American Studies I

American Studies I

Honors

Mr. Bugge

Andrew Jackson

Crimes Against Humanity

Debate

On Thursday February 16, 2017 you will be debating the following:

Resolved: Andrew Jackson, the seventh president of the United States, is guilty of Crimes against Humanity as taken from the following Statue:

“The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court” adopted on July 17, 1999, which provides for the ICC (International Code Council) to have jurisdiction of genocide (Article 6), crimes against humanity (Article 7) and war crimes (Article 8).

Article 7: Crimes Against Humanity for the purpose of this Statue “crimes against humanity” means any of the following acts when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directly against any civilian population, with the knowledge of the attack:

• Murder
• Extermination
• Enslavement
• Deportation or forcible transfer of population
• Imprisonment or other severe deprivation of physical liberty in violation of fundamental rules of international law
• Torture
• Persecution against any identifiable group or collectivity on political, racial, national, ethnic, cultural, religious, gender as defince in paragaraph 3 or other grounds that are universally recognized as impermissible under international law, in connection with any act referred to in this paragraph or any crimes within the jurisdiction of the Court
• Enforced disappearance of persons
• The crime of apartheid
• Other inhumane acts of similar character international causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or to mental and physical health.

The statute is taken from the "The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court",

Fact – In 1838 and 1839, as part of the Indian removal policy, the Cherokee nation was forced to give up its lands east of the Mississippi River and to migrate to an area in present-day Oklahoma. The Cherokee people called this journey the "Trail of Tears," because of its devastating effects. The migrants faced hunger, disease, and exhaustion on the forced march. Over 4,000 out of 15,000 of the Cherokees died.

Your assignment is as follows:

You are to research both sides of this argument. You will be advised of your position, either affirmative or negative, when you arrive in class. Groups will be given five minutes to work towards developing their position. These challenges will last approximately twenty to twenty-five minutes to allow for all teams to debate on that day. It will consist of the following:

3 minute opening argument for the affirmative side – You must cite evidence in your comments to support your opening argument

3 minute opening argument for the negative side - You must cite evidence in your comments to support your opening argument

10 minute for open debate – You must be respectful and allow your opponent to make their point. In the debate you will be assessed on how well you use your research,

This debate is worth 40 points

15 – Research time and deliverable. Each student mustsubmit a synopsis of his or her research for both sides in Google Classroom. You should be thinking about listing what you learned, why it is important, what would you be using in your debate. This is an individual research component; even though you are working in a team you have a responsibility to do individual research. You may choose to keep a team document as well. I want to read your thinking as you did your research.

15 – Your participation in the debate. Did you actively participate or did you simply stand there and allow your teammates to shoulder the burden of proving your team’s position. Did you provide important information to support your side’s argument or did you just read from a text or agree with a teammate. Active participation is not just reiterating something you heard earlier. You must participate and demonstrate analytical and synthesis thinking skills.

10 – Reflection – You must demonstrate considerable thinking in your reflection.

Teams:

Period 2

Period 7