In the summer of 1925, journalists, lawyers, and gawkers alike descended upon Dayton, Tennessee, population 1,800, to witness the unfolding of what was to become one of the most famous episodes in the ongoing conflict between science and religion.
It was oppressively hot and muggy, but that didn’t hamper the carnival atmosphere. Street vendors hawked lemonade, iced tea, and cheap souvenirs. Christian groups held open-air prayer meetings while a circus chimpanzee strolled the streets wearing a suit and swinging a cane.
The event that brought the world to Dayton that summer has been called the trial of the century. American journalist H. L. Mencken dubbed it the “Monkey Trial.” The facts are these: A high school science teacher, John Scopes, was being tried for violating the Butler Act, a recently passed Tennessee law that forbade the teaching of evolution in public schools. You might imagine a burly sheriff dragging Scopes from the classroom in handcuffs. But that’s not what happened. Instead, Scopes volunteered to be arrested.
The American Civil Liberties Union heard about the Tennessee law and offered to pay the legal expenses of anyone who would get themselves arrested and challenge the law in court. The idea was to get the case before the U.S. Supreme Court, hoping for a favorable ruling on the issue of separation of church and state. A group of local business leaders decided that Dayton could use the publicity. Scopes agreed to become the defendant.
The trial might have attracted little attention outside the world of constitutional law were it not for the two famous lawyers who volunteered to help with the case: William Jennings Bryan for the prosecution and Clarence Darrow for the defense.
