The 1920's were times of cultural revolution. The times were changing in many different ways. Whenever the times change, there is a clash between the "old" and the "new" generations. The 1920's were no exception. In Dayton, Tennessee, 1925, a high school biology teacher was arrested. He was arrested because he taught the theory of evolution. The teacher, John T. Scopes, was accused of having violated the Butler Act. This was a Tennessee law that forbade the teaching of the theory of evolution in public schools. The Tennessee legislature felt that teaching evolution was wrong because it contradicted the creation theory of the Bible. The Scopes trial received worldwide publicity. The press nicknamed it the Monkey Trial …show more content…
U. S. Attorney-General Palmer planned a round up of communists. January 2, 1920, he ordered department raids on meeting halls and homes in thirty cities nationwide to gather all suspected communists. Twenty seven hundred people were arrested without being charged with a specific crime. In all, more than 6,000 people were arrested. The raids ended after May 5th. This was due to a government ruling that mere membership in the party is not in itself a crime. Most people that were arrested were released, few of the people arrested were actually communists. The Red Scare continued when on April 1, five legitimately elected members of the New York State legislature were expelled for being members of the Socialist Party. World War I ended in 1920 with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles. Russia and the United States were allies during the war. After the war, both became the world's new superpowers. As the tension between the two nations grew, so did the fear of Communism. The Ku Klux Klan was a racist organization founded in 1915 by William Simmons. The KKK's popularity peaked in the 1920's when its membership exceeded 4 million nationally, with strong organizations in the Midwest as well as in the South. The Klan began to persecute Roman Catholics, Jews, foreigners, Communists, and organized labor. Stressing white Protestant domination, the Klan enjoyed a spurt of growth in 1928 as a reaction to the Democrats' nomination for president of
The twentieth century Scopes trial may have started out as a simple debate between evolutionists and creationists, but quickly escalated to a debate of historic proportions. The 1920s were times of change in the United States, from women getting the right to vote to prohibition to changes in education, such as the Butler Act, which created unease and animosity throughout the country. The Butler Act of 1925 prohibited the teaching of evolution and any other theories that deny the story of the divine creation of man as taught in the Bible in all Universities and public schools in Tennessee. John Scopes, a high-school biology teacher in Dayton, Tennessee decided to test this law. He was found guilty of teaching evolution to his high-school
Through the 1920s, conflicts regarding the teachings of religious values versus Evolution, along with the increasing fight for women’s independence, caused a great deal of tension within America. Prior to the ‘20s schools taught the Bible and Christianity’s principles were stressed. It was in 1925 when Clarence Darrow defended John Scopes, a biology teacher, who was put on trial in the court for teaching the theory of Evolution (Doc C). This document illustrates the dialogue of
In the 1920's, many people became familiar with religions that are known today. Religions would follow what is so-called “ planned for them” written in the books. The Butler Act made it illegal to teach about religions from the textbooks. This included that teachers as any school were allowed to teach and about the science of evolution. The conflicts that the Butler Act made were between tradition and modernity. This act was worrying parents that it would change, and make a big effect for their children's education. These are reasons why people cared about the Butler Act. It also questioned the simple debate between evolution and creation. John Scopes was the first to argue about the importance of teaching science. Later on, there was a Scopes trial in Dayton,Tennessee.
On March 13, 1925 the state of Tennessee passed the Butler Act. This law prohibited teaching the Theory of Evolution in Tennessee public schools. Any teacher who taught a theory that denied the story of the Divine Creation would be punished by a fine. The American Civil Liberties Union offered legal defense to any Tennessee teacher who would break the law and fight it in court. John Thomas Scopes was a teacher in Dayton, Tennessee, and he intentionally taught his class about the theory of evolution, which led to his arrest and trial.
America has been plagued with the “American Dream” since its citizens first started spreading out westward in search of wealth and fame. Along with this American ideal came the concept of being un-American and not standing for what was considered “true” American. With the emergence of Populists, Progressives and Radicals came a vast difference between what was thought as American. All groups claimed to be trying to make the US a better place however each differed vastly in their ideas of going about it. During the age of uncertainty between 1890 and the 1920’s a new movement called the Progressives emerged in parts of the Unites States. They emerged as part of a long tradition of reform aimed at correcting the issues of the country.
The 1920’s was a time of prosperity and change in the United States, but with change comes disagreements. One of the largest debates during this time period, and still today, was the debate between science and religion. Many people were Christians in America during this time and they believed that the story of how God created the Earth should be taught in public schools. These people were called “fundamentalists.” They believed nothing could compare to or be as powerful as God’s word. The other side to this debate were the Modernists, or the ones who believed in science rather than religion. Modernists wanted to teach the theory of evolution in public schools instead of the Creation story the Fundamentalists believed in (“United States in History”). All of these different opinions led to one of the most famous trials known as the Scopes v. State of Tennessee trial. John Scopes was a substitute teacher in Tennessee who decided to teach the theory of evolution to a science class. Scopes was accused of violating the Butler Act, which states that teaching anything that
In America, in the 1920s, two significant cultural movements arose that eventually clashed. A Christian fundamentalist movement arose in America and the fundamentalist’s goal during this time was to recover and publicly institutionalize old time religious fundamental values. Fundamentalist believed in a literal interpretation of the Bible, and thus strongly objected to the teachings of Charles Darwin, since his theory of evolution contradicted the origin of man as found in the Bible. In the 1920s, the Christian fundamentalist began to gain political power across America and started passing legislation banning the teaching of Darwinism in state funded schools. At the same time cultural modernism was also rising in America. Modernist believes in a secular government and their agenda was education, democratic reforms, and economic progress. These two conflicting ideologies would inevitably clash, which occurred in the Scopes Trial of
During the election of 1800, Thomas Jefferson succeeded in defeating the incumbent, John Adams, and assumed the presidency. In terms of elections though, the election of 1800 itself was a fascinating election in that it a heavily-contested election and was effectively the first time political parties ran smear campaigns against each other during an election. The Republican Party attacked the Federalists for being anti-liberty and monarchist and tried to persuade the public that the Federalists were abusing their power through acts such as the Alien & Sedition Acts and the suppression of the Whiskey Rebellion (Tindall and Shi 315). The Federalists, on the other hand, attacked Jefferson for his atheism and support of the French Revolution
From the time of 1890- 1920 was the progressive era. In this time the American people experienced a very rapid industrialization in their major cities, where it grew not only with industrializing but economically as well. In this time we adopted many laws about working conditions that we still have today. For example, the government adopted laws about Jacob Riis and the photos he took, child labor, and women's suffrage movements. In the next few paragraphs I will explain to you why these three subjects are some of the most important things that happened in this time period.
Starting with the Scopes Trial, many more cases have occurred concerning the teaching of evolution. “By 1928 every southern state except Virginia had debated or was considering legislation banning the teaching of evolution in the
“In 1925, Tennessee outlawed teaching the theory of human evolution in public schools.” This ban of evolution was taken to court and was named the Scopes Monkey Trial, since the Tennessee teacher John Scopes was the defendant in the case. However, as Ronald Numbers states in his book, Galileo Goes to Jail: and other myths about science and religion, this was a response “to the invitation of the American Civil Liberties Union, which opposed the statute on free-speech grounds, [so] town leaders in Dayton, Tennessee, decided to test the new statute in court by arranging a friendly indictment of a local science teacher named John Scopes.” In this trial many celebrities in politics and law presided over this trial, in the end it was more of a publicity stunt than anything else. Yet for many years, this trial was believed to be entirely about how the very Christian based community of Tennessee didn’t agree with the teachings of evolution. This event was misconstrued so much that it was even printed in school books that give examples of Sciences fight against the tyranny of Christianity. Newspapers printed headlines about this trial for years to come and it lead the public to believe that this was not just about publicity but about the actual fight of science vs
The Scopes trial, writes Edward Larson, to most Americans embodies “the timeless debate over science and religion.” (265) Written by historians, judges, and playwrights, the history of the Scopes trial has caused Americans to perceive “the relationship between science and religion in . . . simple terms: either Darwin or the Bible was true.” (265) The road to the trial began when Tennessee passed the Butler Act in 1925 banning the teaching of evolution in secondary schools. It was only a matter of time before a young biology teacher, John T. Scopes, prompted by the ACLU tested the law. Spectators and newspapermen came from allover to witness
Discuss the challenges faced by three of the following groups: business, labor, the city, and farmers. How did each of these sectors endeavor to find stability through a search for order through organization?
From this week’s reading the most important event for woman was the Female Liberation. During the 1920’s “The Culture of Modernity” occurred and the “modern woman” developed. “The modern woman was typified by shorter hair and hemlines, and the ability to work in the white-collar workplace.” The actress Clara Bow and Jazz music contributed to Female Liberation movement. During Clara Bow’s performance in the movie “It Girl” her imagine of “bobbed hair, short skirts, and flirtatious behavior personified the flapper image that many women emulated.” The actress Clara Bow set the trend for the Flapper Girl and became “the sex symbol of the age.” The influence of the flapper girl imagine helped make it more socially acceptable for women to drink,
Because are so many different kinds of revolutions with their own theoretical frameworks, I will analyze the merits of Marxism as it unfolds in the various authors. Because the writers speak of a particular time and place, all examinations will limit itself to the Europe in the lifetimes of the authors, drawing from V for Vendetta and modernity mostly as counterexamples. Therefore, this paper will focus on Marxist revolutions in mid-19th century to early 20th century Europe.