The Famous Scopes Monkey Trial

The battle over whether evolution should be taught in public schools, which sparked the world-famous Scopes Monkey Trial, was the result of the disputes between the forces of science and the forces of religion that began in the 1860s. After years of sailing around the world as a naturalist aboard the HMS Beagle a man by the name of Charles Robert Darwin published a book entitled "On the Origins of Species By Means of Natural Selection". This book, published in 1859, introduced the theory of natural selection that Darwin believed help to drive the process of evolution. His book explained that physical characteristics, such as quality of vision and hearing, were passed from parents to offspring and sometimes resulted in slight variations. The book also stated that life consisted of a fierce struggle for existence in which all creatures of a certain species compete for the same food, water and territory. This idea became know as the survival of the fittest.

In 1871, he published a book entitled, "The Descent of Man". This book continued the concepts from his first book and also introduced many new concepts included the idea that all organisms are descendants of a common ancestor. Many people criticized Darwin's ideas at first, but more and more people began to accept them. By 1920, nearly all colleges and high schools in the United States and Europe had textbooks that included a section on evolution.

Not everyone, however, had fully accepted Darwin's theories. A religious group known as Fundamentalists, believed in the infallibility of the bible and believed the theory of evolution conflicted with the biblical account of creation. Their name came from a series of twelve pamphlets they published titled The Fundamentals. Three million of these pamphlets were printed as a reaction to the decline of traditional faith in the Bible. This movement gained much momentum throughout the late 1800s to the early 1900s and was particularly strong in rural areas such as California, and around the southern Border States. By the early 1920s, the fundamentalists had gained a substantial voice in America.

One of the loudest voices of the fundamentalist movement was a man named William Jennings Bryan. Born in Salem, Illinois on March 19, 1860 he attended college in Illinois and Jacksonville and at Union College of Law in Chicago. After briefly practicing law in Illinois, he quickly moved to Nebraska where he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. During this time, he became a supporter of the unlimited coinage of silver. At the Democratic National Convention in 1896 he delivered his famous "cross of gold" speech which earned him the nomination from his party to run for president. That year he was defeated by the Republic governor of Ohio, William McKinley. He ran again in 1900 and in 1908, but was defeated by Theodore Roosevelt and William H. Taft, respectively. He became known as "The Great Commoner" because he cared for the common people.

One of the fundamentalist's main objectives was to stop the teaching of evolution in public schools. They introduced anti-evolution laws in many states including Texas, Florida and Kentucky. Most bills were rejected, but in 1923 a bill was passed in Oklahoma which banned textbooks that contained information about evolution. A similar bill was passed in North Carolina in 1924, but their biggest victory came in Tennessee in 1925. Fundamentalist state legislator John Washington Butler introduced a law which banned the teaching of evolution all together. The Butler Act stated that is was unlawful… "teach any theory that denies the story of the Divine Creation of man taught in the Bible, and to teach instead that man has descended from a lower order of animals". It also stated that any teacher found guilty of teaching evolution would be fined "not less than One Hundred ($100.00) Dollars nor more than Five Hundred ($500.00) Dollars for each offense". This act was passed on March 13, 1925.

News of this controversial act spread quickly and soon gained the interest of the American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU was founded in 1920. Its main goals are "to uphold and defend the U.S. Constitution, especially the Bill of Rights, against unjust and unfair laws, particularly poor and illiterate people w ho otherwise would be inadequately defended". The ACLU offered to help finance a legal test case of the new law if a teacher who had taught evolution would willingly stand trial.

Back in the small town in Dayton, Tennessee, a man named George W. Rappelyea read the story about the ACLU and gathered a few of his friends in the local drugstore to discuss the story. In attendance of this informal meeting were the owner of the drugstore, Frank Robinson, the superintendent of the school district, Walter White, and two local lawyers, Sue Hicks (a man named after his mother) and Wallace C. Haggard. The Dayton Conspirators, as they would later be called, decided that it would be a good idea to host the trial in their hometown. The town's population had fallen from 3,000 in the 1890s to 1,800 in 1925. They believed that having the trial would help the local businesses by attracting visitors. The conspirators convinced a twenty-four-year old general science teacher and part-time football coach, named John Thomas Scopes, to stand trial. Scopes was arrested on May 7, 1925.

Before the trial could take place the law stated that the person accused of the crime must be indicted, or formally accused, by a grand jury consisting of a pretrial jury sworn in by a judge. The grand jury was to decide whether the evidence collected by the prosecution was strong enough to warrant a trial. Judge John T. Raulston convened a special grand jury and Scopes was indicted on May 25, 1925.

The prosecution was headed by none other than the Great Commoner himself, William Jennings Bryan, even though he had not practiced law in over 30 years. When word got around that Bryan was heading the prosecution, seventy-year old Clarence Darrow joined the defense team. Darrow was one of the most famous and skilled lawyers in American history. He hated injustice and human suffering and was dead set against capital punishment. He defended many notorious people included over 50 murderers, of which only one was executed.

As the trial approached in July, many people flocked to the carnival like town of Dayton, Tennessee. Banners were hung all over the small town, lemonade stands were set up, and chimpanzees, who were jokingly there to testify, performed on a stage set up on main street. Radio stations were ready to broadcast the first-ever live trial. The town was getting plenty of publicity just as the Conspirators had hoped.

The trial began with jury selection on Friday July 10, 1925. Jury members were quickly chosen after being interviewed by both the prosecution and defense. The following Monday was just as hot and humid as the week before. After an opening prayer, the indictment against Scopes was read. The defense intended to throw out the indictment by discrediting the Butler Act. If they could accomplish this, the issue of whether anti-evolution laws were constitutional would be tried in the Supreme Court. Judge Raulston denied the defense's motion since the trial was to determine whether Scopes had broken the law rather than if the law was unconstitutional.

The next step of the trial was for the prosecution to call it's witnesses. The first witness was Walter White, the school superintendent. Upon cross-examination White admitted that the book Scopes had taught from had been officially adopted by the state in 1919 and contained a section on evolution. Therefore, by teaching evolution, Scopes was only doing his job.

Next, the prosecution called two of Scopes' students to the stand. They confirmed that he had taught that various types of life evolved from lower forms. When the prosecution asked the students to define the term "mammal", several people in the audience rushed their young children out of the courtroom. After the prosectution's third witness, drugstore owner Frank Robinson, admitted that he had heard scopes say he had taught evolution to his students the prosecution rested its case.

It was now the defense's turn to call up their witnesses. Their first witness was Dr. Maynard Metcalf, a zoologist from John Hopkins University. The prosecution objected, arguing that the testimony had nothing to do with Scopes guilt or innocence. Before ruling the prosecution's evidence, Judge Raulston allowed the Dr. Metcalf to continue. When the court adjourned and continued the next day Darrow intended to call Dr. Metcalf back to the stand. The prosecution objected yet again. Darrow claimed that his expert witnessed did pertain to the trial since it was necessary to understand what evolution was about and that he intended to call up other expert witnesses. Both sides now needed to argue whether expert witnesses should be allowed to testify. Bryan now had the chance to deliver the speech the audience was waiting for. After he was finished the audience went wild with applause. The judge ruled in favor of the prosecution and did not allow any more expert witnesses to take the stand.

When the court re-adjourned the following Monday most of the press had left believing the trial to be over. The trial was also moved outside due to rumors that the courtroom floor was going to collapse because of all the weight. When everyone was situated another argument arose. Darrow asked if a banner that said "Read your Bible" could be removed believing that it could influence the juries decision. He then stated that he would not mind it if a banner would be placed aside it that said "Read your evolution". Judge Raulston ordered that the sign should be removed.

The defense then called Bryan to the stand. This request startled the audience as well as Bryan himself. After an objection by the prosecution, Bryan took the stand. Darrow asked Bryan many questions regarding the biblical account of creation. Bryan, who was not much of a scientist, willingly answered the questions to the best of his ability. Eventually, however, Darrow managed to cause Bryan to stumble upon his words and embarrass himself. This was the beginning of the end for Bryan.

The next day Darrow wished to address the jury. He was worried that they would find Scopes not guilty which would cause the defense to lose its right to appeal the case to a higher court so that they could once again debate that the Butler Act was unconstitutional. Darrow than emphasized to the jury that the man he was defending was indeed guilty. After this the jury delivered the guilty verdict and the judge fined Scopes the minimum of one hundred dollars.

M Y   R E A C T I O N

The Scopes Monkey Trial is very interesting to study. I don't think that the Dayton Conspirators could have ever imagined how their publicity stunt for their little town would have affected the history of the United States. Before the trial many people were eager to ban the teaching of evolution. But after Bryan's defeat, many of those people changed their minds. The Scopes Trial marked an end to the rise of creationism. Now it is almost unheard of for students to be taught about the biblical account of creation in their biology class.

Although John Thomas Scopes was eventually found guilty and fined the minimum of one hundred dollars, it is interesting to note, however, that he did not have to pay the fine. Since the judge rushed to fine him, instead of the jury, the fine was eventually dropped on this technicality. Also, the Butler Act remained a law until 1967 when the legislature repealed it.

This story, unlike many others, did not have a happy ending. As it turns out, five days after the judge's gavel closed the proceedings the common people's defeated hero died of a stroke. Many people believed his death was really caused by a broken heart.

Darrow's expert witness's facts on evolution from his testimony have all been discredited and thrown out by evolutionists today, but it just goes to show you that if you have all the "facts" you just may win an argument, and in Darrow's case, a trial.