![]() ![]() They quickly hatch a plan to bring the case to Dayton, a scheme that they hope will generate publicity and jump-start the town's economy. – A group of town leaders in Dayton, Tenn., read the news item about the ACLU's search. Our lawyers think a friendly test case can be arranged without costing a teacher his or her job. The item says that the ACLU is "looking for a Tennessee teacher who is willing to accept our services in testing this law in the courts. – A Chattanooga newspaper runs an item noting that the American Civil Liberties Union is seeking teachers willing to challenge the Butler law. The new law is the first in the United States to ban the teaching of evolution. Austin Peay signs the Butler bill into law. Ma– After several hours of heated debate, the Tennessee Senate approves the Butler bill 24 to 6. 27, 1925 – The Tennessee House of Representatives approves the Butler bill on a 71-to-5 vote. The proposed law, known as the Butler bill, would prohibit the teaching of "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." Butler introduces legislation in the Tennessee House of Representatives calling for a ban on the teaching of evolution. A Civic Biology describes evolution as "the belief that simple forms of life on the earth slowly and gradually gave rise to those more complex and that thus ultimately the most complex forms came into existence."ġ921 – Former congressman and ex-Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan becomes a leader in the anti-evolution movement, delivering speeches entitled "The Menace of Darwinism" and "The Bible and its Enemies." Bryan declares in one address that "t is better to trust in the Rock of Ages, than to know the age of the rocks it is better for one to know that he is close to the Heavenly Father, than to know how far the stars in the heavens are apart."ġ924 – Bryan delivers a lecture in Nashville entitled "Is the Bible true?" Copies of the speech are delivered to members of the Tennessee legislature, including Rep. In this work, Darwin directly addresses the debate over the origin of mankind, arguing that "man is descended from a hairy, tailed quadruped, probably arboreal in its habits, and an inhabitant of the Old World."ġ914 – George William Hunter's A Civic Biology, the book that is later used in biology courses in Dayton, Tenn., is published. Darwin argues in his introduction that "the view which most naturalists entertain, and which I formerly entertained - namely, that each species has been independently created - is erroneous."ġ871 – Darwin publishes his second book, The Descent of Man. NPR looks back at the Scopes trial, the events that led up to it and its aftermath:ġ859 – Charles Darwin's The Origin of Species is published. The trial lasted just a week, but the questions it raised are as divisive now as they were back then. The Scopes trial - or "Monkey Trial," as it was called - dominated headlines across the country. Read an essay about the federal court trial there by a former newspaper reporter who covered it.Įighty years ago, in July 1925, the mixture of religion, science and the public schools caught fire in Dayton, Tenn. In 1981, Arkansas passed a law requiring public schools to give "balanced treatment" of creationism and evolution. The Scopes trial was not the only time that the origins of Earth and humanity were debated in court.
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