Cultural Revolution Of The 1920s

742 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Debate for creationism and evolution

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 because, people believed that the theory of evolution meant that humans were descended from monkeys. Clarence Darrow was the defense lawyer. Former U.S. secretary of state William Jennings Bryan was the prosecutor. The defense argued that the Butler Act was unconstitutional. They did not deny that Scopes had broken the law. He was convicted and fined $100. Darrow was quoted as saying, "Scopes isn't on trial, civilization is on trial." The world was changing and scientific advances made it harder to fully accept the Bible's interpretation of creation. The older generation seemed set in their ways. It would seem that a science was on trial defending itself against traditional beliefs. The Red Scare was the result of wartime tensions....

Show More
Related

  • Compare And Contrast Salem Witch Trials And Hysteria

    572 Words  | 2 Pages

    When in doubt of an idea that presents itself, you either have to pursue the superior opinion or compose it for yourself. You’re sitting in a court, bewildered at the fact that an innocent or guilty individual is accused of a substance so erroneous. The residual of the audience believes these unwarranted accusations, but they have no understanding of the material that is being forenamed. The only option left is to neglect your subjacent opinion and follow the superiority or seem like someone at fault . This is what occurred during both the Salem Witch Trials and the Red Scare which undoubtedly displayed hysteria of that clear-cut populace. Both these events sparked dread, repression, and hysteria throughout history and significantly affected their participators in these two completely contrasting time zones.

    Read More

  • Bert Cates Courageous Teacher

    768 Words  | 2 Pages

    Firstly, in the town of Hillsboro teaching the theory of evolution to students was strictly against the law. Bert Cates was in opposition to this idea and, he believed that every student had the right to know about the Origin of species. Teaching the theory of evolution was against the law because it contradicted the teachings

    Read More

  • Scopes Monkey Trial

    737 Words  | 2 Pages

    John Scopes, a substitute biology teacher was arrested and charged with violating the Butler Act, a Tennessee law which prohibited teachers from teaching the Darwin Theory of Evolution in a science-related course. The American Civil Liberties Union created a plan to find a teacher willing to teach evolution in order to test the Butler Act, which forbade the essence that anyone teaching any theory that shunned the Biblical story of creationism. Scopes agreed to be arrested and have the case be taken to court. However, Scopes had simply reviewed the textbook chapter on evolution. The traditionalists would see this as a threat to their interests and the issue hit the country stronger than a tornado. Everyone was glued to their radios—it was the first broadcasted radio trial--except the campers and hundreds of reporters near the Dayton, Tennessee courthouse. Traditionalists would be outraged by the appearance of speakeasies, flappers, illegal boozing, popular activities of the Roaring Twenties and especially the Darwinian Theory. Their strong Christian beliefs from the Holy Bible stated how God created the world and man and woman. A traditionalist’s beliefs would not accept the idea of evolution because the Bible said that Man did not evolve but was created by God—the Divine Creation in one day.

    Read More

  • The History Of The Scopes Monkey Trial

    1647 Words  | 4 Pages

    Charles Darwin, the Father of Evolution, was a British scientist who laid the foundations of the theory of evolution, transforming the thinking of the entire world about the living things around us (Charles Darwin (1809 – 1882)). After working on his theory for nearly 20 years, he published On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection in 1859. As soon as the book was released, the controversy began with each sides gaining followers until the climax on July 10, 1925. The idea that animals could “evolve” and change into new species, including humans, was one that challenged not only how people thought about the natural world, but challenged the story of the creation from the Bible itself. Even though Darwin himself never said that humans “evolved” from apes, everyone took it as a logical extension of his new theory. It went against the idea of argument for design that had unified theology and science for decades (Moran 5). This new threat to Christianity and the social culture of the time was one that would transform state laws on their educational curriculum.

    Read More

  • Science V. Religion: The Scopes Monkey Trial

    1401 Words  | 3 Pages

    The 1920’s were a time of change. New ideas were becoming more readily experimented with and even accepted by large portions of the population. Some of these included jazz music and the fight against the alcoholic prohibition. The radical idea I will focus on in this paper, however, is Evolution. It is a theory that had been around for over half a century before the 20’s but had only more recently caught on in the US. It contradicted the Christian theory of Divine Creation as described in the Bible. This caused many religious fundamentalists to fight against it. They took their battle to the law books, and they were challenged by pro-evolution modernists in the Scopes "Monkey Trial" of 1925.

    Read More

  • 1920s: The Roaring Decade

    1722 Words  | 4 Pages

    The 1920s was a time of conservatism and it was a time of great social change. From the world of fashion to the world of politics, forces clashed to produce the most explosive decade of the century. It was the age of prohibition, it was the age of prosperity, and it was the age of downfall.

    Read More

  • Essay On The 1920's

    801 Words  | 2 Pages

    The 1920’s was a period of extremely economic growth and personal wealth. America was a striving nation and the American people had the potential to access products never manufactured before. Automobile were being made on an assembly line and were priced so that not just the rich had access to these vehicles, as well as, payment plans were made which gave the American people to purchase over time if they couldn't pay it all up front. Women during the First World War went to work in place of the men who went off to fight. When the men return the women did not give up their positions in the work force. Women being giving the responsibility outside the home gave them a more independent mindset, including the change of women's wardrobe, mainly in the shortening of their skirts.

    Read More

  • The Scopes Monkey Trial

    1128 Words  | 3 Pages

    The “Roaring Twenties” was a time period known for its innovation. Skirts got shorter, teens got bolder, and Prohibition was in full swing. These changes also gave way to a time period full of religious conflict. “In [religious] minds, Prohibition had always been about more than alcohol. It represented an effort to defend traditional American values against the growing influence of an urban, cosmopolitan culture” (Gillon 152). Charles Darwin had published his book, The Evolution of Species, in 1859 and The Descent of Man in 1871, detailing the evolution of man from ape-like creatures. When A Civic Biology, a biology textbook containing information on evolution, was published in 1914, teachers around the country began using it in their courses. By the twenties, these books had sparked all sorts of new ideas regarding the origin of man as well as opposition due to the creature from which he claimed we evolved and to the disagr...

    Read More

  • The Changes during the Roaring Twenties

    1246 Words  | 3 Pages

    Describe the decade known as the “Roaring Twenties”. I chose this question because of the many changes that came about during the 1920’s. One of the changes was how it greatly affected the woman’s position in society and the right to vote. It was also a decade of Prohibition, led by the Volstead Act in 1919. Four presidents were to serve office during this decade. Woodrow Wilson left office in March of 1921, followed by Warren Harding, Calvin Coolidge and ending with Herbert Hoover. When we think of the 1920’s what comes to mind is prohibition, bootleg, flappers, speakeasy, organized crime and at the end of the 1920’s the Great Depression.

    Read More

  • The Roaring 20s, And The Civil Rights Movement

    736 Words  | 2 Pages

    Although there are various time periods in American history that have implemented a change in the nation, there are three significant periods that ultimately changed social, political, and economic aspects of America. These three periods are the era of World War II, the Roaring 20s, and the Civil Rights Era. Multiple events occurring in each of those time periods greatly influenced specific individuals, reciprocating society into what it is today. Thus, improving characteristics that America fundamentally represents.

    Read More

  • How Did New Ideals And Technology Affect The 1920s

    158 Words  | 1 Pages

    The 1920s were a complete shift from previous American lifestyle. The shift led to new technology and ideas which drastically created political and social tension. Socially, the 1920s were a time of rebellion against prohibition and old traditions. Additionally, mass consumption of machinery and advertising caused disillusioned moral standards. Politically, a lack of strong government officials and fear of Communism resulted in the Great Depression. Therefore, new ideals and technology caused significant tension that has a lasting impact on America today.

    Read More

  • The Tensions of the Changing 1920s

    981 Words  | 2 Pages

    History is an abundance of movements that demonstrate the changes in societal ideals and beliefs, it also conveys the struggle many people had to maintain conservative ideas. The 1920s was a major time frame when many changes occurred and began, it is the epitome of the struggle between a changing nation and the Conservatives who want it all to stay the same. The power struggle between the Conservatives and the rebellious members of society had been going on for years but it was the passing of the Volstead Act, which had kicked started the Prohibition, that created an explosive change throughout the society. Drinking became fashionable, everyone wanted to do it because it was forbidden. With one law being broken people began to break the societal norms; woman drank and smoked in public, blacks were becoming popular in society, and even the accepted religious facts were called into question. This disregard for the norms caused an uproar throughout society and were the main tensions between old and new ideal; the tension stemmed from the ideals about women, blacks and religion.

    Read More

  • Roaring Twenties And The Great Gatsby

    942 Words  | 2 Pages

    In 1925, a teacher named John T Scopes was arrested for teaching the Theory of Evolution as this contradicted religion and their beliefs that God created the world.

    Read More

  • Scopes Trial

    1038 Words  | 3 Pages

    But this was not a trial to see what punishment he would receive. This trial pitted Protestant fundamentalists against the American Civil Liberties Union. In the end, although Scopes was convicted, many saw the victory go to the ACLU. The Butler Act in Tennessee forbade the teaching of human evolution as written by Charles Darwin. In its place, teachers were to only teach the story of Creation as found in Genesis, the first book of the Bible.

    Read More

  • Individual Liberty Versus Majoritarian Democracy in Edward Larson’s Summer For the Gods

    864 Words  | 2 Pages

    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 all over to witness whether science or religion would win the day. Yet, below all the hype, the trial had a deeper meaning.

    Read More

More about Cultural Revolution Of The 1920s

Open Document