Step 1: In this project, you will be creating a short museum exhibit about civic participation , civic duty and/or civic responsibility. You will choose 3 examples of how a specific person has been an active citizens. These people can be famous or can be examples you have seen personally. The examples can be pictures, video clips, quotes, or objects…..
Be sure to include a short description that explains who you chose and how the specific person's actions relate to civic participation, civic duty or civic responsibility. Be sure to include the impact that exists.
Step 2: Reflection: Do you think civic participation is important in our country? Explain
Answers
Answer:
Civic Responsibility dates to ancient Rome whose citizens wanted to contribute to Roman society. Civic responsibility may have started with Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus in 519 BC.
Although Civic Responsibility has existed for centuries in society, it was officially sanctioned as a blueprint for democracy in 1787 by the ratification of the United States Constitution. The Constitution declared, "We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States."
In the 18 th and 19th centuries and through the 1930s, civic responsibility in America was tied to a commonwealth perspective. From voluntary fire departments to the public arts to the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) of the 1930s and 1940s, citizens participated in projects that shaped communities and ultimately the nation. Due to civic responsibility, citizenship was understood in terms of the labors of ordinary people who created goods and undertook projects to benefit the public, as opposed to the high-minded, virtuous and leisure activities of gentlemen. This kind of civic identify helped create an important balance between pursuit of individual wealth and the creation of public things (Boyte and Kari 1999)
In the 1960s, community responsibility and civic responsibility became more popular. The Cold War and nuclear threats were common fears that coalesced citizens of the United States (Swanson, 1999). Combined with opposition to the war in Vietnam, grassroots organizations to fight environmental pollution and college campus protest demonstrations, citizens learned the value of expressing civic responsibility through civil disobedience. People relied on each other in order to correct injustice and achieve greatness in the nation.
During the 1960s, 62.8 percent of Americans voted in presidential elections. People were involved in political organizations and community action groups because modern technology allowed more free time to society (Putman 2000). Participation proved successful in the Civil Rights Movement lead by Martin Luther King and later failed in the 1980s with the Equal Rights Amendment initiative.
In the 1980s and 1990s, many organizations lost membership. For example, new memberships for the organization of Business and Professional Women declined 89 percent by the end of 1997. Memberships for the Parent Teachers' Association (PTA) declined 60 percent, memberships for the League of Women Voters declined 61 percent and memberships for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) saw a 46 percent decrease in membership (Swanson 1999).
In 2001, 44 percent of American adults volunteered in organizations compared to 55 percent in 1999. Financial donations declined in 2001 with 89 percent of American households giving an average of $1,620 compared to 70 percent with an average of $1,075 in 1999 (Independent Sector 1999, Independent Sector 2001).
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