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How Important Was The Scopes Trial In American History

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Dayton, Tennessee July 1925, The State of Tennessee vs. John Thomas Scopes. One of the most publicized trials in American history that held a great impact on the argument between fundamentalists and modernists. The Scopes Trial is still one of the most significant trials in American history. It was actually a case that had a broader importance, rather than a case about evolution in schools and the case has left a lasting impression on America. The State of Tennessee vs. John Thomas Scopes took place in the hot summer of 1925 Dayton, Tennessee and featured the likes of John Scopes, Clarence Darrow, and William Jennings Bryan. Darrow and Bryan were the two titans battling against each other. “The lawyerly game of cat and mouse had begun, …show more content…

This quote sums up the two great forces that would be facing off in the trial and the anticipation around two of the most prominent speakers and brilliant minds of the time. The issue that was being argued was the teaching of evolution in public schools. The trail pitted close-minded bigotry against free thought and creationism against evolution. William Jennings Bryan was arguing on the side of creationism and Darrow was arguing for evolution. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) played a critical role in the trial because “ACLU leaders saw the new Tennessee statute in a different light, one that made it stand out as a threat to freedom and individual liberty in the broader American society” (Larson, 60). To the ACLU the case was more about the limiting or not being allowed to teach something that was the issue they had a problem with. The ACLU believed that “a systematic assault on personal liberty in the United States began during the …show more content…

After the trail Dayton returned to its previous state, “Dayton has benefitted, physically and mentally, by the ‘evolution trial’,” (Larson, 200). The trail changed the debate between science and religion, “the Scopes trial has become both the yardstick by which the former battle is measured and the glass through which the latter debate is seen” (Larson, 266). The trail is one of the most memorable and well-known trail in history and has become a comparison for every case that deals with a similar debate between science and religion as well as debates of personal liberty. Another reason similar to this is that “the Scopes trial and legend endure precisely because they embody the characteristically American struggle between individual liberty and majoritarian democracy, and cast in the timeless debate over science and religion” (Larson, 265). This debate is ongoing still and is part of the reason why the legacy of the Scopes trial is so important because it was not about the teaching of evolution, but rather the much broader topic of violation of personal

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