U.S. Legal History
The Scopes Trial (1925), formally State of Tennessee v. John Thomas Scopes, was a landmark American legal case in which high school teacher John Scopes was accused of violating Tennessee's Butler Act, which prohibited the teaching of human evolution in state-funded schools. The trial became a national spectacle, pitting modern science against religious fundamentalism, and was the first to be broadcast live on radio.
The trial arose from the Butler Act, passed in Tennessee in March 1925, which made it unlawful to teach any theory that denies the story of divine creation as taught in the Bible. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) advertised for a teacher willing to challenge the law. Businessmen in Dayton, Tennessee, saw an opportunity for publicity and persuaded John Scopes, a 24-year-old science teacher and football coach, to be the defendant. Scopes was not sure he had actually taught evolution, but he agreed to be arrested to test the law.1
The trial featured two of the era's most famous lawyers: William Jennings Bryan, three-time presidential candidate and a devout fundamentalist, prosecuting; and Clarence Darrow, a renowned agnostic defense attorney. Judge John T. Raulston opened proceedings in a courtroom decorated with a banner reading "Read Your Bible Daily." The defense's strategy was to call scientific experts, but the judge excluded most scientific testimony, ruling it irrelevant. The most dramatic moment came when Darrow called Bryan to the stand as an expert on the Bible, subjecting him to a withering cross-examination that exposed contradictions in a literalist reading of scripture.2
The jury found Scopes guilty after only nine minutes of deliberation, and he was fined $100. The Tennessee Supreme Court upheld the law but overturned the conviction on a technicality—the fine had been set by the judge rather than the jury—and instructed prosecutors to drop the case. The trial had a profound cultural impact: it galvanized the fundamentalist movement, but also led to a decline in the teaching of evolution in American schools for decades. The Butler Act remained on the books until 1967, when it was repealed.
Beyond the courtroom drama, several lesser-known details enrich the story. The trial was the first to be broadcast live on radio, with WGN Chicago transmitting daily reports. The defense team included Dudley Field Malone, whose closing argument was widely praised. The trial also inspired the 1955 play Inherit the Wind, which fictionalized the events but changed names and added a romantic subplot. Scopes later received a scholarship to study geology at the University of Chicago, funded by journalists who covered the trial. The Dayton courthouse is now a museum, and the trial is often cited in debates over science education and the separation of church and state.3
The Scopes Trial remains a touchstone in American debates over science, religion, and public education.
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