Tales from Tennessee and Beyond: The Scopes Trial

The Scopes Trial took place in July 1925 in Dayton, Tennessee. The issue was over the teaching of evolution in public schools. The issue arose when John Scopes, a substitute teacher, taught that man evolved over a period of time. This teaching however was against the law under Tennessee's Butler Act. This started one of the most high profile court cases that the state of Tennessee has ever seen. Scopes did not have very much support in Dayton. The citizens felt that he was brainwashing their children. Scopes enlisted the help of Clarence Darrow to be his defense attorney. Darrow was one of the nations brightest defense attorneys. The state of Tennessee enlisted the help of prosecutor, and former presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan. Bryan had been very outspoken against teaching evolution in public schools. The case drug on from July 10th to July 25th. Media from all over the country descended upon Dayton. The once quiet carefree town was now at the center of a major legal battle. According to some accounts Darrow was actually wanting Scopes to be convicted so that he could appeal to the Supreme Court to have the Butler Act ruled unconstitutional. Darrow even went as far as calling Bryan to the stand as a witness. Bryan testified on behalf of the Bible. Darrow tried to get him to admit that the Bible was not scientific, but Bryan never did. He actually strengthened his argument in favor of Creationism. In the end the jury, that was made up of many local citizens, ruled in favor of Bryan and the prosecution. They said that Scopes had deliberately violated the Butler Act by teaching evolution in a public school. This case was most defiantly a victory for supporters of Creationism. The Scopes trial's lasting effects are still being felt today. We as a nation are in the midst of a debate over Creationism and Evolution. Proponents of science are wanting evolution taught in the schools and proponents of Christianity are wanting Creationism to be taught. It is a debate that seems to have no end in sight. The one neat thing though about this ongoing issue is that it got its start in Tennessee. It put Tennessee on the map in both a positive way and a negative way. The positive way being that the citizens of that time were not afraid to stand up for Christianity and the values they believed in. The negative way however was that Tennessee was labeled as being against science to an extent. The Scopes trial is one of the more unique parts of Tennessee history, that everyone has an opinion on. I'll let you all be the judge!!