Civic duty

Examples of Civic duty in the following topics:

• The Concept of Civic Duty

  • Unlike the colonial mother state of Britain, Anglo-American colonial representative government was an intensely localized process where elections and participation in assemblies and court trials were a fundamental aspect of proper civic life.
  • For instance, public colonial elections were events in which all free white males were expected to participate in order to demonstrate proper civic pride.
  • American colonial politics revolved around the notion of public civic life and responsibility, an ideology that included:
  • Civic duty: Citizens have the responsibility to understand and support the government, participate in elections, pay taxes, and perform military service.
  • By the mid-18th century, these civic ideals had been enshrined in the American colonial political system as a fundamental foundation of political rights and liberties.

• The Language of Liberty

  • The American "language of liberty" refers to individuals' right to life, liberty and property, and the duty to participate in civic affairs.
  • Therefore, Anglo-American colonies were extensive communal cultures, centered on the civic and political sphere.
  • Participation in civic life— through festivals, commemorations, the militia, and court trials—was prevalent, and most colonial males (white and free) were expected to partake in some facet of public civic life.
  • Instead, American colonial politics revolved around the notion of public civic life and responsibility, an ideology that included:
  • Civic duty: citizens have the responsibility to understand and support the government, participate in elections, pay taxes, and perform military service.

• Voting in the Colonies

  • Public colonial elections were events in which all free white males were expected to participate in order to demonstrate proper civic pride.
  • Thus, elections became the main forum in which men could profess political allegiances, publicly demonstrating their community civic pride.
  • Furthermore, elections often included speeches, rallies, celebrations, parades, and other celebratory demonstrations that reinforced the notions of civic duty, pride, and active contribution to the community.
  • In this respect, the North American colonists differed from their European counterparts, the majority of whom were barred from civic participation.
  • Describe the significance that voting had for civic identity and cohesion in the colonies

• Politics in Public

  • Characteristic of the Anglo-American colonies was an extensive communal culture, centered on the civic and political sphere.
  • Participation in civic life, through festivals, commemorations, the militia, and court trials were widely attended and most (White and free) colonial males were expected to partake in the public civic life in some manner or other.
  • Furthermore, elections often included speeches, rallies, celebrations, parades, and other celebratory demonstrations that reinforced the notions of civic duty, pride, and active contribution to the community.
  • Civic duty: citizens have the responsibility to understand and support the government, participate in elections, pay taxes, and perform military service.
  • Describe the central commitments of dominant civic ideology in the colonies

• Principles of Freedom

  • Civic duty: citizens have the responsibility to understand and support the government, participate in elections, pay taxes, and perform military service.

• Democracy v. Republicanism

  • Republicanism is the political values system that has been a major part of American civic thought since the American Revolution.
  • It stresses liberty and inalienable rights as central values, makes the people as a whole sovereign, rejects inherited political power, expects citizens to be independent in their performance of civic duties, and vilifies corruption.

• Blue Water Imperialism

  • Broadly, the "language of liberty" includes widespread political participation, the duty of the citizen to safeguard against arbitrary despotism, and the right of citizens to life and liberty.
  • Therefore, Anglo-American colonies were extensive communal cultures, centered on the civic and political sphere.
  • Participation in civic life—through festivals, commemorations, the militia, and court trials—was prevalent, and most free white males in the colonies were expected to partake in some facet of public civic life.
  • Public colonial elections were events in which all free white males were expected to participate in order to demonstrate proper civic pride.
  • Elections became the main forum in which men could publicly profess political allegiances, demonstrating local civic pride to a community that placed high importance on it.

• The Soul of a Republic

  • The Country Party relied heavily on the classical republicanism of Roman heritage and celebrated the ideals of duty and virtuous citizenship in a republic.
  • Civic virtue became a matter of public interest and discussion during the 18th century, in part because of the American Revolutionary War.
  • In a republic, however, people must be persuaded to submit their own interests to the government, and this voluntary submission constituted the 18th century's notion of civic virtue.
  • Independently wealthy men committed to liberty and property rights were considered most likely to possess sufficient civic virtue to safeguard a republic from the dangers of corruption.
  • Adams also worried that financial interests could conflict with republican duty.

• American Republicanism

  • Drawing from colonial experience, British political liberties, classical Roman and Greek culture, and various notions of civic virtue, intellectuals and leaders devised a political theory known as "American republicanism".
  • English country party drew heavily on the classical republican language of ancient Rome: celebrating the ideals of duty and virtuous male citizenship as the basis of effective republicanism.
  • The belief that it was the duty of virtuous citizens to resist political despotism and corruption came to fruition during the American Revolution.
  • In the 1790s, during the years of the early United States Republic, these figures would vehemently disagree with each other not only over how republicanism should be politically structured (embodied by the struggle between Federalists and Anti-Federalists over the ratification of the Constitution), but also, over various definitions of proper civic virtue.

• The Role of Women in the Colonies

  • The typical woman in colonial America was expected to run a household and attend to domestic duties such as spinning, sewing, preserving food, animal husbandry, cooking, cleaning, and raising children.
  • Mothers were also responsible for the spiritual and civic well-being of their children.
  • As a wife, the woman was to be dutiful, obedient, faithful, and subservient to her husband.