Download Debate in the 1920s

Debate in the 1920s
Scopes Trial & Prohibition
Today’s Objective
After today’s lesson, students will be able to…
Explain why prohibition failed and why the Scopes trial
occurred
Essential Skill
Explicitly assess information and draw conclusions
What does this quote mean?
“It is the prohibition that makes anything precious.”
- Mark Twain
The Noble Experiment
Analyze Political Cartoons
With your partner study and analyze each political cartoon
Evaluate the message and determine whether the cartoon is for
or against Prohibition; record your guess.
th
18 Amendment (1919)
“Forbade the manufacture,
distribution, and sale of alcohol
anywhere in the United States”
Enforced by the Volstead Act
The Rise and Fall of Prohibition
As you watch this clip…
Brainstorm possible arguments in favor of Prohibition (Drys)
Brainstorm possible arguments against Prohibition (Wets)
“Dry” Arguments
Strengthen family
bonds
Eliminate moral
depravity
Overall
consumption
decline
Arrests for public
drunkenness
decrease
Hospitalization
for alcoholism
declines
Mental hospital
admissions for
alcoholism
decline
Decline in
“secondary”
health problems
“Wet” Arguments
Enforcement too
difficult; “legislating
morality”
Encouraged
lawlessness &
corruption
Divided the country
Enforcement too
expensive
Illegal alcohol
“unregulated”
Overloaded court
system
Institutionalized
organized crime
syndicates
Increased urban
violence
Violated individual
rights
Created black
market wealth
Prohibition Fails
“It is the prohibition that makes anything precious.” – Mark Twain
21st Amendment repealed the 18th Amendment in 1933
Can you identify similar “prohibition” efforts that failed…
“War on Drugs”
Scopes “Monkey” Trial
The Clash Over Evolution
The defenders of traditional
religion looked to the Bible
for support in the struggle
against this new wild
atmosphere of the Twenties
Modernists
Modernists looked to science,
not the Bible, to explain how the
physical world worked.
Scientists accepted as true only
facts and theories that could be
tested and supported with
evidence.
Theory of Evolution
British naturalist Charles
Darwin theorized that all
plants and animals,
including humans, had
evolved from simpler
forms of life
Tennessee and Scopes
Tennessee became the first state
to ban the teaching of evolution
in public schools
Scopes believed that he cannot
teach biology without teaching
evolution.
Scopes is arrested for teaching
the theory of evolution
The Scopes Trial
The Scopes Trial began on July 10,
1925, bringing far more attention
than both sides had expected
Some 200 national reporters
arrived in Dayton, Tennessee.
Tourists and vendors (selling toy
monkeys) descend on Dayton’s
“circus” atmosphere
Bryan vs. Darrow
William Jennings Bryan agrees to
represent the State of Tennessee
with its prosecution of John
Scopes
High-powered lawyer Clarence
Darrow offers to defend Scopes
free of charge
“If evolution wins, Christianity goes” – William Jennings Bryan
“Scopes isn’t on trial: civilization is on trial” – Clarence Darrow
The Scopes Trial
After listening to only one
Darrow’s defensive
experts, the judge refuses
to let his remaining
experts testify
The Scopes Trial
For a moment, it looked like
Darrow had no defense. Then
he surprised everyone by
calling Bryan to the stand as
an expert on the Bible.
“Do you claim that everything in the Bible should be literally
interpreted?” – Clarence Darrow
“I believe everything in the bible should be accepted as it is given
there” – William Jennings Bryan
I do not think it means necessarily a twenty-four hour day. Creation
might have continued for millions of years.” – William Jennings Bryan
The Scopes Trial
Darrow had tricked Bryan into
admitting that he himself did
not always interpret each and
every word in the Bible as the
literal truth
The Verdict
When the trial ended, it took
the jury fewer than 10
minutes to find Scopes guilty.
The judge fined John Scopes
only $100 for breaking the
Tennessee law
Victory in Defeat
Although John Scopes had
been found guilty by the
judge, it was believed to be a
huge victory for science
The End…Not Quite
The Scopes trial did not end
the debate over teaching
evolution in public schools