1. BECOMING A CITIZEN (1.2)

2. STANDARDS/OBJECTIVES
10.1 : Differentiating rights, privileges, duties, and responsibilities between citizens and noncitizens.
10.2 : Explaining how United States’ citizenship is acquired by immigrants.

3. WHAT IS CIVICS?
Citizens: Are members of a community who owe loyalty to a government and, in turn, are entitled to the protection of that government.
Civics: is the study of the duties and right of citizens.
Why study civics?
So citizens will understand their rights and responsibilities.
Informed citizens are able to make wise decisions about public questions.
Citizens are also better prepared to make choices about who should serve in public office.

4. ROOTS OF CITIZENSHIP
The idea of citizenship, or the rights and duties of citizens, dates back more than 2,500 years to ancient Greece and Rome.
People began to have legal rights and allowed them to partake in government.
Although in that time, only men who owned property could be citizens.
These citizens ha to pay taxes and serve in the army.

5. NEW IDEAS OF CITIZENSHIP
In the 1700’s evolutionary thinkers brought changes to the definition.
They began to define citizens in terms of belonging to a nation.
They said that the power of government comes from the people governed.
In this “consent of the governed,” citizens give their consent, or agreement, by participating in government.
This new idea had the chance to give much more power to the people.

6. African Americans were made citizens through the 14th Amendment in 1868.
Women gained the right to vote in 1920 through the 19th Amendment.
Few Native Americans groups became citizens through treaties.
ALL Native Americans became citizens in 1924 after Congress passed the Indian Citizenship Act.
Today a person can become an citizen through birth or by a particular process.

7. NATURAL-BORN CITIZENS
Any person born in any of the 50 states or District of Columbia automatically become s an American citizen at birth.
People born in American territory, such as Puerto Rico, or an a U.S. military base overseas.
Rule also applies to people born on American soil to people who are not citizens.

8. A person of another born in another country can claim citizenship in two cases:
If both parents are U.S. citizens.
If one parent is a citizen who has lived in the U.S.
Someone who is born in another country may choose to hold dual citizenship.

9. NATURALIZED CITIZENS
Naturalization is a legal process to obtain citizenship.
More than 40% of the foreign-born people who live in the U.S. are naturalized citizens.
Immigrants must meet certain requirements:
- The must be 18 or older.
- They must have been a lawful permanent resident for 5 years.
- They must be able to read, write, and speak English.
- They must be of good moral character.
- They must show an understanding of U.S. civics.

10. STEPS OF NATURALIZATION
1st: Complete an application and send it to the U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS).
2nd: USCIS official talks to applicant to make sure that they meet all 5 requirements.
3rd: Take citizenship exam.
4th: A special ceremony.

11. LOSING CITIZENSHIP
Expatriation: Someone who gives their allegiance to a foreign country.
Denaturalization: Naturalized citizens who have lied on their citizenship application.
Being convicted of certain crimes: Those who are found guilty of treason, taking part in a rebellion, and trying to overthrow the government by violent means.
Only the federal government can grant citizenship or take it away. States can deny, or take away, some privileges of citizenship.

12. WHY DO WE STUDY CIVICS?

13. HOW DOES A PERSON BECOME CITIZEN OF THE UNITED STATES?

14. FOREIGN-BORN RESIDENTS
Many people aliens or foreign-born residents who have not be naturalized.
The government identifies two groups of foreign-born people:
People who are in the country legally.
People who are in the country illegally.

15. LEGAL ALIENS
Resident alien is a legal immigrant who permanently lives in the U.S.
They may stay in the country for as long as they wish.
Nonresident alien is someone who expects to stay in the U.S. for a short, specified period.
Legal aliens may hold jobs, own property, attend public schools and receive other government services.
They cannot vote, run for office, serve in juries, and work in most government jobs.

16. REFUGEES Refugee is a person fleeing their country to escape danger.
Many Catholics and Protestants settled in the New England, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Maryland colonies to escape religious persecution in Europe.
Many Syrians and other Middle Eastern countries live in Western Europe and the U.S. to escape war.

17. ILLEGAL ALIENS
Today, the U.S. currently limits the number of immigrants who can enter the country.
About 1 million enter each year.
Some people chose to enter the country with government approval, these are called illegal aliens.
Today there is close to 12 million people in the country illegally.

18. In what ways can a foreign person enter the United States?

19. How do the rights of legal aliens differ from those of U.S. citizens?