John Butler was in the Tennessee House of Representative from 1923-1927. He is most famous for introducing the Butler Act in 1925 which would prohibit the learning of any subject in school that contradicted the word of God. The law was specifically targeted at the teaching of evolution. The act is also referred to as the Tennessee Anti-Evolution Act, or “Monkey Law”. After participating in the writing of the Butler act and Scopes …show more content…
Later, the American Civil Liberties Union (or ACLU) offers to pay court cost for anyone who is willing to test the Butler Act. “Fearful that if the Tennessee law went unchallenged other states would soon pass similar bills, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) immediately announced it would defend any teacher charged with violating the Butler Act.” says Bradbury. The ACLU was an organization which would try to figure out if laws were unconstitutional or not. On May 5, John Scopes, science teacher, volunteered to become ACLU's defendant in a trial testing the Tennessee anti-evolution