SCOPES MONKEY TRIAL

ERA OF SUSPICION

The State of Tennessee vs. John Thomas Scopes, or the Scopes Monkey Trial, was a famous case in 1925 where John Scopes, as seen to the right, a high school teacher, was accused of violating Tennessee's Butler Act which made it illegal to teach about human evolution. The whole case was a setup to get publicity in the small town of Dayton, Tennessee. Scopes incriminated himself so the case could have a dependent, and was fined $100 but the verdict was overturned. The case was seen as both a theological contest and a trial on whether modern science regarding the creation-evolution controversy should be taught in schools.