What is the difference between rights and responsibilities?

Rights are freedoms and protections that belong to each person, while responsibilities are the duties that come with citizenship and self-government. The two work together. Rights describe what individuals may do without interference from government, others, or the majority. Responsibilities describe what individuals owe to the political community in return for the protections it provides.

The Constitution and federal law spell out specific rights, including freedom of speech, religion, press, assembly, petition, due process, equal protection, jury trial, and the right to bear arms. They also establish responsibilities. All adults pay federal income tax under the Sixteenth Amendment, ratified in 1913, and most pay state and local taxes as well. All citizens may be called for jury duty in federal and state courts. Men aged 18 to 25 must register with the Selective Service System within 30 days of their eighteenth birthday so they can be drafted into military service if needed. Citizens are required to obey the law and to support and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. Naturalized citizens take an oath that includes this commitment.

Beyond the legally required responsibilities, citizenship carries widely recognized civic duties that are not legally mandatory but are essential to a functioning democracy. These include voting in elections, staying informed about public issues, engaging respectfully in political debate, participating in community life, paying taxes accurately, respecting the rights of others, and serving on juries when called. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services lists ten responsibilities of American citizens in its civics materials, alongside ten rights.

The link between rights and responsibilities is built into democratic theory. As John F. Kennedy put it in his 1961 inaugural address, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country. The Founders saw the same connection. Benjamin Franklin reportedly told a citizen who asked what kind of government the Constitutional Convention had produced that they had given the country a republic, if you can keep it. Keeping it requires that citizens exercise their rights but also fulfill their responsibilities. Rights without responsibilities tend to erode the common project; responsibilities without rights produce subjects rather than citizens.