Scopes trial

The Scopes Trial of 1925 pitted William Jennings Bryan against Clarence Darrow and teacher John T. Scopes in an American court case that tested a law passed on March 13, 1925, forbidding the teaching of evolution in Tennessee public schools. It has often been called the "Scopes Monkey Trial".

Testing the Butler Act

At issue was the Butler Act, which had been passed a few months earlier. In its preface, it described itself as "An act prohibiting the teaching of the Evolution Theory in all the Universities, Normals and all other public schools of Tennessee, which are supported in whole or in part by the public school funds of the State, and to provide penalties for the violations thereof."

The American Civil Liberties Union had offered to defend anyone accused of teaching evolution in defiance of the law. The leaders of Dayton, Tennessee, then a town of less than 3,000, thought that the controversy of such a trial would put Dayton on the map. They asked a 24-year-old science teacher and athletic coach named John T. Scopes, who agreed. The original prosecutors were his friends Grant and Sue Hicks.

Anticipating controversy, George Rappalyea, one of the town leaders, asked H. G. Wells to be part of the defense team, but Wells declined. However, John Neal, a law school dean from Knoxville, volunteered. William Jennings Bryan, a fundamentalist preacher and three-time presidential candidate for the United States Democratic Party, offered to join the prosecution side. In response, Clarence Darrow, an agnostic, joined the defense. Also on the defense team were Arthur Garfield Hays and Dudley Field Malone. The prosecution team was rounded out by A. T. Stewart, Ben B. McKenzie, and William Jennings Bryan, Jr. The trial was covered by journalist H. L. Mencken for The Baltimore Sun, which was paying part of the defense's expenses.

The defense strategy was to have the charges thrown out on the grounds that laws forbidding the teaching of evolution were unconstitutional. They brought in a panoply of experts on evolution, who were not allowed to testify. Having failed in that, they essentially pled guilty so they could appeal to a higher court. Scopes never testified, as there was never a legal issue as to whether he had taught evolution. (There seems to have been some question about whether he really did ever teach evolution, but the point was not contested at trial.) The law itself was on trial.

After eight days of trial, during which Darrow was charged with contempt but later apologized, Scopes was found guilty on July 21 and ordered to pay a $100 fine for defying the ban against teaching evolution. The Tennessee Supreme Court overturned the decision on appeal due to a technical issue: The jury should have decided the fine, not the judge. The case was dismissed and the prosecution did not seek a retrial.

Not until 1968 did the US Supreme Court rule in Epperson vs. Arkansas that such bans contravene the Establishment Clause because their primary purpose is religious.

H. L. Mencken's trial reports were heavily slanted against the prosecution. He mocked the town's inhabitants as "yokels" and "morons". He called Bryan a "buffoon" and his speeches "theologic bilge". In contrast, he called the defense "eloquent" and "magnificent". Evolutionists say that Mencken's trial reports turned public opinion against creationism.

The trial is described in detail in the Pulitzer Prize-winning book Summer for the Gods, by Edward J. Larson (ISBN 0465075096); also useful is Ray Ginger's Six Days or Forever? (ISBN 0195197844). Another detailed resource is The Great Monkey Trial by L. Sprague de Camp. Also, a play loosely based on the events in Dayton, called Inherit the Wind, was written by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee.

Publicity and drama

Publicity

The trial also brought publicity to the town of Dayton, Tennessee, leading some to speculate that it was a publicity stunt. From The Salem Republican, June 11, 1925:

"The whole matter has assumed the portion of Dayton and her merchants endeavoring to secure a large amount of notoriety and publicity with an open question as whether Scopes is a party to the plot or not."

Inherit the Wind

Main article: Inherit the Wind

The stage play Inherit the Wind (1955) by Lawrence and Lee, later adapted as a film in 1960 by Stanley Kramer, was (very loosely) based around this trial. It was not intended to depict the trial accurately but rather to decry the excesses of the Joseph McCarthy era in 1950s politics. It starred Spencer Tracy as Darrow and Gene Kelly as Mencken. In 1988, a rewrite of the Kramer movie shown on NBC starred Jason Robards as Darrow and Kirk Douglas as Bryan.

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