Which side won the scopes trial?
The interesting thing about the Scopes Trial is that both sides wanted to have Scopes found guilty. You wouldn’t think that about a trial, but Clarence Darrow, Scopes’ lawyer, hoped that Scopes would be found guilty so that an appeal could be filed and the law could be challenged as unconstitutional and then thrown out. Technically Bryan, the state of Tennessee’s lawyer, did win, as Scopes was found guilty and fined $100. But two things happened which have made it seem like a loss: a) Scopes’ appeal was successful in that the case was thrown out, since the judge had laid down the sentence, which was supposed to be done by the jury. So Darrow never did get to bring the case to a higher court to have the law put on trial. (The Supreme Court, incidentally, did NOT hear this case.) b) Time passed. More and more people came around to the evolutionary viewpoint. The teaching of Darwin’s theory did not cause riots and the wholesale abandonment of religion and law. More importantly, a play and
