Prohibition and the Scopes Trial

Do you think the passage of the Volstead Act and the ruling in the Scopes trial represented genuine triumphs for traditional values?

I do not think that the passage of the Volstead Act and the ruling in the Scopes trial represented genuine triumphs for traditional values.

Firstly, people still drank alcohol even with the Volstead Act in place, and the government failed to enforce the act. Since it wasn't enforced that well at all people could easily get alcohol and not get caught. For example, there were these underground 'bars' that were like secret clubs where you'd have to show a card or say a password. These were called Speakeasies and could be under any place, like tenements, apartments, and much more. Although people did try preaching to people saying that drinking was sinful and brought nothing good, people didn't really listen they just wanted to enjoy life since it was after the war and again it was easily achievable to get some alcohol. Also, the act was the impetus of crime and mocking the law. There became organized crime like Al Capone, who killed all the other people that were selling alcohol in Chicago so he could get all the money. Bootleggers mocked the law because they sold alcohol and got their name because they hid the alcohol in their boots. As you can see, the passage of the Volstead Act was not a genuine triumph for traditional values, who were completely against alcohol calling it sinful, but also the Scopes trial wasn't a genuine triumph for traditional values either.

The Scopes trial wasn't a triumph for traditional values. This is true because there were many more people that believed in Darwin's theory of evolution, which was humans evolved from apes. The fundamentalists did not think that this was right at all and that it shouldn't be taught in schools to children. This is when John T. Scopes stepped in in Tennessee, who was making a law to prohibit teaching this theory in their schools, and read a passage to his students about evolution. He was arrested and sent to trial, which ended up being outside in the public and became a huge rave. In the end he was given a hundred dollar fine, but didn't deny that he said it. Also, Tennessee still passed and enforced its new law. However, many people didn't think that it was such a big deal that evolution shouldn't be taught. There were people that would preach places like Aimee Semple McPherson and Billy Sunday, but the people interested in these preachings and such were very low. As one can see, the Scope trial was not a triumph for traditional values because no one really cared whether evolution was taught even if it was not what the Bible said.