Scopes Monkey Trial :: essays research papers

I think the Scopes rivulet brought together a great cast of characters three-time presidential scene William Jennings Bryan Americas best defense attorney, Clarence Darrow and its most popular journalist, H. L. Mencken. It was a trial about ideas, a contest between traditionalism, the faith of our fathers, and modernism, the idea that we test faith with our intellect. And it had what the unfermented York Times c each(prenominal)ed the most memorable event in Anglo-Saxon court history Darrows calling of William Jennings Bryan, the prosecutor, to the stand and examining him on his interpretation of the Bible. Seventy-five years later, this trial has stood the test of time. Clarence Darrow was a nearly-70 year old attorney who was largely regarded as Americas most eloquent defense attorney. He had the ability to transform almost whatever courtroom trial into a much larger context, and raised large social and political issues that captured the public imagination. He also had a very respectable sense of humor, which sometimes got him into trouble, as in the Scopes case, when complaining to the judge after his request to introduce scientific expert testimony had been rejected said, "Why is it that all of our requests are rejected?" The judge answered, "I hope you do not mean to reflect upon the Court?" Darrow replied, "Well, Your Honor has the right to hope." H. L. Mencken was the reporter who played a large role in the trial, and is well-known as one of Americas most colorful, acerbic, and in his own way, prejudiced reporters, but his colorful reporting added greatly to our sympathy of the trial. William Jennings Bryan was a three-time failed presidential candidate who, in the years preceding the Scopes trial, had transformed himself into a sort of fundamentalist pope. He campaigned against evolution, at one time religious offering to pay $100 to anyone who personally could prove that he descended from a monkey. If the trial were held today, the law would be held unconstitutional as a violation of the U.S. Constitutions establishment article in the First Amendment. The trial would thus have been decided on the motion to quash the indictment, and there would have been no witnesses and none of the entertainment that we got in 1925.Scopes Place in CultureThe Scopes trial came at a crossroads in history - as people were choosing to cling to the past or wipe into the future.