Download The 1920s: Warren G. Harding and the Scopes Trial

The 1920s: Warren G.
Harding and the Scopes Trial
D. Challenges at Home and
Abroad (ca. 1914-1945)
d. Identify the characteristics of
social conflict and social change
that took place in the early 1920s.
D. Challenges at Home and
Abroad (ca. 1914-1945) 3.The
United States in a Changing
World
b. Describe and evaluate the
impact of scientific and
technological innovations of the
1920s
Warren G. Harding,
a Republican, won
the Presidential
election of 1920..
Warren G. Harding’s Problems
-A group of influential men who assisted President
Harding and were from his home state were called the
“Ohio Gang.” Many asserted they mislead Harding to
pursue corruption.
-For instance, in Teapot Dome, Wyoming, oil rich
lands were set aside for the government. Yet, Albert
Fall, Secretary of Interior, accepted a bribe of
$400,000.00 to lease the land to private oil
companies.
-This was called the Teapot Dome Scandal and many
asserted it proved that Harding was incompetent to
stop corruption from occurring in the government.
The Teapot
Dome Scandal
tarnished the
reputation of
President
Harding.
Republican Politics in the 1920s
-Warren G. Harding served from 1921-1923
and died of a heart attack in office. Calvin
Coolidge was the Vice President to Harding
and served from 1923-1929.
-The Republican economic policy of the 1920s
can be described as a trickledown
economics system with low taxes on the rich
and little regulation for the stock market.
-The American economy saw a surge in
economic activity in this decade and
businesses gained immense wealth. Yet, the
Great Depression soon followed.
Warren G. Harding, the 29th President, served from 1921-1923
and died of a heart attack in office. Calvin Coolidge was the
Vice President to Harding and served from 1923-1929. Each were
Republicans who pursued trickle down economics in the 1920s.
Evolution
-A scientist named Charles Darwin sought to
explain why there is such diversity among living
things in the 1800s.
-In the 1800s, many religious theists, especially
fundamentalists, attributed this diversity to the
notion that God created all living things
individually.
-Darwin disagreed with this claim. He taught
that evolution was the process that naturally
created the diverse species on the planet.
Darwin Publishes His Theory
-In 1859, Darwin published On the Origin of
Species to elaborate on this theory of evolution.
-According to Darwin, living beings compete for
resources, such as food, the fittest survive and
then they pass their traits to their decedents.
The weaker beings die out.
-The future generations of these beings morph
over time based on adaptations they have
experienced.
Charles
Darwin
published On
the Origin of
Species.
Darwinism in Biology:
Darwin taught living beings evolve
over time.
This diagram shows that Darwin taught that primates, such as gorillas,
chimpanzees, and humans, have a common ancestry in the past.
This diagram
depicts the theory
that some land
animals evolved
into sea animals,
such as whales.
Darwinian theory on the origin of species displayed in
the “evolutionary tree” diagram.
Fundamentalist Christianity
-Fundamentalist Christianity is a conservative
form of Christianity that maintains a rigid
interpretation of the Bible.
-Fundamentalists believe the God of Christianity
created all things, the Bible was inspired by God,
and the creation narrative in the Bible is to be
interrupted rigidly as seven literal days of creation.
-Many citizens of the USA, especially in the South,
practiced Fundamentalist Christianity in the 1920s
and many also rejected the teaching of evolution as
irreconcilable with their interpretation of the Bible.
Modernists & Secularists in the 1920s
-Many secularists believed living things evolved
overtime and originated from non-living things, a
process called abiogenesis.
-Numerous secularists were atheists, agnostics,
and deists who believed that the Bible was a
collection of writings and myths, not God’s word.
-While fundamentalists believed Darwinism went
against their faith, other followers of Christianity,
such as Modernists, felt Darwinism was
compatible with Christianity.
John Scopes
taught evolution
in Tennessee,
which was illegal
in the state in
1925. This led to
the trial dubbed
the “The Scopes
Monkey Trial.”
Many fundamentalists protested teaching
evolution in public schools.
The Scopes “Monkey” Trial
-In March of 1925, Tennessee banned the
teaching of evolution. John T. Scopes, a
teacher, went against the law and taught the topic
in a biology class.
-Two lawyers faced off in the case. Clarence
Darrow defended Scopes against William
Jennings Bryan, a Fundamentalist.
-The issue at hand was whether or not evolution
should be taught at public schools. Scopes lost
and was fined $100.00 for teaching evolution.
THE
END
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