Was Abraham Lincoln a racist?
We have talked about how Abraham Lincoln’s priorities going into his presidency. He did,
however, go on to ban slavery in all parts of the country. The question you will be trying to
answer throughout the process of this debate is, “Was Abraham Lincoln a racist?” When
answering this question, each person in your group needs to cite his or her own evidence to
defend the points your group makes. Each person will write a paragraph and will need to be
able to speak for at least 30 seconds about the side you are given. There will be an option for
two members of your team to engage in a rebuttal situation, so those two individuals will also
need to research the other side of the argument to come up with some possible counterarguments. Each side will have the chance to ask the other side question so make sure you are
as thorough as possible in your research.
Good (9-10 points)
Time Requirement
Paragraph Content
Paragraph
Conventions
Participation
The speaker meets or
exceeds the 30
second time
requirement
The content of the
paragraph is original
and looks at one
major issue or quote
in detail.
The author has
obviously proofread
and there are no
errors in spelling,
capitalization, or
punctuation. There
are no fragments or
run-ons.
The student works
well with the group
and does the research
required instead of
expecting someone
else to the research
for him or her
Average (6-8 points)
Below Average (0-5
points)
The speaker is 5-10
The speaker is under
seconds short of the
20 seconds long for
requirement.
the required time for
the speech.
The content of the
The content of the
paragraph is very
paragraph is lacking.
similar to other
The author does not
members in the group even have the
and does not focus on required 5-7
one thing in
sentences.
particular.
The author has 1-3
The author has over
grammatical errors
three grammatical
errors and has
obviously not spent a
lot of time
proofreading.
The student has used
some of the class
time wisely, but was
off-task at times.
The student did not
use class time wisely
or relied completely
on others for research
assistance.