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Charles Darwin declared in Descent of Man:<ref>Charles Darwin, The Descent of Man (London: John Murray, 1901), pp. 241-42 (footnote * is a reference to Anthropological Review, April, 1867, p. 236) http://www.literature.org/authors/darwin-charles/the-descent-of-man/chapter-06.html</ref>

Charles Darwin declared in Descent of Man:<ref>Charles Darwin, The Descent of Man (London: John Murray, 1901), pp. 241-42 (footnote * is a reference to Anthropological Review, April, 1867, p. 236) http://www.literature.org/authors/darwin-charles/the-descent-of-man/chapter-06.html</ref>

:At some future period, not very distant as measured by centuries, the civilised races of man will almost certainly exterminate, and replace, the savage races throughout the world. At the same time the anthropomorphous apes, as Professor Schaaffhausen has remarked,* will no doubt be exterminated. The break between man and his nearest allies will then be wider, for it will intervene between man in a more civilised state, as we may hope, even than the Caucasian, and some ape as low as a baboon, instead of as now between the negro or Australian and the gorilla.

:At some future period, not very distant as measured by centuries, the civilised races of man will almost certainly exterminate, and replace, the savage races throughout the world. At the same time the anthropomorphous apes, as Professor Schaaffhausen has remarked,* will no doubt be exterminated. The break between man and his nearest allies will then be wider, for it will intervene between man in a more civilised state, as we may hope, even than the Caucasian, and some ape as low as a baboon, instead of as now between the Negro or Australian and the gorilla.

Darwin was not the first to claim racial superiority.  But he was the first to suggest that some races of man "will almost certainly exterminate, and replace" other races of man.  Although Darwin never advocated this action, and instead decried it, those that took the idea to its extreme developed a new intellectual field called "eugenics" for this mythical biological struggle.  Darwin decried the use of eugenics in chapter 5 of the same book, where he wrote:

Darwin was not the first to claim racial superiority.  But he was the first to suggest that some races of man "will almost certainly exterminate, and replace" other races of man.  Although Darwin never advocated this action, and instead decried it, those that took the idea to its extreme developed a new intellectual field called "eugenics" for this mythical biological struggle.  Darwin decried the use of eugenics in chapter 5 of the same book, where he wrote:

== Eugenics in America ==

== Eugenics in America ==

Between 1907 and 1937, 32 American states passed eugenics laws requiring sterilization of citizens deemed to be misfits, such as the mentally infirm.  Oliver Wendell Holmes and all but one conservative Democratic Justice upheld such laws in a Supreme Court decision that included Holmes' offensive statement that "three generations of imbeciles are enough."  Buck v. Bell, 274 U.S. 200, 207 (1927).<ref>http://www.findlaw.com/casecode/supreme.html</ref>  In fact, the third generation "imbecile" was very bright, but was declared by a eugenics "expert" as "supposed to be a mental defective," apparently without an examination.  The cases were later forcibly overturned under [[substantive due process]] cases holding sterilization to be an abridgment of a fundamental right.<ref>Skinner v. Oklahoma (316 U.S. 535)</ref>  This era of case law, overturning eugenics, actually culminated in enlargments of "fundamental rights" into other spheres as well.

Between 1907 and 1937, 32 American states passed eugenics laws requiring sterilization of citizens deemed to be misfits, such as the mentally infirm.  Oliver Wendell Holmes and all but one conservative Democratic Justice upheld such laws in a Supreme Court decision that included Holmes' offensive statement that "three generations of imbeciles are enough."  Buck v. Bell, 274 U.S. 200, 207 (1927).<ref>http://www.findlaw.com/casecode/supreme.html</ref>  In fact, the third generation "imbecile" was very bright, but was declared by a eugenics "expert" as "supposed to be a mental defective," apparently without an examination.  The cases were later forcibly overturned under [[substantive due process]] cases holding sterilization to be an abridgment of a fundamental right.<ref>Skinner v. Oklahoma (316 U.S. 535)</ref>  This era of case law, overturning eugenics, actually culminated in enlargements of "fundamental rights" into other spheres as well.

Eugenics was taught as part of the evolution curriculum of many science classes in America in the early 1900s.  For example, it was featured in the textbook used in the famous Scopes trial in 1925.{{fact}}

Eugenics was taught as part of the evolution curriculum of many science classes in America in the early 1900s.  For example, it was featured in the textbook used in the famous Scopes trial in 1925.{{fact}}