The case arose when, seeking to test the constitutional validity of the Butler Act, the American Civil Liberties Union ACLU placed advertisements in Tennessee newspapers offering to pay the expenses of any teacher willing to challenge the law. George W. Scopes also taught math and general science, and, on occasion, substituted for the principal in biology. Among the many ironies at the Scopes trial, two surrounded the textbook at the center of the controversy.
First, Tennessee mandated that George W. Yet Bryan volunteered to join the prosecution team because he opposed the theory of evolution for its association with eugenics and with social Darwinism. Darrow was a legendary lawyer.
Labor leaders Eugene V. Debs and William D. Loeb known more commonly as Leopold and Loeb , and Henry Sweet, a Detroit African American accused of murder in a civil rights upheaval, numbered among his most well-known clients. The trial began on July 10, The atmosphere was circus-like. More than six hundred spectators shoehorned themselves into the courtroom. The presiding judge, John T. The next day, Raulston ordered the trial moved to the courthouse lawn, fearing that the weight of the crowd inside was in danger of collapsing the floor.
In front of several thousand spectators in the open air, Darrow changed his tactics and as his sole witness called Bryan in an attempt to discredit his literal interpretation of the Bible. In a searching examination, Bryan was subjected to severe ridicule and forced to make ignorant and contradictory statements to the amusement of the crowd. On July 21, in his closing speech, Darrow asked the jury to return a verdict of guilty in order that the case might be appealed.
Under Tennessee law, Bryan was thereby denied the opportunity to deliver the closing speech he had been preparing for weeks. Although Bryan had won the case, he had been publicly humiliated and his fundamentalist beliefs had been disgraced. Five days later, on July 26, he lay down for a Sunday afternoon nap and never woke up. In , the Tennessee Supreme Court overturned the Monkey Trial verdict on a technicality but left the constitutional issues unresolved until , when the U.
Supreme Court overturned a similar Arkansas law on the grounds that it violated the First Amendment. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! On June 23, , Ekkapol Chantawong, 25, and his players, One person, Dutch photographer Fernando Pereira, was killed. The trial itself began on Wednesday with opening statements.
Witnesses followed, establishing that Scopes had taught evolution and zoologist Maynard M. Metcalf gave expert testimony about the science of evolution, a signal that Scopes himself would not take the stand during the trial.
Subsequent days saw prosecutors argue about the validity of using expert witnesses. This provided Bryan with the opportunity for an extended speech on the subject. Defense attorney Dudley Field Malone then countered with a speech of his own and received a thunderous standing ovation.
The next day, the judge ruled that any experts on the stands could be cross-examined. That night, Darrow quietly prepared to call Bryan as an expert witness on the Bible. Calling Bryan to the stand was a shock for the court. Darrow interrogated him on interpreting the Bible literally, which undercut his earlier sweeping religious speeches. This prevented Bryan from making a closing statement. After the trial, Bryan immediately began to prepare his unused closing statement as a speech for his rallies.
He never got to use that speech, since he died in his sleep in Dayton the following Sunday. Scopes was offered a new teaching contract but chose to leave Dayton and study geology at the University of Chicago graduate school. He eventually became a petroleum engineer. Supporters of both sides claimed victory following the trial, but the Butler Act was upheld, and the anti-evolution movement continued. Mississippi passed a similar law months later, and in Texas banned the theory of evolution from high school textbooks.
Twenty-two other states made similar efforts but were defeated. The controversy over the teaching of science and evolution has continued into the 21st century. In , the case of Kitzmiller v. The court ruled against intelligent design — now largely discredited as a pseudoscience — as a legitimate topic suitable for education.
Summer For The Gods. Edward J. The Legend of the Scopes Trial. Scientific American. The Scopes Trial. University of Minnesota. State of Tennessee v. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Subscribe for fascinating stories connecting the past to the present. John T. That law, passed in March ,
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