<P> In the aftermath of World War I , the Fundamentalist -- Modernist Controversy brought a surge of opposition to the idea of evolution , and following the campaigning of William Jennings Bryan several states introduced legislation prohibiting the teaching of evolution . Such legislation was considered and defeated in 1922 in Kentucky and South Carolina , in 1923 passed in Oklahoma , Florida , and notably in 1925 in Tennessee , as the Butler Act . The American Civil Liberties Union ( ACLU ) offered to defend anyone who wanted to bring a test case against one of these laws . John T. Scopes accepted , and he started teaching his class evolution , in defiance of the Tennessee law . The resulting trial was widely publicized by H.L. Mencken among others , and is commonly referred to as the Scopes Trial . </P>
<P> In the aftermath of World War I , the Fundamentalist -- Modernist Controversy brought a surge of opposition to the idea of evolution , and following the campaigning of William Jennings Bryan several states introduced legislation prohibiting the teaching of evolution . Such legislation was considered and defeated in 1922 in Kentucky and South Carolina , in 1923 passed in Oklahoma , Florida , and notably in 1925 in Tennessee , as the Butler Act . The American Civil Liberties Union ( ACLU ) offered to defend anyone who wanted to bring a test case against one of these laws . John T. Scopes accepted , and he started teaching his class evolution , in defiance of the Tennessee law . The resulting trial was widely publicized by H.L. Mencken among others , and is commonly referred to as the Scopes Trial . </P>
who led the crusade to prohibit the teaching of evolution
who led the crusade to prohibit the teaching of evolution
William Jennings Bryan
William Jennings Bryan