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Course, Subject

English Regents, Social Studies, English Language Arts (NYS P-12 Common Core), Literacy in History/Social Studies (NYS 5-12 Common Core)

Credits

Provided courtesy of Peter Pappas www.peterpappas.com
For more instructional resources, visit his project showcase at: www.edteck.com
For Document-Based Question ideas, visit his website “Teaching with Documents” www.edteck.com/dbq

Note

Please note that the numbers after the questions listed below corresponds to the approximate year the debate took place. The units and debates are arranged in chronological order starting with the earliest in 1692 to the most recent in 1983.

Great Debates in American History

Click on the PDF documents below:

Overview and Answer Key

Unit 1

Unit 2

Unit 3

Unit 4

Unit 5

Unit 6

Unit 7

Unit 8

Unit 9

Unit 10

Unit 11

Unit 12

Essential Questions

Unit 1: How Should Society Balance the Need for Tolerance with the Need to Protect Itself? (1692)

Unit 2: How Powerful Should the National Government Be? (1787)

Unit 3: Who Should Be Allowed to Vote? (1821)

Unit 4: Should Women Have Equal Treatment Under the Law? (1848)

Unit 5: How Should Americans Treat the Land? (1855)

Unit 6: Has Industrialization Produced More Benefits or More Problems for the Nation? (1889)

Unit 7: Should the United States Pursue a Foreign Policy of Isolationism or Interventionism? (1898)

Unit 8: What Should the Nation's Immigration Policy Be? (1916)

Unit 9: To What Extent Is the Federal Government Responsible for the Welfare and Security of the Individual? (1932)

Unit 10: Is Civil Disobedience Ever Justified as a Method of Political Change? (1963)

Unit 11: What Are the Limits of a Free Press? (1971)

Unit 12: How Much Should the Nation Invest in Defense? (1983)

Description

The Great Debates feature consists of 12 debates, one for every unit of the text. Each of these debates contains an introduction that states the topic of the debate, examines the background of this issue, provides information about both the readings and the debaters, and discusses the debate topic from a contemporary perspective. Units feature the conflicting viewpoints of two or more historical figures or organizations and a worksheet that helps students analyze the debate through a series of comprehension and critical thinking questions.

Developed and written by Peter Pappas as a supplement to: A History of the United States, Daniel Boorstin, (Needham: Prentice-Hall, 1989)

Related Academic Standards

New York State

RI.11-12.8 Delineate and evaluate the reasoning in seminal U.S. texts, including the application of constitutional principles and use of legal reasoning (e.g., in U.S. Supreme Court majority opinions and dissents) and the premises, purposes, and arguments in works of public advocacy (e.g., The Federalist, presidential addresses).

RI.11-12.9 Analyze seventeenth-, eighteenth-, and nineteenth-century foundational U.S. documents of historical and literary significance (including The Declaration of Independence, the Preamble to the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address) for their themes, purposes, and rhetorical features.

RH.9-10.3 Analyze in detail a series of events described in a text; determine whether earlier events caused later ones or simply preceded them.

RH.9-10.6 Compare the point of view of two or more authors for how they treat the same or similar topics, including which details they include and emphasize in their respective accounts.

RH.9-10.7 Integrate quantitative or technical analysis (e.g., charts, research data) with qualitative analysis in print or digital text.

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