amount of people able to attend. During the jury selection Darrow quickly realized he was at odds. It was hard to find an unbiased jury in Dayton Tenness ee because the vast majority of residents were Christians and was neducated on what evolution is. They saw evolution as a civilise threat to their religion rather than a scientific theory. The jury cease up being made up of farmers who were mostly illiterate with the majority being church goers six were Baptist, four Methodist, one Church of Christ, and one was a non-church goer. Since Darrow knew he could not prove that Scopes was innocent of breaking the law. He would rather try to prove that the law itself was unconstitutional and decided to marque his case based on science versus ignorance.He had planned on occupational group in several scientific scholars as witnesses to argue the topic of evolution everywhere creationism but the judge deemed this unreasonable. The judge did not allow the witnesses and verbalise that the case was about the law and not evolution. This was the case for Darrow but not for Bryan. Bryan argued that creationism was true and spent most of his t ime in court discourse from the Bible. Bryan even preached to the public on the courthouse steps and in the local Methodist church while he was in Dayton.This tactic won everywhere the local people and even the defendant. Scopes was quoted saying Bryan was a powerful talker. With Bryans tactics being allowed by the judge and going over well with the jury and local people Darrow saw further one way to win. Instead of trying to keep Scopes from being convicted he would make his case into a personal vendetta against Bryans beliefs. When Darrow presented his defense he called one witness Bryan. This was a shock to everyone in the court as well as around the country.The judge allowed it as long as Bryan was okay with it. Bryan agreed so he took the stand to be questioned by Darrow. Darrow made the most of his opportunity and questioned the faith that Bryan held so dear. He began by asking him about stories from the Bible and how old the Earth was. He then delved deeper into the creat ion theory asking if Bryan knew how long it took God to puddle the Earth, if the age that were spoke of in Genesis were mans days or Gods days, and if they differed. Of course Bryan could not answer truthfully, only guess.This led to Bryan acknowledging that the periods of creation in Genesis could have possible been millions of old age rather than days. This gave ground to the theory of evolution to be included in the creationists idea of the beginning. The day after Darrow questioned Bryan the judge ordered the evidence to be absolved from the case. He said that it had no bearings on the case. Scopes was found guilty and fined $100. Even though Darrow was unable to prove Scopes innocence he was able to show a chink in the armor of the creationist claims against evolution and make a bigger name for himself.Bryan died five days after the trial in Dayton Tennessee while taking a nap after lunch. Darrow appealed the case to the State Supreme Court in an attempt to get the law deem ed unconstitutional. The Supreme Court found that Scopes should not have been fined but did not retry him. It was not until 1965 when the American Civil Liberties Union made a case against the state of Arkansas that the Supreme Court command that laws against the teaching of evolution were unconstitutional. Works CitedCrewe, Sabrina and Michael V. Uschan. The Scopes Monkey Trial. Milwaukee Gareth Stevens Publishing, 2005. Print. Groce, Eric, Tina L. Heafner and Katherine A. OConnor. Monkey Business instruct the Scopes Evolution Trial. Social Studies Research amp Practice (2011) 107-128. Print. Lovorn, Michael G. Monkey township The Summer of the Scopes Trial. Social Studies Research amp Practice (2009) 99-106. Print. Singham, Mano. God vs. Darwin. Plymouth papistic and Littlefield Education, 2009. Book.