In different contexts citizenship can refer either to the duties involved in being a good citizen such as contributing to one’s community and country; or it can refer to the legal rights that a person holds by virtue of being a citizen. One of the most important legal rights is the right to vote. This article will review the history of citizens’ right to vote.

Immigration and immigration reform have been issues in past American history, and are still issues in American government and politics. This article will not enter that debate, but will review key elements in immigration history and law. Some of these also have a bearing on current issues and decisions.

There has thus been a tension between providing for the general welfare - also sometimes referred to as the common good – through federal government action, and protecting the respective powers and prerogatives of the states and the people. And there has been debate before, during, and since the adoption of the Constitution about whether the power of Congress to tax and to fund activities providing for the general welfare is limited or unlimited.

The basic purpose of a “primary” is for the people to select from various candidates the ones that will advance to the final or general election. The idea is simple but there are a number of ways that primaries are conducted and various ways in which the winner is determined.

We will review the following elements:

How people become candidates

Who can vote for candidates

What method is used for voting

How the winner is determined

One difficulty in our democratic system is that the people are divided in their views. The system is to provide for the right and rule of the majority and to protect the rights of the minority. But today there is a lack of consensus among the people, the electorate, on many major issues. And many decisions become “issues” because of the lack of agreement and consensus. In other words, even when the people have the power to make decisions, a lack of agreement makes the decisions and the decision making process difficult at best and controversial and divisive at worst.

The terms federal and federalism can refer to the system of government that divides power between the central (national) government and the states, or they can refer to the central government itself in this system.

The question of what power and how much power the national government and the respective states should have in this system has been subject to debate since the beginnings of the United States.

There is some kind of cost, whether human or environmental, to any type of progress. Every development, every step and form of progress, whether building a building or a social movement, and any benefit it produces, requires the use of human capital, land, space, material resources, and/or time. And sometimes progress takes the form of opposing and blocking negative developments and effects. Yet, progress should be good. It should be beneficial, but its various costs and impacts need to be weighed.

At the same time, our society consists not only of government structures, but of social units such as family, tribe, and clan; church, synagogue, and religious organizations; service and recreational clubs and organizations; and communities and neighborhoods. Woven together, these make up the fabric, the whole cloth, of society.

Is America a Christian nation? There are several possible answers to this question: America is a Christian nation. America was a Christian nation. America is a post-Christian nation. America is a multi-religious multicultural nation. America is a secular nation.

It may not be common to include war itself as a formal topic in civic education classes. Nevertheless, at least during a time of visible war and military conflicts, even younger children may have legitimate questions and concerns about such events. If so, these then need to be addressed in an appropriate way.