Being An American Citizen

Citizenship is what connects all Americans together; to be considered a citizen of the United States of America you must have been born in the United States or gain citizenship through Naturalization. Naturalization is a way United States citizenship is granted to an immigrant if and only after he/she completes the necessities that are given to them by Congress in the Immigration and Nationality Act. The rights of an American Citizen are very important because in other countries the people don't have a Constitution or Bill of Rights to defend them from voicing their opinions or beliefs, things we do naturally every day without even thinking how it would be like to live somewhere that doesn't give you Freedom of Speech. The United States has …show more content…
The rights of an American Citizen originate from the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. The first 10 amendments of the Constitution identified as the Bill of Rights maintain the most well-known/basic rights of an American Citizen which also protects the citizen's natural rights. Some of the rights of an American Citizen are: Freedom of religion, Fair trial by jury, Right to bear arms, being able to run for federal office and being able to vote in federal elections. We the citizens have a higher level of freedom than most other countries, even some countries like France that are bases on/built around freedom. Some American's don't realize that we the citizens have the freedom to do almost whatever we want because of our natural rights. Today, citizenship requires that people be knowledgeable about public issues and possess the capacity to work toward solution by acting together. History records voluntary actions by private citizens working together to right injustices, change directions and pursue benefits for the common good. This list includes the abolition of slavery, women's suffrage, the civil rights movement. In every case, people voluntarily came together with a shared sense of purpose for the common