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Today in History: John Scopes Is Arrested for Teaching Evolution
05/05/10
On May 5, 1925, high school teacher John T. Scopes was arrested for teaching Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution to his biology class in violation of a newly enacted Tennessee law. The Butler Act, passed earlier that spring, made it illegal “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.”
Scopes’s arrest sparked one of the most sensational trials in American history. Commonly known as the Scopes Monkey Trial, it pitted the celebrated defense attorney and self-proclaimed agnostic Clarence Darrow against the influential prosecutor and Christian fundamentalist William Jennings Bryan. In his famous speech at the Scopes trial, Bryan insisted upon a literal reading of the Bible and argued that evolutionary theory was incompatible with Christianity. Darrow later called Bryan to the witness stand as an expert on the Bible and conducted an intense cross-examination that exposed flaws in Bryan’s arguments.
After a dramatic trial that generated massive news coverage and captivated people across the country, Scopes finally pleaded guilty and received a $100 fine. The Butler Act remained law in Tennessee for four decades.
Read WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN’S SPEECH AT THE SCOPES TRIAL