American Government/Civics - Unit 1 Vocabulary List

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering Unit 1 foundations of civics, including social contract theories, Enlightenment thinkers, and authoritarian government types.

State of nature

a hypothetical condon of humanity before the establishment of organized societtes or govemments

Natural rights

rights that all people have just by virtue of bring human (John Locke specified that these rights include Teberty and property")

Social contract

an agreement in which people give up some of their freedoms and submit to the authority of a govemnnent in exchange for security, protection, and the maintenance of social order

Thomas Hobbes ($1553-1479$)

known for his $1651$ book Lewathon, which proposes that the state of nature was "nasty, brutish, and short" and that to avoid it, people gave up their absolute freedom and submitted to a monarch, giving their ruler absolute power over them.

John Locke ($1663-170-1$)

Proposed the social contract theory, which asserts that people have natural rights and that to preserve these rights, they agreed to create a representative government, giving up the total freedom they had in the state of nature. He also asserted that people have the right to change the government it ever violates their natural rights.

Charles de Montesquieu ($1689\,1755$)

Theorist who emphasized the importance of separation of powers and checks and balances in government

Jean Jacques Rousseau ($1712-1778$)

Rousseau's social contract theory suggests that people must give up all of their individual rights to the entire community, which then governs itself by following the "general will" to create laws for the public good.

Bower

The ability of one person or group to make another person or group do something, even if they don't want to

Authority

The right to use power, which is often given by law, tradition, or the consent of the people.

Authoritarianism

a form of government where power is held by a single person or a small group, and the citizens have little to no say in how they are governed

Autocracy

a government where a single person, such as a dictator or an absolute monarch, holds all of the power

Absolute monarchy

a type of government where a king or queen holds all of the power, and this power is typically inherited

Dictatorship

a government where a single leader, or dictator, comes to power and holds onto it by using force and limiting citizens' rights

Oligarchy

a government where a small group of people, such as a wealthy elite or a military council, holds all the power