Lincoln-Douglas
Debate
IMPORTANT INFORMATION
Important Information:
 Every student will be participating in ONE Lincoln-Douglas debate.
 I will pair you up with your opponent and your proposition.
 You receive 5 points extra credit if you win the debate.
 You will earn detentions for computer lab violations and/or talking during other
debates.
 Everyone must come to class with all of their materials each day. If you are not
ready to go when called on, you will receive a detention.

You must turn in a typed copy of your 1st draft and later revise this speech and turn
in a second draft with the 1st draft attached on the day of your LD debate.
We base our decisions on our VALUES.
Imagine it is a late Saturday night. You were out with your friends and are now driving
home. You are almost past your curfew of 12:00am. You must make it home on time
or else your strict parents will punish you, and you won’t be able to go to this concert of
your favorite band next weekend. You are a few blocks away from your house. You get
stopped by a red light – that infamous red light that always appears to be red when you
arrive at it. No cars are in sight and rarely are at this time of night. As usual, the red
light seems to be lasting forever. All you can think about is your mom and dad waiting
up for you, ready to ground you for being out past your curfew and you not being able to
go to that concert. Running the red light would probably get you home on time safely,
but you risk getting a ticket or causing an accident.
1. What do YOU decide to do? (there’s no right/wrong answer)


Wait for the red light to turn to green and risk coming home late, getting in
trouble, and not being able to go to that concert.
Run the red light in order to make it home and risk getting a ticket or even worse,
getting in an accident.
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
2. On what value(s) do you base your decision?
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
As the previous page hopefully proved, every individual’s values differ, and as a
result, so do our decisions. Let’s consider what the following groups of people
might value:
Runners: _________________
Babies: ___________________
Single Adults: __________________
Teenagers: ____________________
Married Adults: __________________
Dictators: ____________________
Bullies: _____________________
Teachers: ____________________
Firemen/Policemen: _____________________
Doctors: _____________________
Lawyers: ____________________
Athletes: ___________________
A democratic government: ___________________
Priest/Rabbi: ___________________
Business owner: _________________
Custodian: ____________________
R
emember that there are three different types of claims: claim of
policy, claim of fact, and claim of value. Lincoln-Douglas Debate is a
debate over a proposition of value. In addition, it involves the
philosophical analysis and debate of a proposition that has no definite
answer. You will be able to use key philosophers’ theories to logically
argue both the affirmative and negative sides of a proposition. When
arguing for the Affirmative, you are agreeing with the proposition. When
arguing for the Negative, you are disagreeing with the proposition.
Regardless of whether you are arguing the Affirmative or Negative side of
the proposition, you need to come up with
THE BIG THREE: Value, Value Criterion, and
Model.
What is a value?
A value is a principle, standard, or quality considered
worthwhile or desirable.
Some Common Values in L-D debate:
Achievement
Progress
Democracy
Privacy
Societal welfare
Freedom
Justice
Equality
Liberty
Life
Security
Pursuit of happiness
What is a value criterion?
A value criterion is a standard by which the value is
achieved or weighed.
In other words, ask yourself the following question: “Why is the
value I chose better than any other possible value?”
Some Common Value Criterions in L-D debate:
Constitutionality – accordance with the provisions or principles of a constitution
Anteriority – preceding in time
Cost-Benefit Analysis – the comparison of benefits and costs in decision making
Ends-Means Analysis – the “ends justifies the means”
Exigency and Salience – urgency and importance (emergency)
Freedom/Liberty Maximization – promote the greatest amount of freedom
Futurism – a belief that the meaning of life and one’s personal fulfillment lie in the
future and not in the present or past
Governmental Legitimacy - the popular acceptance of a governing regime or law as an
authority
Hypothesis Testing – decisions (guesses) made based on observable consequences
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs – humans have innate needs: Physiological, Safety,
Love/Belonging, Esteem, and Self-Actualization
Social Values – how an individual or a group of individuals organize their ethical or
ideological values (moral code)
Universality – relation, extension, or applicability to all
Utilitarianism – promote the greatest happiness for the greatest number
What is a model?
A theoretical pattern, or perspective placed into a realworld context.
Some Common Models in L-D debate:
The Declaration of Independence (United States)
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (United Nations)
The U.S. Constitution
Thomas Hobbes or John Locke – Social Contract Theory
John Rawls – Theory of Justice and Veil of Ignorance
John Locke – Natural Rights
Confucius – Analects
John Stuart Mills – Harm Principle
Marx – The Communist Manifesto
Immanuel Kant – Categorical Imperative
Time for an example…
Resolved: When in conflict, an individual’s freedom of speech should be
valued
over a community’s moral standards.
Affirmative (agrees with the proposition)
What value could you use? Freedom
What value criterion could you use? Constitutionality or Freedom
maximization
What model could you use? The U.S. Constitution
Negative (disagrees with the proposition)
What value could you use? Morality
What value criterion could you use? Social values or utilitarianism
What model could you use? Hobbes’s Social Contract
Now it’s your turn…
Resolved: The U.S. Supreme Court decisions ought to value First
Amendment rights over all other individual rights.
Affirmative
What value could you use?
What value criterion could you use?
What model could you use?
Negative
What value could you use?
What value criterion could you use?
What model could you use?
Resolved: Communities in the United States ought to have the right to
suppress pornography.
Affirmative
What value could you use?
What value criterion could you use?
What model could you use?
Negative
What value could you use?
What value criterion could you use?
What model could you use?
Resolved: Valuing the principle of equality above liberty improves the
quality of life in contemporary civilizations.
Affirmative
What value could you use?
What value criterion could you use?
What model could you use?
Negative
What value could you use?
What value criterion could you use?
What model could you use?
Lincoln-Douglas Values Debate:
Time Allocations and Responsibilities
Affirmative Constructive
Cross-Examination (Neg asks Aff)
Negative Constructive/Answer Aff
Cross-Examination (Aff asks Neg)
5 minutes
2 minutes
7 minutes
2 minutes
First Affirmative Rebuttal
4 minutes
First Negative Rebuttal
3 minutes
Second Affirmative Rebuttal
3 minutes
Second Negative Rebuttal
3 minutes
Prep Time – 5 minutes (for each side)
Affirmative Responsibilities
Negative Responsibilities
Affirmative Constructive (5 minutes)
 Give constructive speech
Negative Constructive & Answer Aff (7
minutes)
 Give constructive speech
 Attack Affirmative case- contentions,
evidence, logic, value (signpost!).
Cross-X (2 minutes)
 Ask any questions about what you
missed; try to “corner your
opponent”
First Affirmative Rebuttal (3 minutes)
 Repeat your contentions, always
linking everything back to your
value and value criterion.
 Attack Negative case-contentions,
evidence, logic, value (signpost!).
Second Affirmative Rebuttal (3 minutes)
 Defend and refute.
 Voting Issues.
Cross-X (2 minutes)
 Ask any questions about what you
missed; try to “corner your
opponent”
First Negative Rebuttal (3 minutes)
 Repeat your contentions, always
linking everything back to your value
and value criterion.
 Attack Negative case-contentions,
evidence, logic, value (signpost!).
Second Negative Rebuttal (3 minutes)
 Defend and refute.
 Voting Issues.
Requirements for the construction of a case
in a Lincoln-Douglas Debate Round
Affirmative and Negative
Introduction:
1. Must begin with an opening quotation from a published source that supports your
position, and you must analyze the quote, clearly demonstrating how it supports your
position.
2. Must state the proposition. (Say: I affirm or negate the following proposition…)
3. Must give THE BIG THREE: Value, Value Criterion, and Model.
4. Must give definitions of important words in the proposition and of your BIG THREE
(i.e. if justice is your value, provide a definition for justice)
Body:
1. Must have three value contentions explaining why you support or reject the proposition
based on the value system explained through the Value, Value Criterion, and Model.
2. Each contention must have evidence to support the claim. You may choose from one of
the following (a really good LD debate varies, choosing a separate one of the following
for each separate contention):
a) Analogy (be sure it is not a false analogy; also explain why it is relevant)
b) Quote (be sure that you also explain what the quote means)
c) Hypothetical situation (but do not be extreme)
d) Real life situation (either to you personally, or generally in the news)
e) Historical situation (always good for LD debate)
f) Facts, statistics (but remember, this is about values and does not center
on what “is” but rather what “ought to be.”)
g) Examples (be sure that your examples are relevant, consider historical as
well as contemporary examples.
Conclusion:
Should give a justification for your case and link such justification to your value.
Length:
Must be 6:00 minutes long; you should practice to be sure of the length. (Accepted
length is 5:30 –
6:30 minutes long)
Other Requirements:
Must be typed with labeled paragraphs (signposting). You will turn in a copy of the
Constructive Speech.
Lincoln-Douglas Propositions
1. Resolved: A victim’s deliberate use of deadly force is a just response to
repeated domestic violence.
2. Resolved: Even if it means the budget is not balanced the US should continue to
fund entitlement programs.
3. Resolved: All prison inmates, regardless the crime, should be allowed to vote.
4. Resolved: When called upon by their government, individuals are morally
obligated to risk their lives for their country.
5. Resolved: It is the role of the US to attempt to maintain peace in the world.
6. Resolved: Rehabilitation ought to be a greater value than punishment in the in
the US criminal justice system.
7. Resolved: Juvenile offenders who are convicted of violent crimes ought to be
sentenced as adults.
8. Resolved: An adolescent’s right to privacy ought to be valued above a parent’s
conflicting right to know.
9. Resolved: Those who witness acts of injustice and choose not to act are morally
responsible.
10. Resolved: A safe educational environment in grade schools and high schools is
of greater value than students’ rights.
11. Resolved: It is morally permissible to kill one innocent person to save the lives of
more innocent people.
12. Resolved: A society has a moral obligation to redress its historical injustices to
those whom it has oppressed in the past.
13. Resolved: Those who commit hate crimes in the United States ought to receive
harsher punishments.
14. Resolved: The abuse of illegal drugs ought to be treated as a matter of public
health, not criminal justice.
BRAINSTORM
AFFIRM
NEGATE
Resolution: ___________________________
_______________________________________
Value: _____________
Value Criterion: _____________
Model: ____________
Words to define: _________ _________ _________
_________ _________ _________
Contention 1:
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
Type of Evidence : ______________
Brief explanation of Evidence:
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
Contention 2:
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
Type of Evidence : ______________
Brief explanation of Evidence:
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
Contention 3:
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
Type of Evidence : ______________
Brief explanation of Evidence:
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
Lincoln Douglas Outline
Name:____________________
**must include transitions, signposting, and citation
Opening quote & explanation:
Proposition/Resolution: I affirm/negate the following resolution:
Big Three: Value, Value Criterion, Model: List and then explain how each supports your
resolution
Definitions of unclear terms:
Contention #1(claim):
Evidence:
Warrant: (Explain your evidence in relation to your contention and resolution.
Also,
make sure you explain how this proves your value.)
Contentions #2 (claim):
Evidence:
Warrant: (Explain your evidence in relation to your contention and resolution.
Also,
make sure you explain how this proves your value.)
Contention #3 (claim):
Evidence:
Warrant: (Explain your evidence in relation to your contention and resolution.
Also,
make sure you explain how this proves your value.)
Conclusion:
Lincoln-Douglas Debate
Speaker
Constructive Speech
Side
Time:
Diction, precise pronunciation, use of
language
Eye contact with audience
Needs work
1
2
3
4
5
Needs work
1
2
3
4
5
Excellent
Gesture and posture
Needs work
1
2
3
4
5
Excellent
Energy, emotion, volume, tone
Needs work
1
2
3
4
5
Excellent
Signposting and easy to follow organization
Needs work
1
2
3
4
5
Length of speech—falls within allotted time
Needs work
1
2
3
4
5
Total
Opening quote: clearly identifies speaker,
Needs work
explanation of connection to your position
Value/Criterion/Model: clear identification of Needs work
Excellent
Excellent
Excellent
/30
2
4
6
8
10
Excellent
2
4
6
8
10
Excellent
core value, explanation of its appropriateness
Terms: definitions as necessary
Contentions clearly support your side of the
resolution and present strong arguments in
terms of your chosen value
Evidence (analogy, quote, hypothetical/real life situation,
facts/statistics, examples) supports contentions
Analysis and Reasoning: Clear warrants
explaining significance of evidence in
relation to topic.
Link between value and case: is clear and
intrinsically woven throughout the
constructive case
Needs work
2
4
6
8
10
Needs work
2
4
6
8
10 Excellent
Needs work
2
4
6
8
10
Excellent
Needs work
2
4
6
8
10
Excellent
Needs work
2
4
6
8
10
Excellent
Excellent
Comments:
Total
/70
Constructive Speech Total
/100
Cross Examination
Variety of questions to clarify information, set up
Needs work
2
4
6
8
10
Excellent
Needs work
2
4
6
8
10
Excellent
future arguments, challenge opponent.
Responses show a depth of knowledge and ability
to quickly and articulately answer questions
Total
/20
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**
Rebuttal Speeches
Refutation-identification and analysis of
arguments by opponent that contrast speaker’s
position.
Needs work 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 Excellent
Create clash by challenging your opponents
Needs work 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 Excellent
arguments, logic and evidence
Extension- restate and develop own arguments
Needs work 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 Excellent
to strengthen position on resolution
Link value and show how it supports the
Needs work
2
4
6
8
10
Excellent
Needs work
2
4
6
8
10
Excellent
resolution
Voting Issues/Summary and conclusion of
arguments for own side including
Total
Debate Total
Grand Total for Lincoln-Douglas Debate
/80
/100
/200__