How Did The Scopes Monkey Trial Affect The 1920s

The 1920s marked a time of social and economic change in life. Where women got the right to vote,prohibition led to the rising of gangs,bootleggers smuggling alcohol illegally and equal rights for blacks which led to the movement to the north for a new life and more jobs. Also the Scopes trial and the significance of the old traditions of God vs the new traditions of science. These events led to a positive change in the 1920s.

The Movement for Women’s rights in the 1920s marked a positive change. For over 70 years since the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848 in New York, women have fought for the right to vote. Their legal right to vote was finally granted with the 19th amendment, which stated, “The right of citizens of the United States to vote

On January 10,1925, the Scopes Monkey Trial began in Dayton,Tennessee. A high school teacher John Thomas Scopes was charged with violating Tennessee’s law against teaching evolution. Just months before The Butler act made it legal to teach evolution in Tennessee schools. “The law, which had been passed in March, made it a misdemeanor punishable by fine 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.” Representing Scopes was a trial Clarence Darrow and the prosecution was led by William Jennings Bryan. This trial was the first to ever be recorded on the radio. On July 21,1925,Darrow asked the judge to find his client guilty. Scopes was fined with $100 and released on a technicality. The scopes trial was based on the old traditions of god vs the new traditions of science. John Scopes knew that teaching things that were not in the bible was not allowed and he knew he would get sent to jail but he did it anyways to fight for what was right. The Scopes trial became the “trial of the century” because it tapped into some of the biggest trends and issues of the day. It came about the time when the radio became to boom. “Scopes never testified since there was never a factual issue as to whether he had taught evolution. Scopes later admitted that, in reality, he was unsure of whether he had taught evolution (another reason the defense did not want him to testify), but the point was not contested at the trial “(Scopes 1967). William Jennings Bryan died suddenly eight days after the trial ended.The connection between the trial and his death is still undetermined. The Scopes trial was a trial based on a life or death situation. Mr. Scopes knew he would go to jail and get fined but it was worth the