The
Scopes Trial, formally known as
The State of Tennessee v. John Thomas Scopes and commonly referred to as the
Scopes Monkey Trial, was an American legal case in 1925 in which a substitute high school teacher,
John Scopes, was accused of violating Tennessee's
Butler Act, which made it unlawful to teach human
evolution in any state-funded school. The trial was deliberately staged to attract publicity to the small town of
Dayton, Tennessee, where it was held. Scopes was unsure whether he had ever actually taught evolution, but he purposely incriminated himself so that the case could have a defendant.