In a reaction to the Butler Act, the ACLU started scrounging the Tennessee area for a teacher willing to risk his job to defy the bill (Adams). Some men in Dayton, Tennessee, saw an ad saying that the ACLU would provide defense for any teacher willing to challenge the Butler Act, which made teaching Darwin's theory illegal. Business in Dayton was slow, and, realizing that a trial would bring the town recognition, they asked a local teacher by the name of John T. Scopes if he would be their man to challenge the act (Lindin).
_At the time, however, the people of
Dayton had no idea that the trial would bring their town worldwide
recognition. After the trial, the majority of the public understood that
Scopes had lost, but in their eyes he had won. The main reason why the
public looked at it this way was because Bryan performed poorly. He came
in to the trial thinking that it would be another win for his record.
Sadly for him, he was wrong (Digital History).
At the end of the Trial Bryan this to say:
"Again force and love meet face to face, and the question, "What shall I do with Jesus?" must be answered. A bloody, brutal doctrine--Evolution--demands, as the rabble did nineteen hundred years ago, that He be crucified. That cannot be the answer of this jury representing a Christian state and sworn to uphold the laws of Tennessee. Your answer will be heard throughout the world; it is eagerly awaited by a praying multitude. If the law is nullified, there will be rejoice wherever God is repudiated, the savior scoffed at and the Bible ridiculed. Every unbeliever of every kind and degree will be happy. If, on the other hand, the law is upheld and the religion of the school children protected, millions of Christians will call you blessed and, with hearts full of gratitude to God, will sing again that grand old song of triumph: "Faith of our fathers, living still, In spite of dungeon, fire and sword; O how our hearts beat high with joy Whene'er we hear that glorious word--- Faith of our fathers--Holy faith; We will be true to thee till death!"
Bryan knew that he had lost the trial, but Scopes was still convicted guilty.
- States v. Scopes: Trial Excerpts
At the end of the Trial Bryan this to say:
"Again force and love meet face to face, and the question, "What shall I do with Jesus?" must be answered. A bloody, brutal doctrine--Evolution--demands, as the rabble did nineteen hundred years ago, that He be crucified. That cannot be the answer of this jury representing a Christian state and sworn to uphold the laws of Tennessee. Your answer will be heard throughout the world; it is eagerly awaited by a praying multitude. If the law is nullified, there will be rejoice wherever God is repudiated, the savior scoffed at and the Bible ridiculed. Every unbeliever of every kind and degree will be happy. If, on the other hand, the law is upheld and the religion of the school children protected, millions of Christians will call you blessed and, with hearts full of gratitude to God, will sing again that grand old song of triumph: "Faith of our fathers, living still, In spite of dungeon, fire and sword; O how our hearts beat high with joy Whene'er we hear that glorious word--- Faith of our fathers--Holy faith; We will be true to thee till death!"
Bryan knew that he had lost the trial, but Scopes was still convicted guilty.
- States v. Scopes: Trial Excerpts
When the trial finally came to a close, many states besides Tennessee began to question religious authority. So after two years had past since the Scopes trial had taken place, 22 states had bills that would've ban evolution crushed. The final blow to the evolution escapade was the 1968 Supreme Court case between Epperson & Arkansas. The supreme court unanimously declared the Arkansas law, which banned the teachings of evolution, an unconstitutional violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment (American).