Causes And Effects Of The Scopes Trial

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The Scopes Trial of 1925 was a court case involving a teacher by the name of John Scopes who was caught teaching evolution in Dayton, Tennessee after it was made illegal. (DiLascio) The fiasco began whenever the state of Tennessee passed the Butler Act, which made it illegal to teach about evolution in public schools. The American Civil Liberties Union was a group that offered financial support to any teacher that would challenge this law. The ACLU wanted to take the law to the Supreme Court so that they could challenge the unconstitutionality of the law. (DiLascio) This caused the Dayton area to gain a sizeable amount of media attention. The negative amount of attention the trial brought to the town resulted in the town being nicknamed ‘Monkey Town’ that has carried on until this day. The Scopes Trial was a court case based upon the legal repercussions of teaching evolution in public schools that eventually led to other states having laws against the teaching evolution. …show more content…
This new law made it illegal to deny the biblical origin of mankind in public high schools. (DiLascio) The law was a consequence of the popular belief that evolution countered the explanation that God created everything on the Earth. The state of Tennessee passed this law in 1925 and the American Civil Liberties Union offered support to anyone who would challenge the law the same year. The Butler Act was finally repealed in 1967 after another teacher was dismissed for violating the act. (Lidz) This was just the beginning of the trial that has had many repercussions over the