Butler Act - wikipedia Butler Act For the United Kingdom Butler Education Act, see Education Act 1944. Butler Act AN ACT prohibiting the teaching of the Evolution Theory in all the Universities, and all 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 violations thereof Enacted by the 64th Tennessee General Assembly Date enacted March 13, 1925 Introduced by John Washington Butler in the House of Representatives as House Bill No. 185 on January 21, 1925 Committee consideration by : House Committee on Education, Senate Judiciary Committee Passed the House on January 28, 1925 ( Yeas : 71 ; Nays : 5 ) Passed the Senate on March 13, 1925 ( Yeas : 24 ; Nays : 6 ) Signed into law by Governor Peay on March 21, 1925 Repealing legislation September 1, 1967 by Chapter No. 237, House Bill No. 48 The Butler Act was a 1925 Tennessee law prohibiting public school teachers from denying the Biblical account of mankind 's origin. It was enacted as Tennessee Code Annotated Title 49 ( Education ) Section 1922, having been signed into law by Tennessee governor Austin Peay. The law also prevented the teaching of the evolution of man from what it referred to as lower orders of animals in place of the Biblical account. The law was challenged later that year in a famous trial in Dayton, Tennessee called the Scopes Trial which included a raucous confrontation between prosecution attorney and fundamentalist religious leader, William Jennings Bryan, and noted defense attorney and religious agnostic, Clarence Darrow. Contents 1 Provisions of the law 2 Challenges 3 See also 4 References Provisions of the law The law, `` An act prohibiting the teaching of the Evolution Theory in all the Universities, and all 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 violations thereof '' ( Tenn. HB 185, 1925 ) specifically provided : That it shall be unlawful for any teacher in any of the Universities, Normals and all other public schools of the State which are supported in whole or in part by the public school funds 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. It additionally outlined that an offending teacher would be guilty of a misdemeanor and fined between $100 and $500 for each offense. By the terms of the statute, it could be argued, it was not illegal to teach evolution in respect to non-human creatures, such as that apes descended from protozoa or to teach the mechanisms of variation and natural selection. The bill also did not touch on, or restrict the teaching of prevailing scientific theories of geology or the age of the Earth. It did not even require that the Genesis story be taught, but prohibited solely the teaching that man evolved, or any other theory denying that man was created by God as recorded in Genesis. However the author of the law, a Tennessee farmer named John Washington Butler, specifically intended that it would prohibit the teaching of evolution. He later was reported to have said, `` No, I did n't know anything about evolution when I introduced it. I 'd read in the papers that boys and girls were coming home from school and telling their fathers and mothers that the Bible was all nonsense. '' After reading copies of William Jennings Bryan 's lecture `` Is the Bible True ? '' as well as Charles Darwin 's The Origin of Species and The Descent of Man, Butler decided the teaching of evolution was dangerous. Challenges The law was challenged by the ACLU in the famed Scopes Trial, in which John Scopes, a high school science teacher who agreed to be arrested on a charge of having taught evolution, and was nominally served a warrant on May 5, 1925. Scopes was indicted on May 25 and ultimately convicted ; on appeal the Tennessee Supreme Court found the law to be constitutional under the Tennessee State Constitution, because : We are not able to see how the prohibition of teaching the theory that man has descended from a lower order of animals gives preference to any religious establishment or mode of worship. So far as we know, there is no religious establishment or organized body that has in its creed or confession of faith any article denying or affirming such a theory. -- Scopes v. State 289 S.W. 363, 367 ( Tenn. 1927 ) Despite this decision, the Tennessee Supreme Court reversed the conviction on a technicality ( that the jury should have fixed the amount of the fine ), and the case was not retried. During the trial, Butler told reporters : `` I never had any idea my bill would make a fuss. I just thought it would become a law, and that everybody would abide by it and that we would n't hear any more of evolution in Tennessee. '' The law remained on the books until 1967, when teacher Gary L. Scott of Jacksboro, Tennessee, who had been dismissed for violation of the act, sued for reinstatement, citing his First Amendment right to free speech. Although his termination was rescinded, Scott continued his fight with a class action lawsuit in the Nashville Federal District Court, seeking a permanent injunction against enforcement of that law. Within three days of his filing suit, a bill for repeal of the Butler Act had passed both houses of the Tennessee legislature and was signed into law May 18 by Governor Buford Ellington. See also Monkey Town Creation and evolution in public education References Jump up ^ Full text of the Butler Act and the bill that repealed it Jump up ^ Randy Moore, Evolution in the Courtroom : A Reference Guide, ABC - Clio Inc., 2001. pp. 58 - 59 `` Author of the Law Surprised by Fuss '', The New York Times ( 18 July 1925 ), page 1. Scopes Trial People William Jennings Bryan Clarence Darrow H.L. Mencken John T. Raulston John T. Scopes In fiction Inherit the Wind play 1960 film 1965 film 1988 film 1999 film Monkey Town Related Butler Act Civic Biology The Great Monkey Trial Six Days or Forever ? Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Butler_Act&oldid=842455568 '' Categories : Scopes Trial Christian creationism United States education law 1925 in law Education in Tennessee Tennessee law 1925 in Tennessee 1925 in education 1925 in Christianity Hidden categories : All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from March 2018 Talk Contents About Wikipedia Deutsch Français Русский Svenska Українська 中文 Edit links This page was last edited on 22 May 2018, at 15 : 38. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution - ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia ® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. About Wikipedia

Question: what was one result of the butler act
Answer: The law was challenged by the ACLU in the famed Scopes Trial