Citizen Rights and

Responsibilities

Citizen Rights and

ResponsibilitiesYou Know Your Rights.....Now Know

Your ResponsibilitiesYou Know Your Rights.....Now Know

Your Responsibilities

Objective

•The students will explain the difference between a right and a responsibility with 90% accuracy.

•The students will evaluate why a citizen must have certain responsibilities with 90% accuracy

Agenda• We will brainstorm our rights and

responsibilities.

• We will discuss rights and responsibilities we have as citizens.

• You will determine why a right or responsibility is important to our society.

• You will choose which responsibility is the most important to you and why.

• You will create a poster with a responsibility.

Citizen Rights and Responsibilities

•With your group, list different ways that you help out in the classroom, in school, and at home.

Lightning Round Review

•What is the first amendment?

•What is the second amendment?

What are Rights?

• We have certain rights defined by the constitution the government can not take away.

• What are some of them ?

Rights

Personal Rights• Rights to be free from undue

interference in our daily lives.

• These include right to free speech, worship, and general assembly. Under which amendment do these fall?

• The right to bear arms is one of the most debated rights? Who can tell me which amendment is this?

Civil Rights• The rights one obtains by being a

citizen.

• The United States has two of these. The citizen by birth and naturalized citizen.

• Due process is a primary example of a civil right

• Who can tell me what rights can be considered due process?

Economic Rights

• To enjoy the benefits of having a job (minimum wage)

• Right to work laws (joining a union or not)

• Protection of one’s property

Political Rights• The right to vote!

• 5 amendments represent suffrage (the right to vote)

• 15: No one can be denied to vote based on race, color, or previously been enslaved

• 19: No one can be denied to vote based on sex

• 23: Residents of Washington, D.C. can have the right to vote

• 24: No poll tax shall be charged

• 26: The right to vote will be granted to any citizen over the age of 18.

What is a Responsibility?

•A Responsibility is something that you either have or should do.

Responsibilities

What is a Citizen Responsibility?

Responsibilities!• Mandatory - Things you have to do or

else you will be punished.

• Mandatory Responsibilities

• Paying Taxes

• Obeying Laws

• Serving as Witness

• Jury Duty

• Registering for the Draft

Responsibilities

• Voluntary - Things that you choose to do

• Voluntary Responsibilities

• Voting

• Volunteering

Paying Taxes• Mandatory Citizen Responsibility!

(you have to do it!)

• You must pay taxes to the government so that the government can run schools, give people healthcare, food, fix roads, and create and keep parks clean and much more.

Obeying Laws• Mandatory Citizen Responsibility

(you have to do it!)

• What do you think may happen if we did not have laws?

• Laws are like rules and procedures in the classroom. If students do not follow them, they create problems in your learning environment.

Serving as a Witness

• If you see a crime happen, a court can ask you to come and tell the court what happened. You have to come. Do you know what it is called?

• This is necessary because if you do not serve as a witness then our Justice system might fall apart. It depends on people to share evidence so the jury can decide if the person on trial is innocent or guilty.

• If you do not want to talk, you have that right.

• Do you know which amendment gives us that protection?

Jury Duty• Mandatory Responsibility

• As a U.S. citizen must serve on a jury.

• This is important because the court system needs a jury. A jury is made up of U.S. citizens. A jury decides if someone is innocent or guilty.

• If there is no jury, there is no court!

Registering for the Draft

• Every male citizen over the age of 18 must register for the draft.

• The draft is a way for the country to get people to go to war in a time of emergency, or national crisis.

• Who can think of reasons why this is necessary?

Voting• Voluntary Responsibilities (Things you

can choose to do)

• All U.S. citizens over 18 have the right to vote. You can choose to vote, you are not forced to vote.

• However, imagine if no one voted we wouldn’t have a government! That means we would not have any government services such as police officers, schools, hospitals, community centers, etc!

Volunteering• Voluntary Responsibility (Things you

choose to do!)

• Volunteering means that you help out somewhere in your community without being paid.

• It is important to volunteer because there are many jobs that do not pay, but are really necessary. What are some places people volunteer?

• Volunteering in your community makes it a better place to live!

Conclusion/Key Points

•Doing your Citizen Responsibilities are necessary for the survival of the United States.

•Citizen Responsibilities include, paying taxes, obeying laws, serving as a witness, jury duty, registering for the draft, voting, and volunteering.

Group Work• Look at your group’s citizen responsibility

or right and answer the question.

• Is your citizen responsibility mandatory or voluntary?

• Why is it important to do or participate in your citizen responsibility?

• What would America look like if people did not participate in this citizen responsibility?

• Why is your right important? How would America be different if you did not have this right?

Ticket out the Door

• Which one citizen responsibility you think is the most important? Write your answer on your ticket. When you are finished hold it up and I will pick it up.

Public Service!• Create a public service

announcement about the one citizen responsibility you think is the most important. On one side draw a picture that goes along with that responsibility, and on the other side explain why you think that responsibility is the most important!