THE IMPEACHMENT OF ANDREW JACKSON
Your task will be to conduct impeachment hearings and to engage in the debate on whether or
not to charge President Andrew Jackson with one or two of the articles of impeachment.
You will be assigned a role as either a member of the House Judiciary Committee giving
arguments in favor of impeachment, or a member of the President's defense team. After all of
the arguments have been presented, the "full House" will vote on each article of impeachment.
Each group will research its position and suggestions are provided below. As you will see on
the evaluation rubric on the back of this page, you must use primary sources in your
presentation. Following are some suggestions for research of each of the topics:
Decide amongst your group how you wish to divide your presentation on the day of the "trial."
For example, who will present the arguments, who will challenge/ask questions of the other
side, who will respond to questions/challenges by the other side to your group, etc.
Each group will be given up to 4 MINUTES to make their presentation and up to 2 MINUTES
for questioning by the other side. If time allows, questions will be allowed from the floor of the
House.
House members will take notes on the presentations while each team is presenting its case.
These discussion sheets will be handed in at the end of the "trial."
When all of the arguments, pro and con, have been made, the full "House of Representatives"
[the entire class] will vote on each article of impeachment.
IMPEACHMENT OF ANDREW JACKSON
EVALUATION – IMPEACHMENT HEARING
Group: ________________________________________________________________
Rubric Categories for the
Possible Points
Hearing
Well planned and coherent
presentation with depth in coverage
10
of the topic.
Explanations and reasons given for
10
positions and conclusions.
Showed sophistication in refuting
10
opposing arguments.
Referenced primary sources
10
throughout the presentation.
Assessment
TOTAL SCORE FOR IMPEACHMENT HEARING: _________