History 200

Fall 2007

Paper #2: The Scopes Trial

Please write a 5-7 page paper on the topic provided below. Your paper should be double-spaced, typed, and in a twelve-point font. You must provide both citations and references to all of your sources.

Your paper must have a signed cover sheet (available at http://people.umass.edu/llovett/cover.html).

Please make sure that your paper makes a clear claim and that your claim is well supported with evidence. Review the Writing Guidelines for this course before you begin to research or write. (Available at http://people.umass.edu/llovett/writing.html.)

Due Wednesday, November 21st. Please submit your essay through Spark. For this assignment we will use the Turnitin service for textual comparison or originality review for the detection of possible plagiarism. All submitted assignments will be included in the UMass Amherst dedicated databases of assignments at Turnitin. These databases of assignments will be used solely for the purpose of detecting possible plagiarism during the grading process and during this term and in the future.

This assignment is worth 20% of your course grade.

Consider the following characterization of the Scopes Trial as a “duel” between evolution and Christianity:

In the summer of 1925, a young schoolteacher named John Scopes stood trial in Dayton, Tennessee, for violating the state law against the teaching of evolution. Two of the country's most famous attorneys faced off in the trial. William Jennings Bryan, 65 years old and a three time Democratic presidential nominee, prosecuted; 67-year-old Clarence Darrow, who was a staunch agnostic and who had defended Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb the year before, represented the defense. Bryan declared that "the contest between evolution and Christianity is a duel to the death."

Using what you have learned about the Scopes Trial and its historical context, offer an alternative interpretation of what was at issue in the trial.

Please state your alternate interpretation clearly and support it with evidence from a range of primary sources.