Living within a democratic government, such as
the United States, requires certain kinds of rights and
responsibilities. In his 2009 Inaugural Address,
President Obama stated, “What is required of us now is
a new era of responsibility—a recognition on the part of
every American that we have duties to ourselves, our
nation, and the world, . . .” In every election, we adopt
the ideas of democracy by having a smooth transition of
power. One of the greatest forms of citizenship is going
into a voting booth. Another is implementing the results
in a peaceful manner. The chart below features some
additional responsibilities of citizenship.
Responsibilities of Citizenship in
our Democratic Government
1. respecting legal rights of others
2. paying taxes
3. serving on a jury
4. obeying laws of the community
5. serving in themilitary, if needed
6. working toward betterment of the community
7. volunteering to work in the national, state, and
local communities
The chart below features some of the rights we
enjoy as a result of living in a democratic country.
Rights Guaranteed in our Democracy
1. freedomof religion
2. freedomof speech
3. freedom to gather peaceably
4. freedom to bear arms
5. freedomof the press
6. protection for those accused of crimes
7. protection of the laws
8. right to vote
9. right to own property
10. right to choose a political party
Our Democratic Branches of
Government
We commonly refer to government as existing at
the
national
, state, county, and local levels. Our
country’s government is also called the
federal
government. Themen who wrote our country’s
Constitution did not want any one person or group to
have toomuch power. With this inmind, they divided
the tasks of government among three different parts
or branches. They are the
executive
,
legislative
, and
judicial
branches. In this way, the writers of our
country’s Constitution created a balance of power, or
a systemof checks and balances. Each branch of
government has its own powers.
Our national government is located inWashington,
D.C., and deals with three aspects of the U. S.
Constitution. They consist of:
1) the Preamble, which states the goals our
country strives to reach,
2) the seven Articles, which explain how our
government is organized, and
3) the 27 amendments, which is anything that has
been added or changed in the Constitution
since it was written in 1787.
Our national government also passesmany laws
that are not related to the Constitution, such as laws
against drugs and kidnapping. There aremany other
kinds of laws, such as environmental laws against
pollution and civil rights laws against discrimination. It
is important to note that no state can pass a law
which is in violation of our national Constitution. For
instance, a state could not pass a lawwhich raises
the voting age to 21 because of Amendment 26 to the
Constitution which sets the voting age at 18. The
three branches of our federal government are
described in the following paragraphs.
106
Understanding Pennsylvania
The swearing in of President Obama. The President is the
head of the Executive Branch of the national government
and leader of our country.
