1. THE MONKEY TRIALFlorencia MoriniGuadalupe Pozzo

2. INTRODUCTION Famous American legal case in 1925 Substitute high school teacher, John Scopes,was accused of violating Tennessee's Butler Act,which made it unlawful to teachhuman evolution in any state-funded school. Small town of Dayton, Tennessee Also called Scopes Trial 3. Darwin When Darwin announced his theory thathumans had descended from apes, he sentshock waves through the Western world. In the years that followed his 1859declaration, America's churches hotly debatedwhether to accept the findings of modernscience or continue to follow the teachings ofancient scripture. 4. THE NEW LAW In 1925 the ideas oftheFundamentalistsgained muchpublicity inAmerica. A new lawwas passed in sixstates, includingTennessee,prohibiting theteaching of CharlesDarwin's evolution ideas in schoolsbecause thoseideas contradicted 5. The AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIESUNION led the charge of evolution'ssupporters. It offered to fund the legal defenseof any Tennessee teacher willing to fight thelaw in court. Another showdown betweenmodernity and tradition was unfolding. 6. John T Scopes Was a science teacherand football coach inDayton, Tennessee. In thespring of 1925, he walkedinto his classroom andread, from Dayton'sTennessee-approvedtextbook a part of achapter on the evolution ofhumankind and Darwin'stheory of natural selection.His arrest soon followed,and a trial date was set. 7. Darrow vs Bryan Representing Scopes was the famed triallawyer CLARENCE DARROW. He opitomizedthe urban society in which he lived. Theprosecution was led by William Jennings Bryan,three-time presidential candidate and formersecretary of state. 8. Results To many people living outside the Bible Belt, theideas of the Fundamentalists seemed irrational. John Scopes was found guilty and had to pay$100 (equivalent to $1,345 in 2014) William Bryan died suddenly just a few days afterwinning the case for the Fundamentalists. By 1929, six states in the Bible Belt, in the mostsouthern parts of the country, had passed lawsagainst teaching the theory of evolution. It wasnow possible that some children in America wouldgrow up not knowing anything about this theory.