Scopes Trial - Butler Act

At issue was the Butler Act, which had been passed a few months earlier by the Tennessee General Assembly. The Butler Act provided: "... that it shall be unlawful for any teacher in any of the Universities, Normals and all other public schools of the State which are supported in whole or in part by the public school funds of the State, 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." At the time, the theory of evolution was still a somewhat controversial idea even within scientific circles, and many of i ...

See also:

Scopes Trial, Scopes Trial - Butler Act, Scopes Trial - Testing the Butler Act, Scopes Trial - Textbook in question, Scopes Trial - Trial, Scopes Trial - Cross-examination of Bryan, Scopes Trial - Biblical miracles and creation days, Scopes Trial - Darrow's motivation, Scopes Trial - Appeal to Supreme Court of Tennessee, Scopes Trial - Publicity and drama, Scopes Trial - Publicity, Scopes Trial - Humor and the Scopes Trial, Scopes Trial - Inherit the Wind' '

Read more here: » Scopes Trial: Encyclopedia II - Scopes Trial - Butler Act

At issue was the Butler Act, which had been passed a few months earlier by the Tennessee General Assembly. The Butler Act provided: "... that it shall be unlawful for any teacher in any of the Universities, Normals and all other public schools of the State which are supported in whole or in part by the public school funds of the State, 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". At the time, the theory of evolution was still a somewhat controversial idea even within scientific circles, and many of i ...

See also:

Scopes Trial, Scopes Trial - Butler Act, Scopes Trial - Testing the Butler Act, Scopes Trial - Textbook in question, Scopes Trial - Trial, Scopes Trial - Cross-examination of Bryan, Scopes Trial - Biblical miracles and creation days, Scopes Trial - Darrow's motivation, Scopes Trial - Appeal to Supreme Court of Tennessee, Scopes Trial - Publicity and drama, Scopes Trial - Publicity, Scopes Trial - Humor and the Scopes Trial, Scopes Trial - Inherit the Wind

Read more here: » Scopes Trial: Encyclopedia II - Scopes Trial - Butler Act

The original prosecutors were Scopes' friends, Herbert E. and Sue K. Hicks, a pair of brothers who were local attorneys (the latter was named for the mother who died giving him birth). Hoping to attract major press coverage, George Rappleyea, the person primarily responsible for convincing Scopes to allow himself to be charged with breaking the law, went so far as to write to the British novelist H. G. Wells asking him to join the defense team. Wells replied that he had no legal training in Britain, let alone in America, and declined ...

See also:

Scopes Trial, Scopes Trial - Butler Act, Scopes Trial - Testing the Butler Act, Scopes Trial - Textbook in question, Scopes Trial - Trial, Scopes Trial - Cross-examination of Bryan, Scopes Trial - Biblical miracles and creation days, Scopes Trial - Darrow's motivation, Scopes Trial - Appeal to Supreme Court of Tennessee, Scopes Trial - Publicity and drama, Scopes Trial - Publicity, Scopes Trial - Humor and the Scopes Trial, Scopes Trial - Inherit the Wind

Read more here: » Scopes Trial: Encyclopedia II - Scopes Trial - Trial

The original prosecutors were Scopes' friends, Herbert E. and Sue K. Hicks, a pair of brothers who were local attorneys (the latter was named for the mother who died giving him birth). Hoping to attract major press coverage, George Rappleyea, the person primarily responsible for convincing Scopes to allow himself to be charged with breaking the law, went so far as to write to the British novelist H. G. Wells asking him to join the defense team. Wells replied that he had no legal training in Britain, let alone in America, and declined ...

See also:

Scopes Trial, Scopes Trial - Butler Act, Scopes Trial - Testing the Butler Act, Scopes Trial - Textbook in question, Scopes Trial - Trial, Scopes Trial - Cross-examination of Bryan, Scopes Trial - Biblical miracles and creation days, Scopes Trial - Darrow's motivation, Scopes Trial - Appeal to Supreme Court of Tennessee, Scopes Trial - Publicity and drama, Scopes Trial - Publicity, Scopes Trial - Humor and the Scopes Trial, Scopes Trial - Inherit the Wind' '

Read more here: » Scopes Trial: Encyclopedia II - Scopes Trial - Trial

Scopes' lawyers appealed, challenging the conviction on several grounds. First, they argued that the statute was overly vague because it prohibited the teaching of "evolution," a very broad term. The Court rejected that argument, holding: "Evolution, like prohibition, is a broad term. In recent bickering, however, evolution has been understood to mean the theory which holds that man has developed from some pre-existing lower type. This is the popular significance of evolution, just as the popular significance of prohibition is ...

See also:

Scopes Trial, Scopes Trial - Butler Act, Scopes Trial - Testing the Butler Act, Scopes Trial - Textbook in question, Scopes Trial - Trial, Scopes Trial - Cross-examination of Bryan, Scopes Trial - Biblical miracles and creation days, Scopes Trial - Darrow's motivation, Scopes Trial - Appeal to Supreme Court of Tennessee, Scopes Trial - Publicity and drama, Scopes Trial - Publicity, Scopes Trial - Humor and the Scopes Trial, Scopes Trial - Inherit the Wind

Read more here: » Scopes Trial: Encyclopedia II - Scopes Trial - Appeal to Supreme Court of Tennessee

On the seventh day of the trial, Clarence Darrow took the unorthodox step of calling William Jennings Bryan, counsel for the prosecution, to the stand as an expert witness in an effort to demonstrate that belief in the historicity of the Bible and its many accounts of miracles was unreasonable. Bryan accepted, on the understanding that Darrow would in turn submit to cross-examination by Bryan.

See also:

Scopes Trial, Scopes Trial - Butler Act, Scopes Trial - Testing the Butler Act, Scopes Trial - Textbook in question, Scopes Trial - Trial, Scopes Trial - Cross-examination of Bryan, Scopes Trial - Biblical miracles and creation days, Scopes Trial - Darrow's motivation, Scopes Trial - Appeal to Supreme Court of Tennessee, Scopes Trial - Publicity and drama, Scopes Trial - Publicity, Scopes Trial - Humor and the Scopes Trial, Scopes Trial - Inherit the Wind

Read more here: » Scopes Trial: Encyclopedia II - Scopes Trial - Cross-examination of Bryan

Although Hunter's Civic Biology was primarily a biology textbook, it reflected a marked bias towards eugenics - hence the use of the word "Civic" in the title. Indeed, part of the text was in fact authored by Charles Davenport, director of the Eugenics Record Office, a privately funded research organization. This was one of the main issues which fueled Bryan's opposition to evolutionary thought. The text supported the notion of the inherent superiority of the white race, and promoted a eugenics-oriented policy as a means of elimi ...

See also:

Scopes Trial, Scopes Trial - Butler Act, Scopes Trial - Testing the Butler Act, Scopes Trial - Textbook in question, Scopes Trial - Trial, Scopes Trial - Cross-examination of Bryan, Scopes Trial - Biblical miracles and creation days, Scopes Trial - Darrow's motivation, Scopes Trial - Appeal to Supreme Court of Tennessee, Scopes Trial - Publicity and drama, Scopes Trial - Publicity, Scopes Trial - Humor and the Scopes Trial, Scopes Trial - Inherit the Wind

Read more here: » Scopes Trial: Encyclopedia II - Scopes Trial - Textbook in question

Scopes' lawyers appealed, challenging the conviction on several grounds. First, they argued that the statute was overly vague because it prohibited the teaching of "evolution," a very broad term. The Court rejected that argument, holding: "Evolution, like prohibition, is a broad term. In recent bickering, however, evolution has been understood to mean the theory which holds that man has developed from some pre-existing lower type. This is the popular significance of evolution, just as the popular significance of prohibition is ...

See also:

Scopes Trial, Scopes Trial - Butler Act, Scopes Trial - Testing the Butler Act, Scopes Trial - Textbook in question, Scopes Trial - Trial, Scopes Trial - Cross-examination of Bryan, Scopes Trial - Biblical miracles and creation days, Scopes Trial - Darrow's motivation, Scopes Trial - Appeal to Supreme Court of Tennessee, Scopes Trial - Publicity and drama, Scopes Trial - Publicity, Scopes Trial - Humor and the Scopes Trial, Scopes Trial - Inherit the Wind' '

Read more here: » Scopes Trial: Encyclopedia II - Scopes Trial - Appeal to Supreme Court of Tennessee

The ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) had offered to defend anyone accused of teaching the theory of evolution in defiance of the Butler Act. George Rappelyea, who managed a number of local mines, convinced a group of businessmen in Dayton, Tennessee, then a town of 1,800, that the controversy of such a trial would put Dayton on the map. With their agreement he called in his friend, 24-year-old John T. Scopes, who was the Rhea County High School's football coach wh ...

See also:

Scopes Trial, Scopes Trial - Butler Act, Scopes Trial - Testing the Butler Act, Scopes Trial - Textbook in question, Scopes Trial - Trial, Scopes Trial - Cross-examination of Bryan, Scopes Trial - Biblical miracles and creation days, Scopes Trial - Darrow's motivation, Scopes Trial - Appeal to Supreme Court of Tennessee, Scopes Trial - Publicity and drama, Scopes Trial - Publicity, Scopes Trial - Humor and the Scopes Trial, Scopes Trial - Inherit the Wind' '

Read more here: » Scopes Trial: Encyclopedia II - Scopes Trial - Testing the Butler Act

Although Hunter's Civic Biology was primarily a biology textbook, it reflected a marked bias towards eugenics - hence the use of the word "Civic" in the title. Indeed, part of the text was in fact authored by Charles Davenport, director of the Eugenics Record Office, a privately funded research organization. This was one of the main issues which fueled Bryan's opposition to evolutionary thought. The text supported the notion of the inherent superiority of the white race, and promoted a eugenics-oriented policy as a means of elimi ...

See also:

Scopes Trial, Scopes Trial - Butler Act, Scopes Trial - Testing the Butler Act, Scopes Trial - Textbook in question, Scopes Trial - Trial, Scopes Trial - Cross-examination of Bryan, Scopes Trial - Biblical miracles and creation days, Scopes Trial - Darrow's motivation, Scopes Trial - Appeal to Supreme Court of Tennessee, Scopes Trial - Publicity and drama, Scopes Trial - Publicity, Scopes Trial - Humor and the Scopes Trial, Scopes Trial - Inherit the Wind' '

Read more here: » Scopes Trial: Encyclopedia II - Scopes Trial - Textbook in question

On the seventh day of the trial, Clarence Darrow took the unorthodox step of calling William Jennings Bryan, counsel for the prosecution, to the stand as an expert witness in an effort to demonstrate that belief in the historicity of the Bible and its many accounts of miracles was unreasonable. Bryan accepted, on the understanding that Darrow would in turn submit to cross-examination by Bryan.

See also:

Scopes Trial, Scopes Trial - Butler Act, Scopes Trial - Testing the Butler Act, Scopes Trial - Textbook in question, Scopes Trial - Trial, Scopes Trial - Cross-examination of Bryan, Scopes Trial - Biblical miracles and creation days, Scopes Trial - Darrow's motivation, Scopes Trial - Appeal to Supreme Court of Tennessee, Scopes Trial - Publicity and drama, Scopes Trial - Publicity, Scopes Trial - Humor and the Scopes Trial, Scopes Trial - Inherit the Wind' '

Read more here: » Scopes Trial: Encyclopedia II - Scopes Trial - Cross-examination of Bryan

The ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) had offered to defend anyone accused of teaching the theory of evolution in defiance of the Butler Act. George Rappelyea, who managed a number of local mines, convinced a group of businessmen in Dayton, Tennessee, then a town of 1,800, that the controversy of such a trial would put Dayton on the map. With their agreement, he called in his friend, 24-year-old John T. Scopes, who was the Rhea County High School's football coach wh ...

See also:

Scopes Trial, Scopes Trial - Butler Act, Scopes Trial - Testing the Butler Act, Scopes Trial - Textbook in question, Scopes Trial - Trial, Scopes Trial - Cross-examination of Bryan, Scopes Trial - Biblical miracles and creation days, Scopes Trial - Darrow's motivation, Scopes Trial - Appeal to Supreme Court of Tennessee, Scopes Trial - Publicity and drama, Scopes Trial - Publicity, Scopes Trial - Humor and the Scopes Trial, Scopes Trial - Inherit the Wind

Read more here: » Scopes Trial: Encyclopedia II - Scopes Trial - Testing the Butler Act