intro to civics
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INTRO TO CIVICS
Values and Institutions
WHAT ARE “VALUES”?
DEFINITION OF “VALUES”
broad ideas about what is good or desirable – shared by people in a society
WHERE DO THESE VALUES COME FROM?
PRINCIPLES
• …or our beliefs
VALUES ARE IMPORTANT…
• Because they influence the way we act.
In other words…
• Principles affect our Values • Values affect our daily decisions • Daily Decisions dictates what type of society
in which we live
Examples?
WHAT ARE SOME BASIC AMERICAN VALUES?
• Freedom, equality, justice, opportunity, democracy, unity, respect, tolerance
HOW DO VALUES BUILD UNITY?
• Common Civic and Political Heritage• Popular Sovereignty• The English Language
Common Civic and Political Heritage
• Individual Rights - “life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness”
Popular Sovereignty
• Fair, free, regular elections, • equal justice under the law• majority rule
English Language
• Unifying language of education, business, and government
Do you agree?
ANY OTHER UNIFYING EVENTS?
?
AMERICAN INSTITUTIONS
sets of ideas that people have about relationships, obligations, roles, and functions
AMERICAN INSTITUTIONS
• Family, Religious, Educational, Social and Governmental
Example?
“This Country, with all its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it, of their revolutionary right to dismember, or overthrow it”
Abraham Lincoln