How Do You Define a Citizen?
Dictionary Library. Ottenheimer Publishers, Inc., 1966 ed.
Citizen - An inhabitant of a city; a member of a state; having the rights and duties of a citizen.
Webster’s New World Dictionary of the American Language, College Edition. The World Publishing Company, 1962 ed.
Citizen - An inhabitant of a city or (often) of a town; esp. one possessing civic rights and privileges, to burgess or freeman of a city.
1. formerly, a native or inhabitant, especially a freeman or burgess, of a town or city; hence,
2. loosely, a native, inhabitant, or denizen of any place.
3. a member of a state or nation, especially one with a republican form of government, who gives allegiance to it by birth or naturalization and is entitled to full civil rights;
4. a civilian, as distinguished from a person in military service, a policeman, etc.
Oxford English Dictionary. Claredon Press, 1989
Citizen - 1. An inhabitant of a city or (often) of a town; esp. one possessing civic rights and privileges, a burgess or freeman of a city.
Being a citizen is something most people don’t think about. In many countries citizenship is only a matter of nationality; they were born in a certain country and therefore belong to that country. They may be forced to defend it, but they may not get any special rights because of it. We in the United States are lucky in that citizenship here includes rights such as voting and running for office. Citizenship is something very important that we take for granted.
What is a citizen?
The word, "citizen" comes from the word "city." The Oxford English dictionary’s definition seems to be the original one, an inhabitant of a city. Webster’s dictionary ...
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...s, usually on or around the fourth of July. As citizens of this country we are entitled to all the rights that are listed in the Constitution, yet many people are not even aware of what those rights are. Jay Leno interviewed people on the street one night and asked them simple questions about our government (number of senators, representatives, etc.). Most of them couldn’t give the correct answers. We need a lot more education about what it means to be a U.S. citizen.
So, a word that began as a description of a person who lives in a city has grown to mean a person who also lives in a state, in a country, and in the world. In addition, it includes all the rights, privileges, and duties that this person has as a citizen, especially if he lives in a republic. Even though we seldom think about it, being a citizen is one of the most important parts of our lives.
Citizenship, a virtue that many humans have, however not every person has the qualities that further them as a citizen within today’s society. I display citizenship by participating in a number of
The years 1348 through 1350 had been an extremely gruesome and miserable time in our world’s history. During this time period, one of the most devastating pandemics in history had struck half the world with an intensifying and deadly blow. It had been responsible for over 75 million deaths and 20 million of these deaths were from Europe alone. Out of the countries that were hit hardest in Europe from mortality rates and economic downturns, England was one of them. This grave disease that marked the end of the middle ages and the start of the modern age is known as the Black Plague.
oriented citizens. A personally responsible citizen is one that works, obeys laws, pays taxes, and
non-citizens will be abandoned by the law and will be considered politically inappropriate. A similar situation takes place in Babel, when Amelia tries to persuade the police officer that she belongs to the land of America since she has been living there for over a decade now and has built her life but the officer tells her that taking the kids to Mexico without their parents assent is a serious offence for which she would be deported and even though she wants to have a lawyer, she is told by the officer that if she takes it to court, she’ll just end up in jail showing that all she was for America was an immigrant which didn’t give her any rights in the eyes of the law. The factors that influence citizenship here are beyond an individual’s power and control. Agamben asserts that, “every society sets this limit; every society—even the most modern—decides who its ‘sacred men’ will be”
The Black Death: Natural and Human Disaster in Medieval Europe written by Robert Steven Gottfried is a narrative style book that goes over the environmental and human effects the Black Death had in 12th Century Europe. Gottfried’s thesis is that the Black Death is the greatest biological and environmental event in European history. When the Black Death came to pass, the amount of mortality surrounding the European people pushed them to think harder, and to think deeper about the sanctity of life, and that new mindset triggered some of the major changes in Europe that followed after that, which would eventually lead Europe out of the Medieval Age. Gottfried successfully conveys the historical significance of the Black Death the way he uses the
Rachel Mendleson. (June 12 2013). Giving non-citizens the right to vote in city elections: Your question answered. Retrieved from http://www.thestar.com/news/city_hall/2013/06/12/giving_noncitizens_the_right_to_vote_in_city_elections_your_questions_answered.html
"A Reich citizen is only that subject of German or kindred blood who proves by his conduct that he is willing and suited loyally to serve the German people and the Reich."
No other epidemic reaches the level of the Black Death which took place from 1348 to 1350. The epidemic, better regarded as a pandemic, shook Europe, Asia, and North Africa; therefore it deems as the one of the most devastating events in world history. In The Black Death: The Great Mortality of 1348-1350, John Aberth, compiles primary sources in order to examine the origins and outcomes of this deadly disease. The author, a history professor and associate academic dean at Vermont’s Castleton State College, specializes in medieval history and the Black Death. He wrote the book in order to provide multiple perspectives of the plague’s impact. Primarily, pathogens started the whole phenomenon; however, geological, economic, and social conditions
Carmichael, Ann. "Plague." Europe, 1450 to 1789: Encyclopedia of the Early Modern World. Ed. Jonathan Dewald. Vol. 4. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2004. 490-493. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 25 Feb. 2014.
Good Citizenship is something that is valued by a country. Although not normally noticed or recognized, good citizenship can come in many forms and can be very beneficial to a specified area. Good Citizenship could mean many different things but ultimately good citizenship promotes prosperity, and increases the well-being of said region. In this country we do have government officials, but they only can do so much, and reach so far, in this country you need to focus on "...Not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country" (Kennedy). This means pulling your own weight and not relying solely on these officials and their policies, to get out and try to make this country the best it can be. Which is why through the use of the educatory school system in the United States and through obeying laws of their city/state or nation, and also through the practice of Volunteer work/charity the average American citizen can become above-average and awesome (in every sense of the word) and can also develop into a righteous, upstanding, convivial citizen.
James Madison, under the nom de plume Publius, thoughtfully wrote about the balance of majority rule and the protection of minority rights throughout The Federalist, a group of historically important articles published to gain support of the proposed United States Constitution. In Federalist Paper number fifty-one, Madison best explains his concern of the reduction of minority rights: “It is of great importance in a republic not only to guard against the oppression of its rulers, but to guard one part of the society against the injustice of the other. Different interests necessarily exist in different classes of citizens. If a majority be united by a common interest the rights of the minority will be insecure (Hamilton, et al, p. 358)." Madison, like other fellow founders, also warns that there must be a balance to the protection of minority rights. In Federalist Paper number twenty-two, Madison writes, “To give a mi...
Around 1347-1348 the most well-known epidemic struck the European world. The bubonic plague, also known as the Black Death or the Black Plague, rained sickness over millions; for most people, death was the only end to the sickness. The Black Death is known as one of the most depressing occurrences in history. It attacked the three most important aspects of a person’s well-being, their mental, emotional and physical health. While the plague impacted early society, authors, Jean de Venette and Giovanni Boccaccio, described the epidemic in their own words. Modern author, Charles L. Mee Jr., describes the plague with the scientific knowledge he has living in today’s society. These three authors wrote about the bubonic plague with their own voice’s and reasoning’s but many of the accounts they mention are similar to one another. Jean de Venette, Giovanni Boccaccio and Charles L. Mee Jr. explain the symptoms, the causes and the way people acted because of the black plague.
In 1346, the second and most devastating case of Bubonic plague erupted. (Janis 1) This specific case of plague originated in Kaffa, a cathedral town on the Crimean Coast and spread to China then quickly westward to India. Soon traders from India sailed to Europe and infected almost the entire continent. (Ziegler 121) This case was the most famous because of the large number of deaths affiliated with its outbreak. An estimated twenty five million people, one third of Europe’s population, perished during the plague’s four years of existence. (Janis 1) Government, trade, and commerce in Europe almost came to a halt. The Black Death caused the depopulation of about 1,000 villages in England. (Janis 2) In one case, in Alexandria, Egypt, the first two weeks of the plague 100-200 people died each day. Soon after, as many as 2,000 people died each day and the number increased each week. During this time, the Roman Catholic Church lost some influence on its people.
In the novel The Crucible, Arthur Miller paints an image in the reader’s mind of the brutality that ensued in the Salem, Massachucettes Witch Trials and ventures into the personal stories of both the victims and the people who initiated the entire catastrophe. History is constantly repeating itself, this becomes apparent by comparing the Salem Witch Trials, Nazi Germany, and the Communist scare in America. When Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible, he kept in mind what some thoughtlesslessly assumed to be an ever expanding Communist revolution and utilized some of the corrupt problems throughout those years in his play. Blind faith, ignorance, disloyalty, fighting for power, and human indecency are all contributing factors of the mass hysteria that ensued during the McCarthyist “witch- hunts” as well as the Salem Witch Trials in The Crucible. Millers intention for writing this story was not only to prove a point about the appalling historic tragedies, but to express the dominance that betrayal, thirst for power, and ignorance have over a community through the characters John Proctor, Abigail, and Reverend Hale.
“A global citizen is someone who identifies with being part of an emerging world community and whose actions contribute to building this community’s values and practices. (Ron Israel)”