Scopes Monkey Trial Research Paper

John Thomas Scopes, a teacher in Dayton Tennessee, with a hopeful mind in teaching children about Charles Darwin. Scopes was never a full time teacher, he was an occasional substitute and the high school’s football coach. In Tennessee, they have a law where it is illegal to teach children about Charles Darwin and evolution. This is called the Butler Act.

an you imagine yourself having to start your daily school routine with a prayer? This became a serious question to be taken up by the Supreme Court of the US, in November of 1951. Following an increase in in juvenile crime (many believe caused by the Korean War). The New York Board of Regents adopted a prayer to be recited in NY public schools (Dierenfield 67). The prayer was established because “...the regents believed that such a program would ensure that school children would acquire ‘respect for lawful authority and obedience to law’ ”

Once someone steps in the court room to oversee a trial of this caliber (or any caliber) they must not and will not let the media dictate their perspective of events. Scott Peterson’s jury saw the burden of proof provided by the prosecution and were left with no doubt in their minds by their own deductions he was guilty. The Casey Anthony jury on the other hand took all of the evidence into consideration, but they still were not completely convinced she was capable of the charges being filed against her, leaving them no other decision but to provide a not guilty

Drummond VS Darrow The hot humid air of the courtroom made the tension of ideas arise. The evolutionist and creationist were like oil and water in a pot of controversy. Evolutionism was the basis of Clarence Darrow’s most important case of his life and of his counterpart: Henry Drummond. Darrow was the lawyer to John Scopes during The Scopes Monkey Trials.

In this court case, the state of Louisiana made a law that forbade the teaching of the theory of evolution in public schools unless the school were to teach the theory of creationism as well (“Edwards”). Though the law did not require the teaching of either of the theories, it did require one of the other if schools did decide to teach it (“Edwards”). Parents, teachers, and religious leaders seeked to prevent the forcing of this law (“Edwards”). Andrew Koppelman, the author of “Phony Originalism and the Establishment Clause,” says, “States are prohibited from

Today it is “recognized as a leading work in natural philosophy and in the history of mankind” (Landry). Today it seems as if there is a price to pay when talking about this topic in public, especially in school classrooms, as many teachers and parents argue that the Bible’s literal interpretation of human development is supreme. Challenges facing the theory were found relevant in 23 states as well as seven foreign countries. In 2004 a challenge was brought up by the Kansas State Board of Education. Is evolution a matter of a theory or is it the subject of “true scientific controversy” (Tamblyn)?

“This man wishes to be accorded the same privilege as a sponge! He wishes to think!” (Lawrence & Lee, 1955, p. 94). This quote from Inherit the Wind represents the heart of the controversy known as the Scopes Trial in 1925. This historical court proceeding still affects us today, yet few know much about it.

The idea of teaching the viewpoint of evolution is considered modernism. In teaching this idea of evolution, it is going against the law and that is exactly what Scopes did. This whole trial was going against traditionalism. It exposed a deep division in America between new scientific values and traditional religious values. People starting seeking a different and better way to represent reality and the world they lived in.

Anti-evolution in the classroom The Scopes Trial of 1925 in Dayton, Tennessee put the controversial issue of evolution vs creationism on front stage for the United States to watch. After The Scopes Trial, anti-evolutionists were really trying to stop evolution in the classroom. Up until the The Scopes Trial, generations of people were following in the footsteps of their elders, adopted their religious beliefs. But after the trial, there came a period of modernization and questioning the common standards.

Overall, Creationism sounds like a children’s story while Evolution is very detailed, informative, and educational. Creationism confuses students and lures them away from their educational thinking process. In many circumstances, Creationism has refuted scientific theories and has unraveled the lot that science, in most schools has taught us about human derivation. Evolution and Creation are two of the most common theories of human origin, although numerous religious people believe in Creation, the bible’s timeline does not match up

Justice Fried knew that the mass hysteria of child molestation had in fact affected the case. He also admitted that the children had been asked questions in a way that elicited a certain answer, one that confirmed the biases of all the prosecutors. To make matters worse Justice Fried also knew that the children 's testimonies were unlikely and knew how the defendant 's constitutional right of confronting their accusers had been violated. In the end Justice Fried’s position in the case was predetermined, it seems as if he did not even give the Amiraults a chance to prove their innocence. I think that Justice Fried was very biased and was not impartial at all and he did not adequately do what he was supposed to do in the situation presented to

However, fundamentalists disagreed. They took every word of the bible as true and blamed liberal views of modernists for a “decline in morals”. Both of these ideas were present during the Scopes Trials. In 1925, a Tennessee biology teacher, John Scopes, was arrested for illegally teaching the concept of evolution

Modern thinking was denied and when John Scopes brought up evolution no matter what his case was he had no chance, yet many places heard about the trial and tried to help by, one releasing an article exposing the true evil behind having church and school strangely mixed. In the article it says, “Religion and business had become strangely mixed.” (Doc D) New York Times, expressed that when rural school are blindly teaching kids one path then there will be no diversity in

The Scopes Monkey trial was one the biggest and most influential court cases of all time. John Scopes was a public high school teacher in dayton tennessee who was arrested and tried for breaking the butlers law. Passed in 1925 it made teaching evolution in any schools and colleges in the state of Tennessee illegal. This was because evolution challenges the idea of creationism which was the popular religion in the tennessee. this was a huge problem because it was written in the constitution that you must separate church and state.

After understanding the concepts of evolution and creationism my vote goes to supporting Evolution. I would support evolution because students will be given accurate information of how different and similarities forms of life, the change in population, and the process of new forms of life came to be. This will bring out the best for our upcoming future because students will use the proper evidence in making more rightful decision that will actually help our society better than before. They would not make any decision that will be based off of religious belief and that is where creationism fall in. Creationism is more towards the religious belief that God has created the world and developed divine creation.