The Scopes “Monkey Trial” was one of the most famous battles in history between evolution and creationism. After the Butler Act was passed, which banned the teaching of evolution, The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) announced it would defend anyone who challenged it. John Thomas Scopes was a teacher in Dayton, Tennessee, who was charged on May 5, 1925 for violating Tennessee's Butler Act. This case pitted two titans against each other, William Jennings Bryan, a former presidential candidate and famed layer/rationalist, Clarence Darrow.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), a group formed in 1920 to protect the rights bestowed by the Constitution and its Bill of Rights, advertised in Tennessee newspapers to find an individual willing to challenge the Butler Act. Several leaders in Dayton found a willing participant in John T. Scopes, a substitute high school biology teacher who was teaching evolution. The motivation for going against the Butler Act was not only rooted in a fundamentalist response to the teaching of evolution, but also as a means to train a national spotlight on the tiny, struggling community …show more content…
George Rappalyea, a local coal company manager, arrived at the drugstore with a copy of a paper containing an American Civil Liberties Union announcement that it was willing to offer its services to anyone challenging the new Tennessee anti-evolution act. Rappalyea and several other men argued that a court case this big would put Dayton on the map. The conspirators summoned John Scopes, a twenty-four-year old general science teacher and part-time football coach, to the drugstore. Scopes had been teaching from a book that had a section on evolution, Rappalyea pointed out that Scopes had been violating the law and asked him to stand for a test case. Scopes was later convicted for teaching and evolution, The battle between evolution and creationism was about to
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), a group formed in 1920 to protect the rights bestowed by the Constitution and its Bill of Rights, advertised in Tennessee newspapers to find an individual willing to challenge the Butler Act. Several leaders in Dayton found a willing participant in John T. Scopes, a substitute high school biology teacher who was teaching evolution. The motivation for going against the Butler Act was not only rooted in a fundamentalist response to the teaching of evolution, but also as a means to train a national spotlight on the tiny, struggling community …show more content…
George Rappalyea, a local coal company manager, arrived at the drugstore with a copy of a paper containing an American Civil Liberties Union announcement that it was willing to offer its services to anyone challenging the new Tennessee anti-evolution act. Rappalyea and several other men argued that a court case this big would put Dayton on the map. The conspirators summoned John Scopes, a twenty-four-year old general science teacher and part-time football coach, to the drugstore. Scopes had been teaching from a book that had a section on evolution, Rappalyea pointed out that Scopes had been violating the law and asked him to stand for a test case. Scopes was later convicted for teaching and evolution, The battle between evolution and creationism was about to