Thomas Jefferson Debate Analysis

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Earlier this week, we held a town meeting concerning the presidential debate of 1800 between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. Noah Henry and Abigail Tarleton played the roles of Adams and Jefferson. Adams was leading the debate throughout the debate, but Jefferson won the voters by his ideas for the people. The town meeting was held in Philadelphia and the debate started with Chris DeRocher and Jack Graham introducing themselves and explaining what was going to happen during the debate. After they spoke, they introduced Alex Atchison and Chris Houston who explained the rules. The rules consist of each candidate would have an opening and closing remark and time limits for each spoken part. Next, the candidates introduced themselves and stated …show more content…
The first question was about who came first, the people of the country or the country itself and why. Jefferson answered the people of the country because the people guide the direction of the public course. The second question Jefferson was asked regard why he sided with the Republicans rather than the Federalists. He believed in decentralized, democratic government and wanted to distribute the power between the states and central government equally. The third question he was asked was if he would deem the Alien and Sedition Acts unconstitutional and if he would repeal them. Jefferson responded with yes, and stated the acts were a “claptrap.” The questions were now concerning foreign policies and started with …show more content…
The first question asked was what he believed would be his greatest challenges if he was elected president. He answered the French Revolution because if it were to end they could be a vital ally in trade and the French shares similar ideas with America as well. The second question was about who he believed would be a better ally between the British and the French. Adams answered the British because they offer America more than the French do by trade revenue. The final question concerning foreign affairs was about what he plans to do regarding the French Revolution after he gained peace with Napoleon. He responded with trying to maintain a relationship with France for trade and maintaining the relationship with England at the same