Okay. Welcome back to history. 134 spies, assassins, martyrs and witches, famous trials in American History at the university of maryland last class we did the first part of the scopes trial where we talked about the origins of the case and we spent a significant amount of time placing the case in the context of the time in an effort to explain why the case became so sensational, why a good portion of the United States in the world was focused on this trial. Certainly europe and part of the story was, although we think of the Roaring Twenties as this era of gatsbys parties and flappers and jazz and fun and a roaring economy, it was also a deeply divided nation between urban and rural. Its for the first time in 1920, the census announces more people live in cities than in the countryside and their status excited amongst farmers who had been kind of the core of American Life between people who wanted to cut off the ellis island era of immigration. The two arrive guys in ku klux klan that felt that america was sliding into gomorrah, a second rise of the ku klux klan debates over prohibition. People who supported prohibition appalled by the speakeasies and the jazz filled, booze filled clubs in the cities and the flappers, and between within the religious community, a fierce debate between religious modernists who believed that the bible could be interpreted in light of scientific discovery and fundamentalists who believed that sticking to the idea that the bible was absolute truth would be a one way to help keep society from sliding south word. And in the core of that debate is this issue of the teaching of evolution and the movement to ban the teaching of evolution in Public Schools and universities and in part because the teaching of evolution could lead some people to question their faith. But also because of the uses to which darwinism had been put. In particular, eugenics. The movement in the 1920s to sterile, wise people who were seen as unfit. Tens of thousands of americans are forcibly sterilized by their states. In the 1920s under the theory that you could speed the pace of Natural Selection and improve the race and as we discussed last time in the little town of dayton, tennessee, some of the cities mucky mucks would meet regularly at Frank Robinsons drugstore. And were looking for a way to put the town on the map. And when the aclu, who announced that they wanted a test, created a test case to challenge tennessee vs anti evolution in schools law, the folks at Frank Robinsons drugstore thought they could just sense that if we put that trial on here, if we create that test case here suddenly dating, which nobody knows about, will become nationally known. And they were right. And they find a local high school teacher, John T Scopes, who had taught out of hundred civic biology, which included a discussion of evolution, who agrees to be part of a test case, to announce that he had taught evolution, and to be arrested and charged under tennessees law. And the case will really pick up steam when some of the most famous names in america agree to join both the prosecution and defense teams. The three time president ial candidate, the great commoner, the riveting speech giver, William Jennings bryan, and the most noted defense attorney of the day and famous agnostic Clarence Darrow. And i didnt quite give darrow his due. Everyone would have known darrow because he had defended labor radicals, accused bombers. He was opposed to the Death Penalty, which he thought was a relic of primitive man and regularly represented people who could be put on death row and then those 100 Death Penalty cases, he litigated only one defendant had been executed and he had the Previous Year been the defense attorney. In another sensational case. When were not covering this here in this class, but i urge you to google the leopold and loeb murder case and darrow had saved those defendants from death, from capital punishment. Now, the aclu view who created this test case was wary of darrow because they knew that darrow didnt just have a Civil Liberties agenda. The darrow, the agnostic, wanted to humiliate. The a. V. Lucian forces in particular William Jennings bryan, the aclu, who had actually recruited for the defense team, the future chief justice of the United StatesSupreme Court. Charles evans hughes. But scopes, when he heard darrow wanted to do it, is like, i want darrow and thats going to give this case a lot of extra publicity, but also a antireligion edge from darrow. Thats going to be quite dramatic. And as darrow would say, he believe that, you know, absolute faith was the antithesis of science. He would argue this is darrow, the origin of what we call civilization is not due to religion, but the skepticism the modern world is the child of doubt and inquiry. As the ancient world was the child of faith and fear. Cartoons, darrow telling bryan there aint no santa claus now, when you see inherit the wind and you hear discussions of the scopes trial, it always looks like its just darrow versus bryan. But theres both a Prosecution Team and a defense team. But for the drama, people often boil it down to darrow versus bryan. I just want to highlight one other member of the defense team, which is a four person team, Arthur Garfield hayes, who was the cofounder of the american civil lon. And he had become famous for defending germanamericans, who were arrest cited in the antigerman hysteria around world war one. And he also had defended two famous accused anarchists accused of murder, sacco and vanzetti. Another trial we sometimes cover in this course. But they didnt want to publicity and theyre going to get it. Opening evolution trial brings talent and world notice to dayton. Now its important to note they also wanted this trial to be good for business, and theyre not going to get the massive crowds that they thought they were going to get because only so many people can fit in a courtroom. But the folks that do show up are extraordinarily colorful, you know, really the animated event, evangelical preachers and people are going to bring all kinds of monkeys to town, including a famous one named joe mendi and if you were in dayton around the scopes trial, it is a carnival like atmosphere, including a famous anti evolution author tee martin, who will set up a headquarters in dayton. Some of the monkeys that came to play there for all its worth, the town of dayton. Also arriving will be over 200 journalists from around the world. Remember, this is going to be the first trial ever broadcast on radio. Theres going to be film crews doing the films that become the shorts in the movie theaters when they used to do newsreels and tons of print journalists, including the curmudgeonly, sardonic writer for the Baltimore Sun, h. L. Mencken, the gene kelly character hornbeck in inherit the wind is based on mencken and mencken was had a sharp wit. Some of his views dont hold up very well to 21st century scrutiny. But the reason why were focusing on him is because he kind of epitomizes this this urban rural divide. He holds kind of the folks of the heartland in contempt. Heres some famous quotes from h. L. Mencken no one has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people. Nor is anyone ever lost public office, thereby the urge to Save Humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule. Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual will ignorance, immoral ality, the morality of those who are having a better time and he will call lower and middle class americans working class and middle class americans instead of the bourgeoisie, the big bourgeoisie. And most importantly, it will be mencken who dubs this trial, the monkey trial, and he will be the person that says, im here in the bible, im here in the buckle of the bible belt. And if youve heard the phrase the bible belt, which is embraced by many religious people today, but it was used by mencken first as a criticism, hes here in the buckle of the bible belt and his reporting from dayton is going to shape what many people in the cities think of this trial. Scenes of people preaching outside the scopes trial. And our case begins the set of tennessee versus John T Scopes july 10th, 1925, in an unbroken edition. This is classic kind of a early 20th century southern courtroom scene on air conditioned, hot, packed courtroom. And the reports were that there were almost a thousand people in there in this courtroom. Ive never been able when i look at the pictures, i dont see a thousand. But they think they said that there were a thousand people packed into the wray county courthouse. And again, the radio microphones, wgn. And the judge will become an important figure in this trial. Hes a state court judge. He is a fundamentalist methodist and a huge fan of William Jennings bryan. This guy is excited that his hero has come to town. And ralston regularly quoted scripture in his opinions. And he is going to allow each day of the trial to open with a voluminous prayer by local, methodist and baptist ministers. There is ralston as ralston with his hero. And joining brian on the Prosecution Team is going to be the states attorney general. Remember, this is for all the the import of an antievolution statute. Its a misdemeanor case, but its going to draw in this case. Tennessees attorney general and assistant attorney general are both going to join the Prosecution Team. Thats how much import of tennessee we not only have a three time president ial candidate in secretary of state, but the states attorney general involved. And assistant attorney general mckenzie is going to frame things this way as he speaks at a rally in dayton as the trial begins. As for the northern lawyers who have come down here to teach the, quote unquote ignorant yokels, what to believe, they had better go back to their homes. The scene of thugs, thieves and haymarket rioters and educate their criminals rather than try and process the light here in the south, where people believe in the christian religion and know that genesis tells the full and complete story of creation. This is ralston. Its so hot. He has a local Police Officer fan him throughout the trial looks like a scene from ancient egypt with the pharaohs. And theres an immediate fight with darrow over these prayers that are open. The trial and darrow says, can we can we skip that . And ralston says, no. Ralston says, i do not think it hurts anybody. And i think it may help somebody. So i overrule the objection. Darrow says, well, could we have a rabbi or a unitarian minister speak . And ralston says, well, ill turn that suggestion over to the local pastoral committee. And everyone laughs in the courtroom. All right, jury selection, voir dire. Weve talked about this in our previous cases, where many trials can be shaped by who gets on the jury and who doesnt. Two things to keep in mind here. Number one, darrow and the defense actually want to lose because they want to appeal this case. Theyre hoping this case can be used as a way to get freedom of religion and freedom of speech through the Tennessee Supreme Court and up to the United StatesSupreme Court. But darrow nevertheless, is going to put up a little bit of questioning of these jurors, who largely come from the countryside around dayton. Almost all of them are men who are fundamentalists. And hes going to use up his peremptory challenges and then turn to ralston occasionally to try to dismiss some juries for cause. Because of their really pronounced fundamentalist views. And ralston will reject those challenges under the theory as put forward by the attorney general in trying to argue against darrow. He says, look, if a man is subject to challenge by the defendant because he believes the bible conflicts with the theory of evolution, then for the converse reason, the state would have grounds to challenge for cause. Anyone who believe the theory of evolution and the result would be that everyone on earth who could be brought here would be challenged. And darrow was like, yeah, i dont we havent had too many of these jurors who are believe in the theory of evolution. And he says, if you can find any man on the jury that believes in evolution, will promptly challenge you. So the jury is going to be an all white male jury. And again, if you take my constitutionalist course, we go into great detail on how this how it lasted so long that juries in many places were all men. But in here, no, the tennessee will not have a female juror until 1951. And and so its going to be these are going to be men of traditional views. And you they adjourn the trial after the jury is selected over the weekend. William Jennings Bryan delivers a sermon at the local Methodist Church and judge ralston is in rapt attention in the front row. All right, now heres the complicated part. Try to listen in. Well go over this again next tuesday. But heres the strategy of the defense. They are going to open this case by trying to quash the indictment, by arguing constitutional issues. And they want to argue that this law, the the butler act, the anti evolution law, violates both the United States and the Tennessee State council. The tution. Now, you folks remember from our discussions of the Lizzie Borden case that the concept that the bill of rights in the constitution was for most of American History into the 20th century, applied against the federal government, not the state government. And for protection against your state government, you had to look to your states constitu option. But there was a moment beginning in the late 19th century where people started to use the new 14th amendment. No state shall deny anyone life, liberty or property without due process of law to try to protect rights from the bill of rights and other rights against their state. Okay. And one of the rights that darrow and the aclu are trying to use here is to use the 14th amendments due process clause to now protect against the state the protections of free speech, free free exercise of religion and against the establishment of religion that were included in the First Amendment. Because, again, the 14th amendment says nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty or property without due process of law. And the Supreme Court had started to accept the idea that certain laws that deny people certain liberties, the liberty to contract freedom of speech might be protected against state action, using the due process clause. All right. Now, july 1925 is the scopes trial. The previous month, the Supreme Court had issued two important decisions that could help shape the scopes trial. And one of them was the case that darrow had been involved in. It was the case of a new york socialist who will become a communist, who had written a political manifesto urging workers to take over the means of production and he had been prosecuted under new york state law and in his defense, darrow and others had argued that he has freedom of speech, which should be protected by the 14th amendment due process clause and the Supreme Court had an get low for the first time, said, you know what, freedom of speech is an essential liberty. It is protected, but get low. Speech was too dangerous. But as a month earlier in a darrow case, the Supreme Court says, you know, we are going to protect freedom of speech against state action. However, ever get low speech is too dangerous to be protected. So it doesnt say get low, but the Supreme Court is now on record and now in the scopes trial, theyre hoping to argue, well, how about this freedom of speech case, academic freedom. And this is one that actually, if we could appeal this to the Supreme Court, we could get really expensive. And this new protection against your state in federal court, all right. In addition in addition, the Supreme Court issued another famous opinion, pierce versus society of sisters. And in this one, the ku klux klan in the state of oregon. And this bill is replicated it in some other states, had passed the law requiring all children to attend Public School because klansmen wanted to close the parochial, in particular, Catholic Schools. Because they believed that unamerican doctrines were being taught in the Catholic Schools and oregon had passed the law. Remember, the klan becomes a national organization, and in this period, an end, oregon had done this and the schools had challenged the law in court in pierce versus society of sisters, and the Supreme Court had sided with the Parochial Schools. And what they said is that the law forcing you to send your children to Public School denied parents their liberty protected by the 14th amendments due process clause to educate their children as they see fit. But the state could require that if they go to Parochial School that certain lessons be taught there so that they learn American Values and other things. Its known as the pierce compromise. Pare