Scopes trial

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The Scopes trial (State v. Scopes, Scopes v. State, 152 Tenn. 424, 278 S.W. 57 (Tenn. 1926)), also commonly known as the Scopes Monkey Trial, was a famous test of the evolution vs creation debate.

Contents

[edit] Background

On 25 March, 1925, Tennessee's Butler Act declared it unlawful, in any state-funded educational establishment in Tennessee, "to teach any theory that denies the story of the Divine Creation of man as taught in the Bible, and to teach instead that man has descended from a lower order of animals." The Act was opposed by the ACLU, who funded a test case, that of high school teacher John T. Scopes.

[edit] The trial

The case attracted national and international publicity, with two of the United States' greatest lawyers of the time, Clarence Darrow (defending) and William Jennings Bryan (prosecuting), facing each other. Bryan revealed a poor knowledge of science, believing that there are 35,000 mammal species (as of 2011 there are 5,494 known mammal species), and took offence that our monkey ancestors "weren't even American monkeys."[1] Bryan was also called upon to provide expert evidence on the Bible (as a self-declared believer). He accused Darrow of plotting "to cast ridicule on everybody who believes in the Bible," to which Darrow responded "We have the purpose of preventing bigots and ignoramuses from controlling the education of the United States."

[edit] The verdict

The jury deliberated for nine minutes and found Scopes guilty. He was fined $100 dollars (about $1,300 in 2011 dollars) by the judge. By law, Tennessee judges at the time could not levy fines higher than $50, so the Tennessee Supreme Court overturned the verdict on a technicality, without addressing the constitutionality of the law, which stayed intact until 1967.

[edit] Aftermath

The story of the trial became a part of the ongoing debate about the teaching of evolution and creation in science classes. It was also written up as a play, Inherit the Wind, which was later made into a film starring Spencer Tracy and Gene Kelly. The Butler Act was finally repealed in 1967.

[edit] Reinterpretation in Inherit the Wind

While the play and later film Inherit the Wind is remembered as a classic of American drama, it significantly reinterpreted some of the events of the trial. This is partially due to the fact that it was meant to be an allegory about McCarthyism, but after the fall of the Soviet Union and revival of the evolution vs. creation debate, its literal narrative came to be seen as more relevant.

In the play/film, Bert Cates John Scopes is depicted as a persecuted man. In fact, Scopes was sitting in the audience by the end of the trial. Scopes had not actually violated the law, but volunteered to stand as a test case for the ACLU, who wanted to challenge the Butler Act. Some townspeople demonized Scopes, but many believed that Bryan had an open-and-shut case against him and that creationism would certainly win out. The politicians of Dayton actually welcomed Henry Drummond Clarence Darrow and hyped the case because it was a boon for the non-existent tourism industry of the town, which had recently fallen on hard times with the closure of a local mine which had employed most townsmen. They had urged Scopes to stand trial in hopes of "putting their town on the map" and drawing in tourist dollars.

Finally, the film presents the judgment as a victory for Darrow and Scopes; however, the two were secretly hoping to get a guilty ruling so they could appeal the case and ultimately overturn the Butler Act. Darrow never even attempted to prove Scopes was "not guilty" of having taught evolution (although this was true). Instead expert witnesses were called to testify that it was true, which the judge ruled irrelevant since the only matter at hand was whether he had broken the law or not. The defense had stipulated falsely that he did so, and in fact asked the jury to find Scopes guilty, as this was the only way to accomplish their end of getting this law ruled unconstitutional.

[edit] A second trial?

In 2012, Tennessee legislature enacted another anti-evolution act, nicknamed the Tennessee "monkey bill," which is widely believed to be going to end in a similarly litigious event. Time will tell whether it will, and hopefully with great lulz.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] Footnotes

  1. Humans are apes, not monkeys; both are primates. Further, it is believed that humans arose in Africa, with most American humans being recent migrants; there may be a hint of racism here.
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