at the start, the reaction in the united states matched the developments in britain, and when alfred russel wallace went there for a lecture tour in 1886–1887 his explanations of "darwinism" were welcomed without any problems, but attitudes changed after the first world war. the controversy became political when public schools began teaching that man evolved from earlier forms of life per darwin's theory of natural selection. in response, the u.s. state of tennessee passed the butler act of 1925 prohibiting the teaching of any theory of the origins of humans that contradicted the teachings of the bible. this law was tested in the highly publicized scopes trial of 1925. the law was upheld by the tennessee supreme court, and remained on the books until 1967 when it was repealed. in 1968, the u.s. supreme court ruled in "epperson v. arkansas" that banning the teaching of specific theories contravened the establishment clause of the first amendment to the united states constitution because their primary purpose was religious.