John Scopes was a relatively new teacher to the Rhea County high school and he taught his students about general science. Scopes was enlisted by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to disregard the Tennessee’s Butler Act, which made teaching evolution unlawful in any state funded schools since he disagreed with this legislation. Scopes taught from a state approved textbook called George Hunter's Civic Biology, which advocated Charles Darwin’s arguments in The Descent of Man. The trial was staged by the ACLU so it could attract a greater audience and gain publicity to the small town Dayton, where the trial was held. In the end, Scopes was fined $100 for being guilty, but the case got overturned due to a technicality. Although Scopes supported the theory of evolution, he never had contempt towards religion which helped set the precedent that everyone holds different beliefs, which should be equally respected.
William Jennings Bryan was a Nebraskan politician, who was a three time presidential nominee and strongly believed in the religious and moral teaching of the Bible. He was a devout Christian and he was one of the best public speakers in American history. He played an important role in the Scopes trials, for he offered to assist the prosecution in the Scopes trial. Bryan started to get worried about the fact that public schools were teaching Darwin’s theory of evolution. He also grew alarmed at the concept of social Darwinism and “survival of the fittest” doctrine in society. Bryan and his followers were successful in getting legislation to ban teachings of Darwin and evolution from 15 different states by 1925. Bryan and his followers also believed that it was unfair that their tax paying money was going towards the teaching of evolution in school rather than the teachings Bible and Christianity.
Clarence Darrow was one of the most famous lawyers in America of all time, for he had defended Leopold and Loeb, in which he saved them from the death penalty. His work in the Scope trial brought him to greater fame and he was the defense attorney for John Scopes and help defend him in this court case. Darrow was a very vocal critic of religion and he considered himself agnostic. He also strongly believed in science and Darwin’s theory of evolution making him the perfect person to defend Scopes in the trial.