Citizen
Responsibilities
You Know Your Rights.....Now Know Your
Responsibilities
Objective
• By the end of the lesson,
SWBAT explain why it is
important to do their civic
duties.
What is a
Responsibility?
• A Responsibility is something
that you either have or should
do.
What is a Citizen
Responsibility?
•
A Citizen Responsibility is something that you either
have to or should do as a person that lives in the
United States.
A list of your Mandatory Citizen
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
A List of your Voluntary
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!)
•
You have to obey laws because if you do not we
will have chaos!
•
People may steal, kill, drive as fast as they want
etc!!
•
I am scared!
Serving as a
Witness
•
Mandatory Responsibility (you have to do it)
•
If you see a crime happen, a court can ask you to
come and tell the court what happened. You have to
come!
•
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!
•
Quick! Do you have to talk though?
•
No! The 5th Amendment!
Jury Duty
•
Mandatory Responsibility (you have to do it!)
•
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.
•
This is necessary because if the United States
needs to defend itself, it must be able to have
soldiers.
Voting
•
Voluntary Responsibilities (Things you can choose to do)
•
All U.S. citizens over 18 has 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! For
instance, working at a soup kitchen, cleaning up a
park, volunteering at a hospital, helping build
houses for poor people
•
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
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!