Since the regular biology teacher, W. Ferguson, refused to be a part of a test case, Scopes was asked to help even though he was the football, basketball, and baseball coach and taught math, physics, and chemistry. At least he had substituted for a few days in biology class when Ferguson was sick, but Scopes confessed. Because Bryan was a former Secretary of State, three-time presidential candidate, leader of the Democratic Party for some fifteen years, popular silver-tongued orator of the Chautauqua circuit, and famous spokesman for Christian fundamentalist ideas, his arrival on the scene raised the trial to major-league status and broadened the issues.
The thing to do is to make a fool out of Bryan. Neal of their availability. Darrow was radical and sensational, and Malone did not have the best public image, being an international divorce lawyer and a divorced, backslidden Catholic de Camp 74, , ; Fecher ; Scopes The next eight weeks were marked by a mixture of serious legal maneuvers and comic interludes.
Chattanooga leaders tried unsuccessfully to get the trial. Dayton leaders countered successfully by recalling Scopes from vacation in Kentucky, speeding up the legal process by two months, and arranging for two fake fights to maintain media interest.
Back in Dayton the population swelled from about to about at the height of the trial. And then there were the media people: three news services and reporters, whose stories totaled about two million words and whose ranks included H.
The official chief counsel for the defense was Dr. John R. McElwee former student of Neal and replacement for John L. Godsey, who resigned the first day of the trial after being active in the planning and preparations. In addition, the defense had as librarian and Biblical authority Charles Francis Potter Modernist Unitarian preacher Scopes 65,; de Camp , , In charge of the prosecution was A. Hicks from Dayton , Herbert B. Haggard F. Those officiating and assisting at the trial were under much pressure because of the significance of the issues, the importance of some of the lawyers, the hot July weather, the presence of the media, and the crowded conditions of the courtroom, which was built to seat about but had about twice that number seated and standing.
The court reporter was Mrs. Cartright to open in prayer. Because Judge Raulston had been so eager to get the case that he had allowed Scopes to be indicted on May 25th by a grand jury whose term had expired, the judge convened another grand jury to indict Scopes a second time Ginger Eight prospective jurors were examined and excused for various reasons. In the order of their appearance, the following were selected for the jury: W. Roberson farmer, no church affiliation , J.
Dagley farmer, Methodist , James W. Riley farmer, Baptist , W. Taylor farmer, Southern Methodist , R. Gentry farmer and teacher, Baptist ; Jack R. Thompson jury foreman, former U. Marshall, farm owner, Methodist , W. Smith farmer, Baptist , Jess R. Bowman farmer and cabinet maker, Methodist Episcopal. William G. Day farmer, Baptist , R. West farmer and carpenter, Baptist , and John S. Wright farmer, Baptist. Trial ; de Camp On the second day, Monday, July 13, the Reverend M.
Moffett was asked to lead in prayer. The indictment was discussed at length, and a motion by Dr. Neal to quash it failed. The prominent speakers on this day were Dr. Neal, General Stewart, and Clarence Darrow, the last of whom concluded the day with a speech on freedom that takes up 13 of the 42 pages of the trial record for this day. When Judge Raulston called on the Reverend Dr. Stribling to begin in prayer on the third day, Tuesday, July 14, Clarence Darrow objected to the practice and to the jury being present at the discussion of the matter.
After heated discussion on both sides, the judge overruled in favor of opening the court with prayer. Court was then adjourned for much of the day in order to allow the judge to formulate a decision regarding the question raised on day two about the constitutionality of the law and the motion to quash the indictment.
Charles Francis Potter, the Unitarian minister from New York who assisted the defense as an expert on religion. Judge Raulston then read his lengthy and carefully worded decision about the motion to quash the indictment. Finding the indictment adequately clear and the law appropriate in its relation to freedom of thought and expression, Raulston overruled the motion. In the afternoon session, Scopes pleaded not guilty.
Then the prosecution called the following witnesses: Superintendent of Schools Walter White; school board chairman F. Scopes at the time of the May 25th hearing and Darrow at the time of the trial both coached some of the prospective student witnesses on the details of evolution so they would appear to have learned the subject from Scopes.
Darrow, in fact, roomed at the home of one witness, Howard Morgan Allem 66; de Camp ; Scopes In the entire long trial, these were the only witnesses whose testimony was part of the official record. Ironically Scopes could have avoided a criminal trial with its possible conviction and loss of a job by taking advantage of his status as a professional educator, questioning the constitutionality of the anti-evolution law, and asking for a declaratory judgment Larson For their first witness, the defense team called Johns Hopkins University zoologist Dr.
Maynard M. Metcalf Trial In number of days but not in dramatic and legal high points, the trial was at the fifth-day halfway mark on Thursday, July 16, when the Reverend Dr. Allen of Nashville was named to open the court session with prayer.
Sue Hicks, B. McKenzie, Darrow, and Neal joined the heated discussion. Bryan then turned the tables on Darrow by using against him his argument in the Leopold and Loeb murder case. Legal technicians Stewart and Hays finished out the day of stirring speeches by debating on principles of interpretation.
Stewart pointed out that the intent of the legislature rather than individual words such as and in the Butler Bill was the rule in Tennessee for interpretation Trial Eastwood to pray before the sixth and shortest day of the trial, which was on Friday, July Judge John Raulston began by summarizing in clear and careful detail the arguments of the prosecution and the defense on the important matter of the admission of expert testimony presented the day before.
Then he sustained the motion of the attorney general to exclude expert testimony. After a lengthy discussion, Raulston agreed to allow the defense to include the expert testimony but in the absence of the jury , to read it into the record though the judge and the prosecution preferred that time be saved by simply submitting it in written affidavit form , to protect it from cross-examination though Bryan requested this privilege , and to give the defense a recess of the rest of the day to prepare documents that the defense lawyers could read into the record though the judge preferred direct dictation from the witnesses, and the prosecution was unhappy at losing so much time.
The evaluation of trial historian L. But without comment at a. Though there had been some dramatic and interesting spots, the trial proceedings up to this point had been long, technical, and uninteresting to the average layman.
The worldwide audience coverage continued, but the audience in and about the courtroom began to thin out. On Saturday, July 18, the exodus began: H. Thompson headed to Florida, W. Bryan, Jr. Monday, July 20, the seventh day of the trial, began hot and was to get hotter both in weather conditions and word confrontations. The theory of evolution, as presented by Charles Darwin and others, was a controversial concept in many quarters, even into the 20th century.
Concerted anti-evolutionist efforts in Tennessee succeeded when in , the Tennessee House of Representatives was offered a bill by John W. Butler making teaching evolution a misdemeanor. The so-called Butler Act was passed six days later almost unanimously with no amendments.
What became known as the Scopes Monkey Trial began as a publicity stunt for the town of Dayton, Tennessee. A local businessman met with the school superintendent and a lawyer to discuss using the ACLU offer to get newspapers to write about the town. The group asked if high school science teacher John Scopes would admit to teaching evolution for the purposes of prosecution. It was announced to newspapers the next day that Scopes had been charged with violating the Butler Act, and the town wired the ACLU to procure its services.
The Tennessee press roundly criticized the town, accusing it of staging a trial for publicity. Three-time presidential nominee William Jennings Bryan volunteered to present for the prosecution.
The politician was already well-known as an anti-evolution activist, almost single-handedly creating the national controversy over the teaching of evolution and making his name inseparable from the issue.
Author H. Wells was approached early on to present the case for evolution, but he turned down the offer.
Clarence Darrow — a famous attorney who had recently acted for the defense in the notorious Leopold and Loeb murder trial — found out about the Scopes trial through journalist H. Mencken , who suggested Darrow should defend Scopes. Darrow and Bryan already had a history of butting heads over evolution and the concept of taking the Bible literally, sparring in the press and public debates.
It was the only time in his career he offered to give free legal aid. Bryan and Darrow set the tone by immediately attacking each other in the press. The ACLU attempted to remove Darrow from the case, fearing they would lose control, but none of these efforts worked.
The grand jury met on May 9, In preparation, Scopes recruited and coached students to testify against him. Three of the seven students attending were called to testify, each showing a sketchy understanding of evolution.
The case was pushed forward and a trial set for July Bryan arrived in Dayton three days before the trial, stepping off a train to the spectacle of half the town greeting him. He posed for photo opportunities and gave two public speeches, stating his intention to not only defend the anti-evolution law but to use the trial to debunk evolution entirely.
The trial day started with crowds pouring into the courthouse two hours before it was scheduled to begin, filling up the room and causing onlookers to spill into the hallways. There was applause when Bryan entered the court and further when he and Darrow shook hands. The trial began — somewhat ironically — with a lengthy prayer. Outside the courthouse a circus-like atmosphere reigned, with barbecues, concessions and carnival games, though that died down as the trial was adjourned for the weekend, over which Bryan and Darrow sparred through the press and tensions mounted.
It was to a packed courthouse on Monday that arguments began by the defense working to establish the scientific validity of evolution, while the prosecution focused on the Butler Act as an education standard for Tennessee citizens, citing precedents. The statement Darrow made is considered an example of his best passionate public speaking. He spoke for over two hours. He lost the moderator's election to Charles F. Wishart, president of the College of Wooster, where evolutionary theory was taught.
The assembly adopted a more moderate approach to evolution that year. Bryan died on July 26 , five days after the end of the trial--a defeated man to some, to others an unbowed champion of common people everywhere. The Scopes Trial did not settle the debate between Fundamentalists and Modernists.
Ninety years later, that theological and cultural dispute continues. You can read more blog posts about fundamentalism on our site. Skip to main content. Services Collections History Online. June 12, American History , Fundamentalism. Via Wikipedia. Colorized by PHS, July marks the 90 th anniversary of the Scopes Monkey Trial, one of the most famous court cases in American history. Defending substitute high school teacher John Thomas Scopes was Clarence Darrow, one of the celebrity lawyers of the day.
Billed as a grand showdown between religion and science, the trial would play out in a rural Tennessee courthouse amid sweltering summer heat. From Shall Christianity Remain Christian? Pace, Image No. Although Progressive in his politics, he espoused a Fundamentalist cultural agenda.
Ironically, he thought that a guilty verdict should not require John Scopes to pay a fine and offered to help Scopes pay it. Though Bryan and the agnostic Darrow shared many of the same political views, the trial quickly became defined as a battle between the forces of Fundamentalism and Modernism, and headlines to that effect proved irresistible to the media.
The trial was the first to be broadcast on radio. Blocked by the judge from allowing most of his witnesses to testify in person, Darrow called Bryan to the stand as a Bible expert.
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