Dec 31, 2014 · Clarence Darrow was the famous top criminal lawyer who defended John Scopes. John Scopes was the teacher who taught evolution in a Tennessee high school.
Which famous lawyer defended John Scopes, who was arrested for teaching evolution in a Tennessee high school? A. William Jennings Bryan B. Mitchell Palmer C. William Howard Taft D. Clarence Darrow. Clarence Darrow is the famous lawyer defended John Scopes, who was arrested for teaching evolution in a Tennessee high school. ...
Scopes’ defense was led by the renowned Chicago attorney Clarence Darrow, a member of the ACLU known for his defense of labor unions and opposition to the death penalty.
Nov 17, 2017 · The Scopes Trial, also known as the Scopes Monkey Trial, was the 1925 prosecution of science teacher John Scopes for teaching evolution in a Tennessee public school, which a recent bill had made...
Heading up the prosecution team was William Jennings Bryan , a three-time Democratic presidential candidate and a devout Christian who often spoke passionately and publicly about the Bible’s teachings.
On May 25, the grand jury indicted Scopes on the charge that he “did unlawfully and willfully teach…certain theory and theories that deny the story of Divine creation of man as taught in the Bible and did teach thereof that man descended from a lower order of animals.”. Scopes’ indictment opened the way for what would become known as the “trial ...
Arrested on May 9, 1925, Scopes asked some of his students to testify against him in front of a grand jury in Nashville (about 150 miles northwest of Dayton) to ensure that his case would go to trial. On May 25, the grand jury indicted Scopes on the charge that he “did unlawfully and willfully teach…certain theory and theories ...
On appeal, the state supreme court upheld the Butler Act’s constitutionality but acquitted Scopes, on the grounds that he had been excessively punished. The Scopes Monkey Trial would become the basis for the acclaimed 1955 play “Inherit the Wind,” as well as a 1960 film of the same name starring Spencer Tracy.
John T. Scopes was a 24-year-old physics, chemistry and math teacher at the public high school in Dayton, Tennessee, when local community leaders persuaded him to answer the ACLU’s call for a defendant in a test case challenging the Butler Act.
The trial took place in the blisteringly hot month of July 1925, at the Rhea County Courthouse in Dayton. Thousands of visitors, including journalists and prominent academics, poured into the small town to see the clash of evolutionism versus creationism, rural fundamentalism versus worldly urban sophistication.
Remembering the Scopes Trial. On May 25, 1925, John T. Scopes —the defendant in the famous “Monkey Trial”—was indicted for teaching the theory of evolution in his high school science class. Author:
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.
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).
Darrow’s goal in getting involved was to debunk fundamentalist Christianity and raise awareness of a narrow, fundamentalist interpretation of the Bible. 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.
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. Recommended for you.
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 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).
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.
H.L. Mencken , who covered the trial for The Baltimore Sun and The American Mercury, wrote: “All that remains of the great cause of the State of Tennessee against the infidel Scopes is the formal business of bumping off the defendant.
John Scopes arrested for teaching evolution, May 5, 1925. On this day in 1925, Tennessee authorities arrested John Scopes, a substitute high school teacher, for teaching evolution. They charged him with having violated a newly enacted law that criminalized the teaching of human evolution in the state’s public schools.
William Jennings Bryan , a three-time Democratic presidential candidate and a former senator and U.S. secretary of state, argued the case for the prosecution, while Clarence Darrow, a famed defense attorney, represented Scopes. The trial soon degenerated into a media circus.
The jury took nine minutes to return a guilty verdict. Scopes was fined $100. The Tennessee State Supreme Court, however, acquitted him on a technicality while upholding the constitutionality of the state law.
On July 10, 1925, Scopes appeared in a Dayton courtroom to stand trial. He was represented by one of the most famous lawyers of the time, Clarence Darrow. On the opposing side, former presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan had come to town to help the prosecution.
Scopes's trial became a national sensation, with celebrity lawyers like Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan involved in the case. Scopes was found guilty, but his story remains famous as the Scopes "Monkey Trial," dramatized in the 1960 film Inherit the Wind starring Spencer Tracy.
In the fall of 1924, Scopes joined the faculty of Rhea County Central High School in Dayton, Tennessee, where he taught algebra, chemistry and physics. At the time, there was a national debate about whether evolution should be taught in schools. British naturalist Charles Darwin championed the theories of evolution, espousing that all modern animal and plant life had descended from a common ancestor. Darwin's theories, however, directly contradicted the Bible's teachings on the beginning of life. Across the United States, Christian fundamentalists moved to bar any discussion of evolution from the nation's classrooms.
That was enough to get him charged under the new law. Only 24 years old, Scopes saw the case as a chance to stand up for academic freedom.
In 1967, Scopes published Center of the Storm, a book about his life and experiences as part of the famed Scopes "Monkey Trial.". He died of cancer on October 21, 1970, in Shreveport, Louisiana.
The Butler Act made it illegal for any teacher in a publicly funded school "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.".
There, he graduated from high school in 1919. After one year at the University of Illinois, Scopes transferred to the University of Kentucky. He had to drop out for a time for medical reasons, but he eventually earned a degree in law.