An introduction to the John Scopes (Monkey) Trial - 0 views
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Dayton, Tennessee courtroom in the summer of 1925.
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The Scopes Trial had its origins in a conspiracy at Fred Robinson's drugstore in Dayton
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American Civil Liberties Union announcement that it was willing to offer its services to anyone challenging the new Tennessee anti-evolution statute.
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The conspirators summoned John Scopes, a twenty-four-year old general science teacher and part-time football coach, to the drugstore
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Dayton. Darrow was not the first choice of the ACLU, who was concerned that Darrow's zealous agnosticism might turn the trial into a broadside attack on religion
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Nearly a thousand people, 300 of whom were standing, jammed the Rhea County Courthouse on July 10, 1925
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Judge John T. Raulston, the presiding judge in the Scopes Trial
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William Jennings Bryan, three-time Democratic candidate for President and a populist, led a Fundamentalist crusade to banish Darwin's theory of evolution from American classrooms
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The proceedings opened, over Darrow's objections, to a prayer
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Judge Raulston and his entire family listened attentively from their front pew seats.
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Judge Raulston
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A jury of twelve men, including ten (mostly middle-aged) farmers and eleven regular church-goers, was quickly selected
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including ten (mostly middle-aged) farmers and eleven regular church-goers, was quickly selected
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A jury of twelve men
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moved to quash the indictment on both state and federal constitutional grounds. This move was at the heart of the defense strategy. The defense's goal was not to win acquittal for John Scopes, but rather to obtain a declaration by a higher court--preferably the U.S. Supreme Court--that laws forbidding the teaching of evolution were unconstitutional
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Judge Raulston denied the defense motion.
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As expected
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titanic struggle between good and evil or truth and ignorance
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if evolution wins, Christianity goes.
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The prosecution opened its case by asking the court to take judicial notice of the Book of Genesis,
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asked seven students in Scope's class a series of questions about his teachings
