The Meaning Of Citizenship In The United States

The Meaning of Citizenship The meaning of citizenship in one word is freedom. Citizenship is a legally recognized human that was born on United States soil or an alien that has passed the all of the required tests to become a citizen. As a citizen in the United States, we have so many rights, privileges, duties as a citizen, along with several laws in place. Without laws in place, citizens would not be protected and have the sense of freedom. A citizen in this country has the right to participate in local, state, national elections also. The right to vote is an important right as a citizen. Citizens have the power to vote and not be told who to vote for. “need thesis here” “The concept of citizenship is composed of three main elements
or dimensions. The first is citizenship as legal status, defined by civil, political and social rights. Here, the citizen is the legal person free to act according to the law and having the right to claim the law's protection. It need not mean that the citizen takes part in the law's formulation, nor does it require that rights be uniform between citizens. The second considers citizens specifically as political agents, actively participating in a society's political institutions. The third refers to citizenship as membership in a political community that furnishes a distinct source of identity. “(Cohen 1999; Kymlicka and Norman 2000; Carens 2000).

Aliens can become a citizen of the United States by meeting the legal requirements of national, state, or local government.
Aliens have to go through a process called naturalization to be granted citizenship. Aliens are required to live on U.S. soil for five years, then they are allowed to file an application for citizenship. After fingerprinting and providing the correct documentation, aliens are required to pass an English and Civics test. If it is a passing grade on both tests, the alien is then given an appointment for an interview and allowed to take the “Oath of Allegiance” at a naturalization ceremony.
Eric Liu stated “Citizenship in this nation is many things. It is a legal status conferred by the accident of birth or by the process of naturalization. It is a set of privileges and immunities. But it is also a cultural inheritance, an ethical standard, an implied set of responsibilities, a collective story and memory.” This means that citizens live by a creed in life like Martin Luthur King said “We have a
Dream.”
There are several different rights for the citizens in the constitution that were put in place by our forefathers. Some of the rights that are very important to myself is freedom of speech, the right to pay taxes, the right to vote, and to participate in the community. Freedom of speech, is an interesting concept. We can write what we chose and have the right to say what we want. With that being said, I feel that we should not write nor speak ill of one another. But, it is our right by law to write or say what we want. I feel that this law should have a clause in it to protect everyone from being hurt. The right to pay taxes is my least favorite.
With this being in place, it does help our government to pay the deficit, build public schools, fix our roads, and to pay our police departments to keep the citizens safe. Paying taxes is a pain, but at least as a citizen we know that it does help our country to help us. Without paying taxes, the rights that citizens have become accustom to would no longer be free. Citizenship means the right to participate in our community. With volunteering in the community citizens have a reason to give back. Everyone has a gift to give and I feel that all citizens should try and help any way that they can. Citizens are welcome at any public meeting in the local community and are encouraged to
participate. The right to vote was the biggest law that was fought for by our country. According to the timeline at the constitution center, African-Americans were limited on their voting rights. Before this act was passed, African-Americans were required to take literacy tests, pay poll taxes, and religious tests just to name a few things. The National American Women’s Suffage Association was started in 1890, it was started with four people, Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucy Stone, and Henry Blackwell. This association was started to help women gain voting rights equal to man. Women were finally given the right to vote on June 4th, 1919 without any restrictions.