Scopes Monkey Trial

Clash over Evolution Presented By Prof. Michael Stafford

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During the 1920s, in response to the Lost Generations wild behavior, such as provocative dancing (Charleston), wild music (Jazz), wild women (flappers), Conservative America looked to fundamentalism of the Bible.

Louis Armstrong
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The defenders of traditional religion looked to the Bible for support in the struggle against this new wild atmosphere of the Twenties.

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Fundamentalism is the idea that religious texts and beliefs should be taken literally and treated as the authority on appropriate behavior.

Prohibition emerges as one example of Americas fundamentalist pursuit to correct society. Prohibition, by the 18th Amendment, makes the drinking, possession, or distribution of alcoholic beverages illegal.

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In 1925, the Tennessee Legislature passed a law making it illegal for a public schools to teach any theory that denies the story of Divine Creation of man as taught in the Bible.

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In an effort to show how foolish the law was, a young science teacher, John Scopes, teaches a lesson on Evolution. The stage was set for a dramatic showdown between modernists and traditionalists over the place of science and religion in public schools.

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John Scopes
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Modernists looked to science, not the Bible, to explain how the physical world worked. Scientists accepted as true only facts and theories that could be tested and supported with evidence.

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Theory of Evolution
British naturalist Charles Darwin theorized that all plants and animals, including humans, had evolved from simpler forms of life.

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Darwin believed that evolution of one species from another took place over thousands or millions of years. It worked through a process he called natural selection or survival of the fittest.

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During natural selection, species that make favorable adaptations to their environment are more likely to survive than those that do not. In such a way, Darwin argued, human beings had evolved from apes.

Characterization of Charles Darwin as an ape.

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Modernists embraced the concepts of evolution and natural selection. Rather than choosing between science and religion, they believed that both could coexist. By the 1920s, the theory of evolution was regularly taught in schools.

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Fundamentalists believed the Bible was the literal word of God. They rejected the theory of evolution because it conflicted with creationism, the belief that God created the universe as described in the Bible.

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During the 1920s, fundamentalists campaigned to ban the teaching of evolution in public schools. They found their voice in William Jennings Bryan.

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William Jennings Bryan had played a major role in American politics for 30 years. He had run for president (Democrat & Populist) 3 times and served in President Wilsons cabinet.

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Tennessee became the first state to ban the teaching of evolution in public schools. Scopes believed that he cannot teach biology without teaching evolution. Scopes is arrested for teaching the theory of evolution.

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The Scopes trial began on July 10, 1925, bringing far more attention than both sides had expected. Some 200 national reporters arrived in Dayton, Tennessee. Tourists and vendors (selling toy monkeys) descend on Daytons circus atmosphere.

National Reporters follow the story closely. The nation is engrossed by the story.
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Bryan vs. Darrow William Jennings Bryan agrees to represent the State of Tennessee with its prosecution of John Scopes. High-powered lawyer Clarence Darrow offers to defend Scopes free of charge.

Darrow & Bryan taking a break during the trial.

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Clarence Darrow

Darrow had supported Bryan for president (they were friends), but he disagreed with him about religion. Darrow had enjoyed a reputation of defending American labor and WWI War protestors.

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In their opening statements, the opposing lawyers recognized that what was on trial was the Bible and the Theory of Evolution, not the law.

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If evolution wins, Christianity goes,

- warned William Jennings Bryan

Scopes isnt on trial: civilization is on trial

- argued Clarence Darrow

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After listening to only one of Darrows defensive experts, the judge refuses to let his remaining experts testify.

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For a moment, it looked like Darrow had no defense. Then he surprised everyone by calling Bryan to the stand as an expert on the Bible.

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Do you claim that everything in the Bible should be literally interpreted?

Darrow asked Bryan

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I believe everything in the Bible should be accepted as it is given there.

- William Jennings Bryan
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However, when asked if Earth had been created in six days, Bryan answered,

I do not think it means necessarily a twenty-four-hour day, creation, he added, might have continued for millions of years.

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Darrow had tricked Bryan, into admitting that he himself did not always interpret each and every word in the Bible as the literal truth.

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When the trial ended, it took the jury fewer than 10 minutes to find Scopes guilty. The judge fined John Scopes only $100 for breaking the Tennessee law.

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Victory in Defeat

Although, John Scopes had been found guilty by the judge, it was believed to be a huge victory for science.

Scopes Monkey Trial Courtroom

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A year later, the Tennessee Supreme Court overturned the conviction because the judge, not the jury, had imposed the fine.

The Scopes trial did not end the debate over teaching evolution in public schools.

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Inherit the Wind Suggested Reading and Movie

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