Unit 4: Sample Debates

Chances are that you’ve never seen a debate conducted under Lincoln-Douglas rules, so transcripts of two are included here. The first debate is about whether the federal government should legalize the consumption of cannabis for recreational purposes, an issue that remains unresolved at the federal level even though many states now permit such use. The second debate is on whether the US should withdraw from the Refugee Protocol, which bars the US from deporting persons to countries where they are likely to suffer persecution. Some recent deportations by the Trump administration suggest that the government believes this prohibition should be removed.

The best way to learn from these debates is to practice flowing them on a separate sheet of paper. That way you will be able to track the arguments and see how each debater responded to his opponent–or in some cases didn’t. You will also see the structure of rebuttals and how each debater integrated voting issues into the final speech.

There is commentary after each cross-examination pointing out what admissions the questioner elicited and whether the questioning strategy succeeded or failed. At the end of each debate the Judge’s Box explains who in my view won the debate.