U.S.

Government Debate
Is America Living Up To The Ideals in the Declaration of
Independence?
Debates are a wonderful way to begin thinking critically. Every argument can be approached by multiple points of
view.

Your mission is to come up with at least three affirmative arguments (agreement) and three negative arguments
(disagreement) to the following proposition (statement for debate):

The United States is living up to the ideals in the Declaration of Independence.

You will need to prepare and be able to articulate your views in our class debate. While you are expected to do
your own research Do not, I repeat, DO NOT copy information from websites for your debate preparation –
instead read through the RELIABLE information and formulate your own opinions! YOU MAY quote a
reliable source but give the source credit (cite) – do not pass it off as your own. I look forward to hearing your
thoughts!

Ideals (pg 21 of text) Helpful Information about the Declaration

 Liberty  According to the Declaration, all individuals
 Equality have “certain unalienable rights,” which are
 Self-Government inherent to everyone
 The Declaration reaffirmed the idea of
government by the consent of the governed. The
people have “certain unalienable rights,” of life,
liberty and the pursuit of happiness
 If the government violates these rights, then the
people have the power to change their
government.
(http://www.mapsofworld.com/)

You will be graded upon FOUR different categories:

 Debate Preparation
 Debate Participation
 Understanding of the Topic
 Completing your Self – Assessment

Make sure you turn in your entire packet, completed, after the debate.
Name: ___________________________ Date: _____________________

Debate Preparation

To prepare for your debate, fill in your statement (position), major points, and examples. You will be required to support
three affirmative and three negative arguments as to why or why not the United States is living up to the ideals in the
Declaration of Independence. As the debate unfolds, make notes about the other team’s points, as well as your response to
them

Affirmative Statement: (Agrees with the proposition)

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

1. Major Point 1: ________________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

Examples/Illustrations:

2. Major Point 2: ________________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

Examples/Illustrations:

3. Major Point 3: ________________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

Examples/Illustrations:

NOTES DURING THE DEBATE:

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Negative Statement: (Disagrees with the proposition)
__________________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

1. Major Point 1: ________________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

Examples/Illustrations:

2. Major Point 2: ________________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

Examples/Illustrations:

3. Major Point 3: ________________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

Examples/Illustrations:

NOTES DURING THE DEBATE:

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________
 Self-assessment:
□ My position statement(s) was/were clear and concise.

□ My major points strongly supported my viewpoint.

□ I spoke at least once and I did not speak more than three times (unless given permission by Mrs. Leonard)

□ My team gave specific examples and illustrations to make major points more clear.

□ My team was able to find weak points in the opposing team’s viewpoint and point those out.

□ We strengthened our argument and convincingly closed the debate with why our position should win.

□ We used good eye contact, tone of voice, and kept the attention of everyone.

One thing I could have improved upon to make this experience better was:
__________________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

One thing I did very well before or during the debate was:
__________________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

What did you learn about the debate process/being a part of a debate in class?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

After debating both points of view, do you believe the United States is living up to the ideals in the
Declaration of Independence? Why or why not?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________
 Class Debate
Teacher Name: Mrs. Leonard

Student Name: ________________________________________

CATEGORY 4 (20-25pts) 3 (15-19pts) 2 (10-14pts) 1 (<10pts) Score

Debate Preparation Every major point was Every major point was Every major point was Every point was not
well supported with adequately supported supported with facts, supported.
several relevant facts, with relevant facts, statistics and/or
statistics and/or statistics and/or examples, but the
examples. examples. relevance of some was
questionable.

Debate Student consistently Student usually used Student sometimes Student had a
Participation used gestures, eye gestures, eye contact, used gestures, eye presentation style that
contact, tone of voice tone of voice and a contact, tone of voice did not keep the
and a level of level of enthusiasm in a and a level of attention of the
enthusiasm in a way way that kept the enthusiasm in a way audience, or did not
that kept the attention attention of the that kept the attention participate at all during
of the audience, as well audience, as well as of the audience, as well the debate.
as participated at least participated at least as participated at least
2 times in the debate. once in the debate. once in the debate.

Understanding of The student clearly The student clearly The student seemed to The student did not
Topic understood the topic in- understood the topic in- understand the main show an adequate
depth and presented depth and presented points of the topic and understanding of the
their beliefs forcefully their information with presented those with topic in their final self-
and convincingly in ease in their final self- ease in their final self- assessment.
their final self- assessment. assessment.
assessment.

Self Assessment The student provided The student provided The student provided The student did not
well thought out and thought out answers to incomplete answers to answer his or her self-
thorough answers to his or her self- his or her self- assessment and did not
his or her self- assessment, showing assignment and could show growth from the
assessment, showing some growth from the not show clear growth assignment.
clear growth from the assignment. from the assignment.
assignment.