The ancient Greeks were the very first to develop the idea of citizenship. The United States stole this idea when we planned the laws for our country.
Each city-state was run by its' own citizens. Citizens in Greece had rights and responsibilities. Unfortunately, in Greece citizenship did not apply to everyone.
There were basically three groups of people in each city-state:
Citizens: In Greece, only free men born in Greece who owned land could be a citizen. Citizens were given the right to vote and speak on matters of government. They could meet, vote, and pass laws. They also had a duty to help defend the city-state in war.
Non Citizens: Some people were technically "free" but were not considered citizens so they had few rights. For instance, women and children were not given very many rights. Foreign born men were given no rights either - this means they were men not born in Greece.
Slaves: Slaves had the hardest life and did the most difficult work. They were often conquered in war and brought back to Greece to work for free.
The United States copied the idea of citizenship from the Greeks when our constitution was written. However, the path to becoming a citizen in the United States is a bit different. There are three ways to become a U.S. citizen:
2. have a parent that is a US citizen
All citizens in the US have rights. These rights are basically our freedoms that are protected by laws. We also have responsibilities and these are what a person should do to be a good US citizen - like follow the laws.