Richmond Public Schools Inner District Invitational
2022 — Richmond, VA/US
Lincoln Douglas
Event Description:
Lincoln-Douglas debate or L-D has its origins in the political debates of Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas in 1858from which it takes its name. L-D is one-on-one debating as opposed to team debating. In addition, L-D debaters considerpropositions of value rather than propositions of policy.
These characteristics of L-D are designed to encourage thoughtful consideration of society’s values and to discouragedebates which become bogged down in questions of the workability of a particular policy or its consequences(disadvantages).
In the tradition of Lincoln-Douglas, whose debates lasted three hours each, debaters are encouraged to involve theiraudience in the contest through the skillful use of all the tools of oral persuasion. The rate and organization of deliveryshould be such that a reasonable listener could follow the issues and clash of opinion without taking extensive notes(flowsheets). Judges should consider excessive speed or unclear communication as factors in their decision.
Debates should be rewarded for excellence in:
-- Delivery. The rate and intonation of each speech should be that of an effective persuasive oration. Debatersshould involve the audience in the debate through effective gestures.
-- Organization. Each speech should be presented in an orderly manner, making use of effective transitions tokeep the audience involved in the flow of the debate.
-- Clash. The debaters should clearly clash with each other on all major points, offering a rationale for theirpositions and an explanation of how they differ from their opponents.
-- Value Consistency. The debaters should demonstrate a knowledge of the values inherent in the proposition.Furthermore, they should each uphold a value consistent with their position in the debate.
Accordingly, judges do not need any extensive training. They need only to be certain their decisions are based upon theissues presented in the round and the effectiveness of each speaker rather than upon their personal views of the topicbeing debated.
The topic for L-D debate is selected by the National Speech and Debate Association (NSDA) and should be announced no more than one monthprior to the regional deadline. This short preparation time for debaters is designed to limit the amount of evidencepresented to a reasonable level and to prevent the use of prepared evidence books common in Policy debate today.
Judges Decision: Criteria used by judges in determining winners include all aspects of general effectiveness in debate.Most important of these criteria are clear and persuasive speaking, analysis of issues, persuasiveness of over-allargumentation, clarity and organization of arguments, adequacy and accuracy of evidence, and consistent defense of acore value. The L-D winner in a given round must be the debater with the most points. Oral critiques are notpermitted.
Affirmative Constructive - 6 minutes; Cross examination by negative - 3 minutes; Negative Constructive - 7 minutes; Crossexamination by affirmative - 3 minutes; Affirmative Rebuttal - 4 minutes; Negative Rebuttal - 6 minutes; AffirmativeRebuttal - 3 minutes.