Context: Reception in the United States
After the publication of "On the Origin of Species" in 1859, Darwin knew that his book would bring up controversy in Britain. Some scientists accepted Darwin’s theory of evolution but many rejected the theory immediately as they believed the theory of natural evolution contradicts creationism; the belief that the universe and living organisms were created by God.
At the time of publication, the United States was preoccupied as they were on the verge of the American Civil War. Therefore, the book did not become a popular topic until the end of the 19th century, driven by Christian authors and speakers who began to argue against Darwinism. Modernist Protestants began to emerge from the Protestant communities integrating evolution into their religion, but most Protestants rejected evolution. In the 1920s William Jenning Bryan, an orator, politician and evangelical Protestant became the leader of the fight against evolution in the US. He believed that teaching evolution would be the cause of a decline in Christian religiousness in future generations (Masci 2019). He had direct appeals with many lawmakers and helped set anti-evolutionary legislation (Parks 2015).
In 1922, John Butler promised that if he would be elected to the Tennessee House of Representatives he would protect children from Darwin’s principles of evolution. In 1925, the bill was drafted and approved by Governor Austin Peay. The bill would prohibit evolution theory to be taught in all Universities, public schools and Normals in the state of Tennessee. It would be illegal to teach anything other than the Biblical story of Divine Creation, and all who violate the law would receive fines between $100 and $500. However, the American Civil Liberties Union published an advertisement to defend any teacher willing to violate the law. On May 18, 1967, the Butler Act was abolished (Moore 2001).
George Rappleyea from Dayton Tennessee opposed religious fundamentalism and persuaded local leaders to bring a court case to Dayton, Tennessee to revive the town’s economy. John T. Scopes, a substitute teacher, filled the role as the defendant, but no one knows if he had taught evolution in the classroom (History.com Editors 2009). The trial was deliberately organized to bring revenue and publicity to Dayton, Tennessee. The trial had a national stage with up to 200 reporters and the first live broadcast of a courtroom. The news portrayed the trial as the fight between religion and science (Larson 2004). As a result, Scopes had been convicted and fined $100 which had been overturned due to a technicality (Masci 2019).
This is an image from Dayton Tennessee inside the Rhea County Courthouse during the Scopes Trial. The photograph is the courtroom as Darrow is addressing the jurors just before the verdict on July 21, 1925. The image shows the intense environment of the trial as the audience awaits the verdict since the religious believed the theory of evolution is a threat to their beliefs.
The defendants had 3 goals, to educate the American people on the evolution theory as the trial had national attention, to protect academics from legislative interference, and to defuse conflict. The prosecution team with Bryan focused on narrowing the question to whether or not the law was violated (Parks 2015).
The Scopes Trial had many influences on the American legislature and culture following the education provided by the trial. In 1925 there had been 15 states with pending anti-evolution legislation laws but following the trial, the only laws that were passed were in the states of Arkansas and Mississippi (Halliburton 1964; Cornell Daily Sun 1926). However, after the trial, textbook publishers and school boards across the country were unwilling to cover evolution which resulted in evolution being taught dramatically less than before. Darwin’s theories of evolution were actively being removed from biology textbooks by publishers. The Texas Governor Miriam Ferguson even ordered that the pages with evolution be cut out of textbooks with scissors and terminate any teacher who uses an unapproved textbook (Moore 2001).
In the 1940s, evolution began to reappear in textbooks but the best-selling textbooks were the ones that either had evolution diluted or completely avoided. In 1968, the Epperson v. Arkansas case at the US Supreme Court ruled that it’s unconstitutional to prohibit teaching evolution as it restricts the freedom of learning and teaching. Following the case, laws were passed allowing evolution to be taught with creationism (Moore 2001).
Negative Influence:
The eugenics movement in the United States began in the late 19th century. In 1883, Sir Francis Galton, who was Darwin’s cousin, believed that selective breeding of humans with desired traits could “improve” the human race. Darwin’s principles presented in "On the Origin of Species" had directly influenced his cousin, who became the founder of eugenics (Gillham 2001). In the United States, the movement received a lot of funding leading to the establishment of the Eugenics Records Office in 1911. The office tracked family histories deeming people “fit” or “unfit” and had established sterilization programs in 33 states for the “unfit”. Darwinism was then used to support the placement of stricter immigration laws to the US for certain countries (Schaffer 2014). Eugenics enhanced existing beliefs in racial superiority which may have inspired Nazi ideology in the Second World War. The reception of the principles of "On the Origin of Species" and its application to the human race has caused adverse consequences in American social history.