Fundamentalism was a Protestant religious movement brought about during the 1920s when millions of people moved from farms to the cities greatly increasing problems such as crime, gambling, and corruption in the cities. Many people were looking for a system of values in this time of rapid change. Primarily in the small towns and on the farms people blamed society's economic and social problems on modern urban culture.

One of the major influences of the Fundamentalist was their belief that the King James translation of the Bible was the absolute word of God. They believed that the words in the Bible were to be taken literally.

Fundamentalist believe that science and technology of the machine age was challenging their traditional values and beliefs. This led to another major fundamentalist influence, campaigning for laws banning all mention of Darwin's theory of evolution.

The Fundamentalist succeeded in getting Tennessee to pass a law banning teachers in the state's schools and colleges from teaching any theory that disagrees with that taught in the Bible. John T. Scopes violated the law by teaching Darwin's theory and taken to court by the state. He lost the trial, but was later overturned by the state supreme court.

Although the message and methods are different today, Fundamentalist ideas are still very popular today. With the help of television and radio they can reach a much larger group allowing them to be politically involved in many things