Lesson 1: Citizenship

In each of the ancient civilizations you have studied in this course—Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, and Rome—power was initially concentrated in the hands of a few people. Pharaohs, kings, and emperors made most of the important decisions.

The Greeks were the first to allow ordinary people a say in how their society was run. The Greeks introduced the concept of citizenship, which means basically means membership in society. People who were granted citizenship could run for political office and could vote on important public issues. Those who were not citizens had no such rights. The Romans also granted citizenship to some of their people, but like the Greeks, they initially restricted citizenship to free men who owned property. Gradually citizenship was extended to other groups of people in the Roman Empire, including those in conquered lands.

Citizenship Today

In Canada we enjoy many rights and freedoms associated with full citizenship, such as the right to protest, the right to vote in elections, and the freedom to live where we want. These rights and freedoms were earned gradually. For example, it wasn't until the early 1900's that Canadian women were allowed to vote and granted the full benefits of citizenship.

Not all people are as fortunate as Canadians. In some countries, the gap between rich and poor citizens is quite wide and citizens have fewer rights and freedoms than we enjoy.

Send In Activity 1

In today's activity you will describe what citizenship means to you.

Option A: Citizenship Paragraph
Option B: Citizenship Illustration