Debate 5:: “The Second Continental Congress resolves that the American colonies should be independent.”
Debates in World Civilization
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Abstract
After the battles of Lexington and Concord in April 1775, tension mounted between the American colonies and England. Moderates such as John Dickinson argued the king would find a way to mediate between the two sides, but the Proclamation by the King for Suppressing Rebellion in August of the same year weakened that position. This imaginary debate over independence takes place in December, before Thomas Paine’s Common Sense, which entirely shifted the terms of debate, appeared in January 1776.
Contents
- Debate Rubric
- Post-Debate Questions
- Essay Topic
- Post-Debate Activity
- Debate 1:: “The Chinese Emperor resolves to close the Silk Road to Buddhist pilgrims.”
- Positive Team
- Negative Team
- Debate 2:: “Emperor Diocletian resolves that the Christians are a threat to the Roman Empire and should be persecuted.”
- Positive Team
- Negative Team
- Debate 3:: “King John should sign the Magna Carta.”
- Positive Team
- Negative Team
- Debate 4:: “Thomas More is guilty of treason.”
- Positive Team
- Negative Team
- Debate 5:: “The Second Continental Congress resolves that the American colonies should be independent.”
- Positive Team
- Negative Team
- Debate 6:: “Globalization is good.”
- Positive Team
- Negative Team
- Noble Eightfold Path
- Rock and Pillar Edicts of Asoka
- Analects of Confucius
- Mandate of Heaven
- Canon of Filial Piety
- Han Feizi
- Huan Kuan: Discourses on Salt and Iron
- Han Yu: “Memorial on the Buddha’s Bones”
- Twelve Tables of Roman Law
- Marcus Cato (the Elder): On Agriculture
- Marcus Aurelius: Meditations
- Pliny the Younger and Emperor Trajan: Letters on Treatment of the Christians
- Letter of the Smyrnaeans on the Martyrdom of Polycarp
- Epistle to Diognetus
- Laws Ending Persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire
- Julian the Apostate: Letter to Arsacius
- Pope Gelasius I: Letter to Emperor Anastasius
- Bernard Atton, Viscount of Carcassonne: Charter of Homage and Fealty
- Henry IV of Germany and Pope Gregory VII: Letter and Ban
- Magna Carta
- Martin Luther: Address to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation
- Act of Supremacy
- First Act of Succession
- Second Act of Succession
- Treasons Act
- The Trial of Thomas More
- James Otis: The Rights of the British Colonies Asserted and Proved
- Patrick Henry: Resolutions in Opposition to the Stamp Act
- John Dickinson: Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania
- Proclamation of 1763
- Samuel Seabury (as “A. W. Farmer”): A View of the Controversy between Great Britain and Her Colonies
- Olive Branch Petition
- Proclamation by the King for Suppressing Rebellion and Sedition
- The Second Continental Congress Responds to King George III’s Proclamation of Rebellion
- Nzinga Mbemba: Appeal to the King of Portugal
- Andrew Ure: The Philosophy of Manufactures
- Yukichi Fukuzawa: Western Civilization as Our Goal
- Yukichi Fukuzawa: “Good-bye Asia”
- Feng Guifen: “On the Adoption of Western Learning”
- Hu Shi: “Our Attitude toward Modern Western Civilization”
- Osama bin Laden: Declaration of Jihad against Americans