American Minute from William J. Federer
The Scopes Monkey Trial ended JULY 21, 1925.
John Scopes, a Tennessee High school biology teacher was found guilty and fined for teaching a controversial theory of origins called "evolution." William Jennings Bryan, a three time Democrat Presidential candidate, was the prosecuting attorney arguing against evolution.
Bryan objected to a tooth being presented as proof of humans evolving from apes. Later the tooth was found to be that of an extinct pig.
William Jennings Bryan was a Colonel in the Spanish-American War, a U.S. Representative and Secretary of State under President Wilson. He edited the Omaha World Herald and founded The Commoner newspaper.
Dying five days after the trial, William Jennings Bryan's statue is in the U.S. Capitol's Statuary Hall.
He gave over 600 public speeches during his Presidential campaigns - one of his favorites being "The Prince of Peace."
William Jennings Bryan stated: "I am interested in the science of government but I am more interested in religion...I enjoy making a political speech...but I would rather speak on religion than on politics. I commenced speaking on the stump when I was only twenty, but I commenced speaking in the church six years earlier-and I shall be in the church even after I am out of politics."
Monday, July 21, 2008
The End of the Monkey Trial
William J. Federer is a nationally recognized author, speaker, and president of Amerisearch, Inc, which is dedicated to researching our American heritage. The American Minute radio feature looks back at events in American history on the dates they occurred, is broadcast daily across the country and read by thousand on the internet.
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1 comments:
What little most peope know of the Scopes trial they learned from the movie "Inherit the Wind" (1960) that has been shown in countless biology classes for years. Unfortunately, the account shown in this movie is a complete corruption of the facts. The case was brought by the ACLU to challenge the Butler Act and Scopes was a substitute teacher who couldn't have taught evolution if he'd wanted to. He was a football coach who occasionally filled-in as a teacher. He was recruited by the ACLU to challenge the law. The characters portrayed in the movie were a wild distortion of the actual participants. Even the outcome of the trial was fiction--Scopes lost and was fined $500.
Those who are interested in the facts of the case can read many accounts, beginning with Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scopes_Trial
There is even a complete transcript of the trial posted on the internet, http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/scopes/scopes2.htm
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