Roundtable Presentation

Presentation Day –Weds., Sept. 24

However ugly and vituperative people think politics is today, it has nothing on the politics of the early days of our Republic. The ideological conflicts between the Federalists and Republicans gave birth to mutual accusations of selling out to foreign powers, lying, and plotting to ruin the young Republic. The newspapers were firmly aligned with the emerging political parties and would hurl partisan charges at the other side while praising deeply their own side. We will be bringing those issues and accusations to life in this project.

You will be working in small groups to make a 6 to 10 minute presentation to the class on a certain period in American history. For the purposes of this project, you will pretend that you are presenting a Crossfire-style roundtable TV show as if smash-mouth cable TV news existed back in the early days of the United States. Your group will be composed of historical figures as well as actual partisan journalists of the period. The role of the journalists is to sling the sharpest partisan attacks at the other side.

Your group will debate and ask questions and analyze the political, economic, and foreign policy issues of the day. Arguing and insults are fine if they give us a sense of verisimilitude; however, you must be sure to comprehensively cover your period and not just descend into purposeless name-calling.

As we work through this unit, think carefully and take notes about the issues you will need to explore and what you will want to say about these items. The background you have in this period from The Founding Brothers should be of great help as you prepare.

Your group will receive a group grade for how well you cover the issues and how accurately you portray the historic figures and the partisan positions of the time. Each person will receive an individual grade on how well you personally portray your part and on the quality of your question to your paired group. The combined grade will count as a quiz grade. Be sure that everyone in the groups gets a roughly equal chance to speak out so that all students can demonstrate their mastery of the issues and their roles.

Roundtable Discussions

1. Washington’s presidency

2. Adams presidency, including the election of 1796.

3. Jefferson’s presidency, including the election of 1800.

(over)

Roles

Group One – Washington’s Presidency
The Federalists	The Republicans
Gautam - George Washington Katherine - Alexander Hamilton Haram - John Adams David - John Fenno (editor of the Gazette, a pro- Federalist newspaper)	Harry - Thomas Jefferson Tim - James Madison Liz - Philip Freneau (editor of the National Gazette, a pro-Republican newspaper)

Group Two – Adams’ Presidency
The Federalists	The Republicans
Zach - Alexander Hamilton Peter - John Adams Clare – Abigail Adams Saourya - John Fenno (editor of the Gazette, a pro-Federalist newspaper)	Joseph - Thomas Jefferson Drew - James Madison Roxanne - Philip Freneau (editor of the National Gazette, a pro-Republican newspaper)

Group Three – Jefferson’s Presidency
The Federalists	The Republicans
Joe - John Adams Leah – Abigail Adams James - John Fenno (editor of the Gazette, a pro-Federalist newspaper)	Scott - Thomas Jefferson Ben - James Madison Paul - Aaron Burr Sneha - Philip Freneau (editor of the National Gazette, a pro-Republican newspaper)

Rubric

	Possible Points	Your Grade
Group Grade	50
Individual Grade for Presentation	50
TOTAL	100