The Great Slavery Debate

Should slavery be abolished? Students at Constitution High School debate the advantages and disadvantages of abolishing slavery from an antebellum 19th century perspective. Having students focus on the social, economic, cultural, and to some extent political nature of this debate, helps students understand the context of America's "peculiar institution", roadblocks African Americans needed to overcome in order to abolish slavery, as well as frame the upcoming 10th grade American history course. The purpose of this blog is to create a forum in which students can self-reflect and continue the process of peer-to-peer evaluation as they debate in class.

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Brian vs. Imani

This was a fantastic debate.  A true gem to watch.  Imani delivered a killer, I mean killer argument.  It was the best use of the Constitution yet.  She utilized the Tenth Amendment and the fact that the Constitution does not enumerate slavery.  This is very true, HOWEVER, if the slavery side looks into the textbook chapter a bit more and the Constitution they will clauses that relate to slavery (basis of fugitive slave laws) and thus could argue that it is in support of slavery.  Brian did a great job of listening to Imani's argument and challenging a fundamental assumption-why do we all need an education, and more specifically, the skills of reading and writing?  This question including Brian's stronger rebuttal took the win.  Congratulations to both speakers!
Posted by at

3 comments:

  1. WilliamJune 12, 2010 at 7:23 AM

    I believed Imani had control of the Debate except she wasn't really supporting her arguments with evidence and she had a weak rebuttal. As for Brian he start off not as strong as Imani but he provided plenty of evidence and I believe he won because of the evidence he had presented

    William

    ReplyDelete
  2. nb2013June 13, 2010 at 2:22 PM

    this debate was interesting. both sides had great arguments. but Brian got his point across and he backed up everything he said with evidence and he had a good rebuttal. i think Imani should have used more evidence to back up her arguments.
    -Nina

    ReplyDelete
  3. MariaJune 13, 2010 at 6:09 PM

    This debate was fantastic !!!!!! Both debaters had a great way of expressing themselves. Imani had a excellent opening but did not have a strong ending where Brian had a okay opening and a awesome ending. Imani was able to support her arguments but was a little shaky on supporting her answers during cx.

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)