Summary of The Trial of the Century By gregg jarrett

By Willie M. Joseph

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This book does not in any capacity mean to replace the original book but to serve as a vast summary of the original book.

Summary of The Trial of the Century By gregg jarrett

 

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Clarence Darrow's seminal defense of freedom of speech helped form the legal bedrock on which civil liberties depend today, and The Trial of the Century calls upon our past to unite Americans in the defense of the free exchange of ideas.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Willie M. Joseph
• Release date: Jun 3, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223600107

Willie M. Joseph

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Hell Is Going to Pop Now

On July 20, 1925, more than two thousand people gathered outside the Rhea County Courthouse in Dayton, Tennessee for a clash over what children should be taught in public schools. Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan, two titans in American life, stood in one corner of the courthouse square. The crowd was filled with whispers, comments, and laughter over what was about to take place. The courthouse and its bell tower conjured images of Italian architecture, a rarity in this part of Tennessee. As Darrow got ready to face Bryan on the stand, the crowd intensely listened to the legal maneuverings.

Clarence Darrow and Arthur Hays, two of Darrow's cocounsels, sprung a trap to turn the trial around. Hays asked the judge to call Mr. Bryan as a witness, but the defense wanted other questions. Judge John Raulston ordered the trial moved outside and a platform was set up for a dramatic confrontation. Judge Raulston was puzzled by the maneuver, but Ben McKenzie pushed back. Bryan was eager to take the stand to go face-to-face with Darrow.

Darrow's move to put Bryan on the stand was a last-ditch attempt to force the fundamentalist to concede that not everything in the Bible should be accepted literally. The judge reluctantly allowed the pro er of Bryan's testimony to appease both the defense team and Bryan himself, but Raulston had no intention of ever letting the jury hear it. Darrow faced overwhelming odds as he stood alone to take on popular opinion. The most important details in this text are the courtroom confrontation between Darrow and Bryan in Dayton, Tennessee. Darrow challenged Bryan's expertise on the Bible, claiming that everything in the Bible should be accepted as it is given there.

Bryan countered that a big sh had eaten Jonah, and that he was not prepared to say that the big sh was made to swallow Jonah. This was the most remarkable courtroom confrontation in the history of American jurisprudence. The most important details in this text are the arguments made by Darrow and Bryan in the trial. Darrow argued that a big sh swallowed a man and survived for three days, while Bryan argued that it was a literal event that he described as one of God's miracles. The prosecutors objected to Bryan's ego and obstinacy, but Darrow kept his focus on Bryan and turned to another miraculous event recorded in the Old Testament.

Darrow asked Bryan if he had ever pondered what would have happened to the earth if it had stood still suddenly, and Bryan replied that God could have taken care of that. The most important details in this text are that Clarence Darrow, the best lawyer in America, faltered on the witness stand due to his lack of knowledge on religious thought. He had never considered the metaphysical implications of certain events recounted in the Bible, had never bothered to study the realities of space and time, cause and effect, and the physics of objects and their properties, and had embraced a narrow view of religious thought. With his faltering, the legend of Clarence Darrow continued to grow, as larger-than-life heroes and personalities dominated the 1920s, including Babe Ruth, Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, Josephine Baker, Duke Ellington, and Louis Armstrong. Dayton was a small town in the Smoky Mountains, founded in 1877.

It had no ties to the Old South and was named after the city in Ohio. Leaders from Dayton decided to challenge the state law prohibiting the teaching of evolution in public schools, which had already been dubbed the Monkey Trial. After weeks of preparation and another week of previous proceedings, the crowd knew the protagonists by sight and reputation, with Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan being the two most legendary figures. They spoke for the forgotten masses, namely farmers left behind by the economic prosperity of the Gilded Age. William Jennings Bryan was a Democratic presidential candidate three times, but fell short in the general election.

He was instrumental in passing the Eighteenth Amendment, prohibiting the sale of alcohol, and championing the Bible in schools and across the public square. He was also involved in real estate development in Florida and advocating for religious and social issues. He had struggled with his weight for years, but continued to make an impression. The most important details in this text are that John F. Kennedy was an old lion who had seen better days, but remained relevant on the national stage and commanded the support of millions. He was in Dayton helping the prosecutors against Scopes, while Clarence Darrow was a folk hero who had spent decades becoming one of the most celebrated lawyers America had ever