The Scopes Monkey Trial started as an effort by the ACLU to challenge the constitutionality of a Tennessee law that forbade teaching the theory of evolution in public schools. The Tennessee Supreme Court found the law forbidding the teaching of evolution to be constitutional. In 1968, the U.S. Supreme Court found a similar law in Arkansas to be a violation of the First Amendment. In this photo, evangelist T.T. Martin's books against the theory of evolution are sold in Dayton, Tennessee, at the Scopes trial. (AP Photo, used with permission from the Associated Press)
In this photo, evangelist T.T. Martin's books against the theory of evolution are sold in Dayton, Tennessee, at the Scopes trial. (AP Photo, used with permission from the Associated Press)
High school biology teacher John T. Scopes, shown here in 1925, was recruited to teach the theory of evolution as a way to challenge a Tennessee law that forbade it in public schools. (AP Photo, file, used with permission from the Associated Press)
The case arose when, seeking to test the constitutional validity of the Butler Act, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) placed advertisements in Tennessee newspapers offering to pay the expenses of any teacher willing to challenge the law.
The trial was viewed as an opportunity to challenge the constitutionality of the bill, to publicly advocate for the legitimacy of Darwin’s theory of evolution, and to enhance the profile of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
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 grand jury met on May 9, 1925. 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 10.
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 1925, the Tennessee House of Representatives was offered a bill by John W. Butler making teaching evolution a misdemeanor.
John Scopes. 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.
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.L. Mencken, who suggested Darrow should defend Scopes.
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.
On May 5, 1925 a twenty-five year old science teacher and football coach named John Scopes was arrested at Rhea County High School in Dayton, Tennessee and charged with violating the state's Butler Act. This law prohibited public school teachers from discussing evolution with their students. He was tried in a case formally known as State of Tennessee vs. John Scopes, but the press called it the Scopes Monkey Trial.
After the trial was over, Scopes told a reporter that he never actually taught the theory of evolution. He said that he made the story up to help out the ACLU. Scopes told them that his lawyer had coached his students to pretend that he gave a lecture on evolution. He gave an interview where he was quoted as saying: 'I furnished the body to sit in the defendant's chair.' After the ordeal was over, he never returned to teaching.
John Scopes came to Dayton, Tennessee after graduating from the University of Kentucky in 1924, when the man who served as Rhea County High School’s principal, football coach, and algebra and physics teacher suddenly resigned in late summer.
Thomas and his wife, Mary, insisted that their children read literature and philosophy—and quizzed them regularly on their readings. They were especially proud of their fifth child, John, whom Thomas called “an extraordinary boy.”.
Scopes answered, “Yes,” then went on to explain that, while substituting for the regular biology teacher in April 1925, he had assigned his students Hunter’s chapter on evolution. Illness the next day, however, kept him home and, to his recollection, no class discussion of the evolution materials ever took place.
He took the latter because he had become convinced that the criminal justice system could ruin people's lives if they were not adequately represented.
On September 9, 1925, a white mob in Detroit attempted to drive a black family out of the home they had purchased in a white neighborhood. During the struggle, a white man was killed, and the eleven black men in the house were later arrested and charged with murder. Ossian Sweet, a doctor, and three members of his family were brought to trial, and after an initial deadlock, Darrow argued to the all-white jury: "I insist that there is nothing but prejudice in this case; that if it was reversed and eleven white men had shot and killed a black man while protecting their home and their lives against a mob of blacks, nobody would have dreamed of having them indicted. They would have been given medals instead...."
Early life. Clarence Darrow was born in the small town of Farmdale, Ohio, on April 18, 1857, the fifth son of Amirus and Emily Darrow (née Eddy), but grew up in nearby Kinsman, Ohio. Both the Darrow and Eddy families had deep roots in colonial New England, and several of Darrow's ancestors served in the American Revolution.
Darrow married Jessie Ohl in April 1880. They had one child, Paul Edward Darrow, in 1883. They were divorced in 1897. Darrow later married Ruby Hammerstrom, a journalist 16 years his junior, in 1903. They had no children.
He concluded that "the fear of God is not the beginning of wisdom. The fear of God is the death of wisdom. Skepticism and doubt lead to study and investigation, and investigation is the beginning of wisdom."
The Scopes Trial and the Sweet trial were the last big cases that Darrow took on before he retired from full-time practice at the age of 68. He still took on a few cases such as the 1932 Massie Trial in Hawaii.
"Attorney for the Damned" (Arthur Weinberg, ed), published by University of Chicago Press in 2012 ; Simon and Schuster in 1957; provides Darrow's most influential summations and includes scene-setting explanations and comprehensive notes; on NYT best seller list 19 weeks.