The 'Butler Act' was a
1925 Tennessee law forbidding
public school teachers to deny the literal
Biblical account of
man’s origin and to teach in its place the
evolution of man from lower orders of
animals. The law did ''not'' prohibit the teaching of any
evolutionary theory of any other species of
plant or animal.
Provisions of the law
The law, "AN ACT prohibiting the teaching of the Evolution Theory in all the Universities, Normals 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."
[1]
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 that
apes descended from
protozoa, to teach the mechanisms of
variation and
natural selection, or to teach the prevailing scientific theories of
geology or the
age of the Earth. It did not even require that the
Genesis story be taught. It prohibited only the teaching that man had descended from a lower order of animals, 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 didn'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 evolution was dangerous.
Origin of the law
Butler presented his bill on
January 21,
1925 (Chapter 117, House Bill 198, by Mr. Butler, Public Acts of Tennessee for 1925). The committee on education recommended Bill 198 for passage on
January 23. On
January 28, the
House passed Butler's Bill 71 to 5. In the
Senate another anti-evolution bill was already meeting stiff opposition from the judiciary committee where it was referred for consideration. On
January 29, aware the House had already voted on Butler's bill, the committee recommended rejection of the other bill by a vote of 5 to 4 and it was not until
March 10 that the Senate judiciary committee recommended 7-4 for the Butler Act to be passed. On
March 13 the Tennessee Senate debated the Butler Act. One senator endeavored to ridicule the bill by attaching an amendment to also "prohibit the teaching that the
earth is round," but was ruled out of order by the speaker. Finally, the Butler bill was passed by the Senate 24 to 6, with one senator "present and not voting."
Reportedly dismayed the
legislature had passed the bill but needing the support of rural legislators for educational reform,
Governor Austin Peay signed the Butler Act into law on
March 21. Peay told the press: "After a careful examination, I can find nothing of consequence in the books now being taught in our schools with which this bill will interfere in the slightest manner. Therefore, it will not put our teachers in jeopardy. Probably the law will never be applied." A Tennessee lawyer, in an often quoted line, said: "The Legislature did not know it passed the fool thing." However it was several weeks before a single educator could be induced to express an opinion on the subject, and the head of the
zoology department at the
University of Tennessee refused to show his zoology textbooks to reporters. The University's president secretly issued unofficial instructions to his faculty to make no changes in their instruction.
Challenges
The law was challenged by the
ACLU in the famed
Scopes Trial, in which
John Scopes, a high school sports coach who occasionally acted as a substitute teacher, 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:
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 wouldn't hear any more of
evolution in Tennessee."
The law remained on the books until
1967, when a dismissed teacher complained that it violated his
First Amendment right to
free speech. Fearing another courtroom fiasco, the Tennessee legislature repealed the law.
See also
★
Scopes Trial
References
1. Full text of the Butler Act and the bill that repealed it
★ "Author of the Law Surprised by Fuss", ''
The New York Times'' (
18 July 1925), page 1.
External links
★
Full text of the Butler Act and the bill that repealed it
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