government vocab

**Government**

formal institutions and processes through which decisions are made for a group of people

**Hobbes**

believed that there needed to be a strong government to keep people from acting on their natural (selfish) behavior

**Locke**

believed in having a weak government so that they can't violate people's natural rights. He believed that people are naturally good

**Rousseau**

believed that there had to be a social contract between the government and the people that is an agreement between them

**Montesquieu**

believed in separation of power and setting limits on the government to ensure virtuous behavior

**State**

a state must have 4 things: government (laws/rules), human population (people living there), territory (has borders), and most importantly sovereignty (ultimate authority).

**Monarchy**

a system of government where one hereditary monarch rules. The two types of monarchy are absolute and constitutional. In an absolute monarchy the ruler hase full power, and in a constitutional monarchy, there are limits placed by the people or government

**Oligarchy**

a system of government in which a group of people lead

**Theocracy**

a system of government in which there is a religious ruler in charge of the people

**Totalitarian**

a system of government in which the government completely controls all aspects of the economy and is often associated with dictatorships

**Unitary System**

a system in which one sovereign government exerts control directly over the people, an example of this is North Korea or Great Britain; often dictatorships use a unitary system

**Federal System**

A system of government that combines both unitary and confederal by having many non-sovereign governments govern groups of people with a higher sovereign power governing over them

**Confederal System**

a system of government in which multiple sovereign governments collaborate between each other and have power over their own groups of people

**Parliamentary System**

executive (prime minister) is both a legislator and an executive

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**Presidential System**

executive (president) is only an executive, not a law maker

Ideals of American Democracy

**Magna Carta**

the first attempt to limit the king's power. Included things like trial by jury and due process of law, which means that everyone has to follow the same procedure when it comes down to the law

**Petition of Right**

challenged the divine right theory that the king was chosen by God. it also made sure that the king has to follow their own law, not just the people he is ruling over

**Glorious Revolution**

bloodless revolution where King James II was overthrown, and replaced by 2 new monarchs and creating a constitutional monarchy

**English Bill of Rights**

Protected citizens natural rights by the government

**Cash Crops**

Europeans mostly settled for economic gain. They got this by growing cash crops which required labor

**Relationship with Mother Country**

They had a more positive relationship with the mother country mostly because they were making them money

**Mayflower Compact**

a social contract written by the men of the mayflower stating they were going to make a new nation with a theocratic government of the people in which nobody is above the law. 

**Relationship with Mother Country**

most of the northern colonies were founded in order to get away from the religious practices of England, so they typically had bad relations with England