Keebler’s Address regarding The Tennessee Evolution Case from the Tennessee Bar Association’s annual meeting on June 26–27, 1925.

Select the image to view a larger version. A transcription is available below.

Transcription

THE TENNESSEE EVOLUTION CASE

By Robert S. Keebler

STATEMENT OF THE FACTS

The legislature of the state of Tennessee at its last session enacted the following law, which became effective on March 21, 1925:

"An act prohibiting the teaching of the evolution theory in all the universities, normals and other public schools of Tennessee, which are supported in whole or in part by the public school funds of the state, and to provide penalties for the violation thereof.

"Section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Tennessee, that it shall be unlawful for any teacher in any of the universities, normals and all other public schools of the state to teach any theory that denies the story of the divine creation of man as taught in the Bible and to teach instead that man has descended from a lower order of animals.

"Section 2. Be it further enacted, that any teacher found guilty of a violation of this act, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction shall be fined not less than $100 nor more than $500 for each offense." (Chapter 27, Public Acts of 1925.)

This was no dull, cold, lifeless act of the sort which make the law a dismal science. It flashed lightning and rolled thunder. Hailed by some as a signal triumph of the Christian faith against the atheistical tendency of science, by others as clear ecclesiastical tyranny and a recrudescence of the Inquisition, and by still others as a triumph of asinity which would defeat its own aim, the law attracted the attention and provoked the opinions of lawyers, scientists, ecclesiastics and teachers throughout the nation.

It was inevitable that the constitutionality of a law touching alike the fundamentals of government, of religion and of science should be contested. Within a month the test came. John Thomas Scopes, a teacher of science in the Dayton High School, and using a textbook prescribed by the Uniform Text book Commission of the state, was arrested for teaching this book in violation of the new law; and a formal indictment was lodged against him by a special session of the Rhea County grand jury in these words: