10.02 - Enlightenment

absolute monarchy

system of government where one person has absolute control

Baron de Montesquieu

(1689-1755) French Enlightenment thinker who wrote The Spirit of Laws and believed that to keep one person or group from gaining too much power a government should be separated into three branches: judicial, legislative, and executive.

Catherine the Great

(1729-1796) an enlightened despot who ruled Russia from 1762 to 1796

consent

permission for something to happen or an agreement to do something

divine right

is the belief that an absolute monarch's authority to rule came directly from God

Enlightenment (The)

(mid-1600s to the late 1700s) a period of time in Western Europe when philosophers and writers applied the scientific idea of reason to answer political questions; The Enlightenment is sometimes known as the Age of Reason

executive

the part of a government that enforces laws- the president, governor, or mayor

government

the group of people that has power to make laws and important decisions for a community, state, or nation

Jean Jacques Rousseau

(1712-1778) French Enlightenment thinker who wrote about the social contract

John Locke

(1632-1704) an English Enlightenment thinker who wrote Two Treatises of Government and believed that the role of government is to protect people's natural rights (life, liberty, and property), and that government can only get its right to rule from the consent of the governed

judiciary

the part of a government that interprets laws- courts, judges

legislature

the part of a government that makes laws- parliament or congress

liberty

the freedom to do what you would like to do

natural right

right that all people are born with and that John Locke believed the government should protect including the rights to life, liberty, and property; sometimes called "natural laws"

philosopher

one who thinks about, questions, and studies the nature of life, truth, knowledge, and other important human matters

separation of powers

Montesquieu's idea that government power should be divided into judicial, legislative, and executive branches and that each section of the government should have the ability to check the power of the others

social contract

an agreement, the social contract, in which we promise to follow the "general will" of the members of the society as expressed by the laws made by the government. In exchange, we receive the liberty to do what we want as long as we do not break those laws.