CHA3U American History
Culminating Activity
Taking Sides in American History
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CHA3U American History
Taking Sides in American History Package
CHA3U American History
Culminating Activity
Taking Sides in American History
Introduction
This course emphasizes the ability to communicate your ideas succinctly and effectively. While personal
opinions are meaningful, there is a need to ground such ideas in research. This opportunity allows you to
rethink your own perspectives and ideas in relation to relative research.
In groups, you will debate the merits of a particular side of an assigned topic (i.e. Did Abraham Lincoln Free the
Slaves?). Your role will be to assure you develop a cohesive argument, regardless if you agree with the position
you have been assigned. There is no formal written component for this project.
Each group will be given two opinion papers – one will support their debate position while the other will refute
their agenda. While these articles are extremely useful, they should not be used as the sole source of research for
your debate; they are the catalyst to further rigorous and systematic investigation.
The debate will entail the following format: Opening Arguments, Rebuttals (two rounds), Closing Arguments,
and finally Class Discussion. Not only it is important to defend your position, superior debaters are ready to
counter the arguments of the opposing side. And such arguments must be accompanied by tangible research (i.e.
overheads, handouts, charts, graphs, pictures) to make for a more meaningful and exact debate.
You will be evaluated on the thoroughness, effectiveness, delivery and defense of your argument. Top marks will
be reserved for students able to articulate their ideas with a superior level of originality, sophistication and
invention.
Topic Selection
Topics for the debate will come from one of our supplementary resources, Clashing Views on Controversial
Issues in American History, Volume 1.
PART 1. Colonial Society
ISSUE 1. Is America Exceptional?
YES: Seymour Martin Lipset, from American Exceptionalism: A Double-Edged Sword
NO: Ian Tyrrell, from "American Exceptionalism in an Age of International History," American Historical
Review
ISSUE 2. Was Columbus an Imperialist?
YES: Kirkpatrick Sale, from The Conquest of Paradise: Christopher Columbus and the Columbian Legacy
NO: Robert Royal, from 1492 and All That: Political Manipulations of History
ISSUE 3. Were the English Colonists Guilty of Genocide?
YES: David E. Stannard, from American Holocaust: Columbus and the Conquest of the New World
NO: Steven T. Katz, from "The Pequot War Reconsidered," The New England Quarterly
ISSUE 4. Was the Colonial Period a "Golden Age" for Women in America?
YES: Lois Green Carr and Lorena S. Walsh, from "The Planter's Wife: The Experience of White Women in
Seventeenth-Century Maryland," William and Mary Quarterly
NO: Mary Beth Norton, from "The Myth of the Golden Age," in Carol Ruth Berkin and Mary Beth Norton,
eds., Women of America: A History
ISSUE 5. Were Socioeconomic Tensions Responsible for the Witchcraft Hysteria in Salem?
YES: Paul Boyer and Stephen Nissenbaum, from Salem Possessed: The Social Origins of Witchcraft
NO: Laurie Winn Carlson, from A Fever in Salem
PART 2. Revolution and the New Nation
ISSUE 6. Was the Great Awakening a Key to the American Revolution?
YES: William G. McLoughlin, from "`Enthusiasm for Liberty': The Great Awakening as the Key to the
Revolution," in Jack P. Greene and William G. McLoughlin, Preachers and Politicians: Two Essays on the Origins
of the American Revolution
NO: Jon Butler, from "Enthusiasm Described and Decried: The Great Awakening as
ISSUE 7. Were the Founding Fathers Democratic Reformers?
YES: John P. Roche, from "The Founding Fathers: A Reform Caucus in Action," American Political Science
Review
NO: Alfred F. Young, from "The Framers of the Constitution and the `Genius' of the People," Radical History
Review
ISSUE 8. Was Thomas Jefferson Committed to Bringing an End to Chattel Slavery?
YES: Dumas Malone, from Jefferson and His Time, vol. 6: The Sage of Monticello
NO: William Cohen, from "Thomas Jefferson and the Problem of Slavery," The Journal of American History
ISSUE 9. Was Andrew Jackson's Indian Removal Policy Motivated by Humanitarian Impulses?
YES: Robert V. Remini, from Andrew Jackson and the Course of American Freedom, 1822-1832, vol. 2
NO: Anthony F. C. Wallace, from The Long, Bitter Trail: Andrew Jackson and the Indians
PART 3. Antebellum America
ISSUE 10. Was Antebellum Reform Motivated Primarily by Humanitarian Goals?
YES: Alice Felt Tyler, from Freedom's Ferment: Phases of American Social History to 1860
NO: David J. Rothman, from The Discovery of the Asylum: Social Order and Disorder in the New Republic
ISSUE 11. Was the Mexican War an Exercise in American Imperialism?
YES: Rodolfo Acuña, from Occupied America: A History of Chicanos, 3rd ed.
NO: Norman A. Graebner, from "The Mexican War: A Study in Causation," Pacific Historical Review
ISSUE 12. Did the Westward Movement Transform the Traditional Roles of Women in the Mid-Nineteenth
Century?
YES: Sandra L. Myres, from Westering Women and the Frontier Experience, 1800-1915
NO: John Mack Faragher, from Women and Men on the Overland Trail
ISSUE 13. Did Slavery Destroy the Black Family?
YES: Stanley M. Elkins, from Slavery: A Problem in American Institutional and Economic Life, 3rd ed.
NO: Eugene D. Genovese, from Roll, Jordan, Roll: The World the Slaves Made
PART 4. Conflict and Resolution
ISSUE 14. Is Robert E. Lee Overrated as a General?
YES: Alan T. Nolan, from "Rally, Once Again!" Selected Civil War Writings of Alan T. Nolan
NO: Gary W. Gallagher, from "Another Look at the Generalship of R. E. Lee," in Gary W. Gallagher, ed., Lee
the Soldier
ISSUE 15. Did Abraham Lincoln Free the Slaves?
YES: James M. McPherson, from Drawn With the Sword: Reflections on the American Civil War
NO: Vincent Harding, from There Is a River: The Black Struggle for Freedom in America
ISSUE 16. Did William M. Tweed Corrupt Post-Civil War New York?
YES: Alexander B. Callow, Jr., from The Tweed Ring
NO: Leo Hershkowitz, from Tweed's New York: Another Look
ISSUE 17. Was Reconstruction a "Splendid Failure?''
YES: Eric Foner, from "The New View of Reconstruction," American Heritage
NO: Thomas Holt, from Black Over White: Negro Political Leadership in South Carolina During Reconstruction
Taking Sides in American History Rubric
Name:
Knowledge/
Understanding
Thinking/ Inquiry
Communication
Application
.
Level 4 (8-10 Marks)
Level 3 (7 Marks)
Level 2 (6 Marks)
Level 1 (1-5 Marks)
-shows a high to very high
degree of understanding of
ideas/concepts/
themes/information
-shows a consider- able
degree of understanding of
ideas/concepts/
themes/information
-shows a moderate degree
of understanding of
ideas/concepts/
themes/information
-shows an insufficient
degree of understanding of
ideas/concepts/
themes/information
-uses critical/creative
thinking skills to plan a
panel discussion
collaboratively
with a high to very high
degree of effectiveness
-uses critical/creative
thinking skills to plan a
panel discussion
collaboratively
with a high degree of
effectiveness
-uses critical/creative
thinking skills to plan a
panel discussion
collaboratively with
moderate effectiveness
-uses critical/creative
thinking skills to plan a
panel discussion
collaboratively
with insufficient
effectiveness
-uses critical listening skills
(e.g., identifying main
ideas and significant
supporting details; note
making; assessing validity
of arguments and
conclusions; making
inferences; evaluating
implicit and explicit ideas;
detecting assumptions,
omissions, biases) with a
high degree of effectiveness
-applies oral
communication skills (e.g.,
correct grammar and
sentence structure;
rhetorical devices; voice
projection; gestures; body
language; timing) with a
high to very high degree of
effectiveness
-uses critical listening skills
(e.g., identifying main
ideas and significant
supporting details; note
making; assessing validity
of arguments and
conclusions; making
inferences; evaluating
implicit and explicit ideas;
detecting assumptions,
omissions, biases) with
effectiveness
-applies oral
communication skills (e.g.,
correct grammar and
sentence structure;
rhetorical devices; voice
projection; gestures; body
language; timing) with a
sound degree of
effectiveness
-uses critical listening
skills (e.g., identifying
main ideas and significant
supporting details; note
making; assessing validity
of arguments and
conclusions; making
inferences; evaluating
implicit and explicit ideas;
detecting assumptions,
omissions, biases with a
moderate degree of
effectiveness
-uses critical listening
skills (e.g., identifying
main ideas and significant
supporting details; note
making; assessing validity
of arguments and
conclusions; making
inferences; evaluating
implicit and explicit ideas;
detecting assumptions,
omissions, biases with little
or no effectiveness
-uses academic theoretical
language with a high to
very high degree of
effectiveness
- organizes researched ideas
and information
coherently with a high to
very high degree of
effectiveness
-uses academic theoretical
language with a sound
degree of effectiveness
-uses academic theoretical
language with a moderate
degree of effectiveness
- organizes researched ideas
and information
coherently with
considerable effectiveness
- organizes researched ideas
and information
coherently with moderate
effectiveness
Comments:
Final Mark:
/
-applies oral
communication skills (e.g.,
correct grammar and
sentence structure;
rhetorical devices; voice
projection; gestures; body
language; timing) with a
moderate degree of
effectiveness
-uses little application of
oral communication skills
(e.g., correct grammar and
sentence structure;
rhetorical devices; voice
projection; gestures; body
language; timing)
-does not use academic
theoretical language
- organizes researched ideas
and information
coherently with
insufficient effectiveness
CHA3U American History
Taking Sides in American History
Class Decision Scale
Name: ________________________________
Debate Topic:_______________________________
For each question, use a scale of 1 to 4. with 1=poor and 4=excellent, to indicate your assessment of each team.
PRO
1. Did the team appear to have done its homework?
2. Was the team presentation and well organized and effective?
3. Did the team make its presentation interesting to the class?
4. Was the team empirical as it presented and defended its points?
5. Did the team go beyond the issue relating to other areas of study in this course?
6. Was the team perceptive to the weak points on the opposite side?
7. Did the team appear to work as a team?
8. How effective was the introduction?
9. How effective was the evidence?
10. How effective was the conclusion
Did any individual stand out as exceptional? _____________________________________
Notes as the debate progresses
CON
Master Decision Scale
Deb 1
PRO
CON
Deb 2
PRO
CON
Deb 3
PRO
CON
Deb 4
PRO
CON
Deb 5
PRO
1. Did the team appear to have done its
homework?
2. Was the team presentation and well
organized and effective?
3. Did the team make its presentation
interesting to the class?
4. Was the team empirical as it presented
and defended its points?
5. Did the team go beyond the issue
relating to other areas of study in this
course?
6. Was the team perceptive to the weak
points on the opposite side?
7. Did the team appear to work as a
team?
8. How effective was the introduction?
9. How effective was the evidence?
10. How effective was the conclusion
For each question, use a scale of 1 to 4. with 1=poor and 4=excellent, to indicate your assessment of each team.
CON
Deb 6
PRO
CON