US History Since 1877
Critical Essay #1
Dr. Bachhofer

Scopes Monkey Trial Religious controversy has been around from the birth of this country and beyond. This country was founded by people, at least in part, trying to get religious freedom from Europe. People, even today in modern society, want the right to believe whatever they want and not have someone else’s beliefs shoved down their throats or the throats of their children. This need for religious freedom and the age old controversy of religious battles sparked a huge trial in the mid 1920’s famously known as the “Monkey Trial”. By 1921, Protestantism split up into two distinct groups. One of these groups was known as the modernists and the other was known as the fundamentalists. Both groups were caught up in a fight with each other for the countries attention. Like any fight over something important, both groups thought they were right. The Modernists were made up primarily of urban, middle-class people. Modernists were attempting to change religion around to fit their society that was based around science mainly. They believed that there was a chance that Charles Darwin’s evolutionary theory had some merit. Above all else the rejected the idea that everything in the bible was 100% accurate. They left the door open for alternate interpretations of the bible, something that the fundamentalists despised. The fundamentalists (also known as the “defenders”) on the other hand consisted mostly of rural farmers. They fought hard for the traditional beliefs in religion and reject anything else. As the country grew, and as science and technology became stronger, they became fearful that traditional religion was losing its footing in this country. Their biggest opponent was Charles Darwin’s evolutionary theory. They insisted that humans were created by God and openly challenged and idea that suggested otherwise. Fundamentalists traveled the south spreading the word and trying to get anyone and everyone to join in. In the mid-1920’s, fundamentalists started to gain some steam in the political arena. They succeeded in their demands for legislation to forbid the teaching of evolution in public schools. In 1925, Tennessee adopted a measure making it illegal to teach any theory that contradicted the Bible’s story in any way. This new law obviously gained a lot of attention around the country, especially from the modernist groups. All of this attention attracted a fairly new group formed to prevent legal social suppression known as the ACLU. The ACLU offered free counseling to any teacher that stood up to this law, and they found one named John T, Scopes. Scopes, a twenty-four-year-old biology teacher, agreed to have himself arrested. The ACLU sent their top gun in Clarence Darrow to defend Scopes. The fundamentalists also sent in one of its leading spokesmen named William Jennings Bryan to be an expert for the prosecution. The trial was like The OJ case of the 1920’s. Journalist from all around the country came to Tennessee to cover the trial and it became an instant circus. The enviable outcome of the trial was clear because Scopes clearly broke the law. The judge wouldn’t let any “expert’ evolution scholars testify and Scopes was found guilty and fined $100. The defense though won in the end because in cross examination of the prosecutions “expert” witness William Jennings Bryan, the defense succeeded in making him look stupid. In testimony, which was broadcasted to most of the country, Darrow tricked Bryan into admitting the possibility that the Bible was open to other interpretation. This was a traumatic blow to the fundamentalists in what should have been a victory. The fundamentalists were isolated from most of the big Protestant churches and lost their political foothold. The Scopes Monkey Trial was an important time in history. It showed that religion shouldn’t be forced of people and should be left out of school. Religious freedom is one of the biggest rights that this country has. People have the right to believe whatever they want and no one side is right. It’s a fight that is still present today and our government now and again tries to get involved. I think this shows why the government shouldn’t be involved in religious matters and everyone should be allowed to practice and believe whatever they want.