Essay On Civic Literacy

As civilians, there are certain fundamental pieces of our history and government that all Americans should know. This knowledge ranges from our rights and governmental functions to our nations beginning and shortcomings. Despite the apparent importance of civic literacy, it has been consistently found that Americans have little knowledge about their own country. This proves to be harmful in many ways proven through lack of political involvement, incorrect knowledge and the depolarization of our nation. Thus, I have concluded that there are five highly important things that every American should know to improve their civic literacy: how we became a nation and why, our laws and rights, the structure of our government, the trials and tribulations …show more content…
To grasp a frim understanding of our nations early years we must first understand how and why we became a nation. A solid foundation will prime further comprehension of our government and how exactly it functions. If we know how our nation started, our struggle for independence and our founding father’s goals and intentions we will have more insight into to why our government is structured the way it is. As many know, the colonists were very hesitant to implement a strong government, as they had had continuous struggle with the previous British monarchy and did not want such things to happen again. But we soon learned after the failure of the Articles of Confederation that a strong government was needed if we were to thrive and survive as a nation. Things such as the government’s power to tax and a universal currency made trading much easier and allowed the government to deal with foreign affairs as a nation, not as separate states. In part, a strong central government was needed if they were to keep rebellions at bay, as shown with Shays rebellion. Thus, we have the reasoning behind the structure and function our government. Three branches, each having their own power and checks and balances ensures that one section of government never gets too powerful. With history in mind, citizens can more firmly understand our divided, equally powerful