Introduction to government

Consider this situation: In an ancient kingdom, the people were tired of being treated badly by their king. The people of each village got together and chose chiefs to bring their complaints to the king.

What kind of government did the villagers demonstrate by their actions?

• autocracy

• direct democracy

• monarchy

• representative democracy

Which of the following describes a unitary system of government?

• a country in which the central government holds all the power

• a federal arrangement of central government and states

• the United States under the Articles of Confederation

• independent legislatures in several provinces

What do an autocracy, absolute monarchy, and oligarchy have in common?

• They are all elected by the people

• Power is shared amongst the government and the states

• The people hold the power

• A single leader or a small group control the government

How is a Parliamentary System of government different from a Presidential System?

• In a Parliamentary system the legislative branch chooses the executive, not the people

• In a Presidential system the president or executive is chosen by the legislative branch

• In a Parliamentary System, the Parliament is only one house, not two

• The Parliamentary System gives more power to the people to influence laws

What is the difference between an absolute monarchy and a constitutional monarchy?

• In a constitutional monarchy, the people vote on the king or queen

• In a constitutional monarchy, the king or queen mostly ceremonial as they don’t really hold any power

• In an absolute monarchy, the king writes the constitution not the people

• A constitutional monarchy has no king or queen

Why did the original U.S. government have a confederal form of government?

• the national government wanted to share powers with the states governments

• the states did not want to give too much power to the central government

• they didn’t trust the state governments

• the British forced them to

In which form of government do the citizens make the decisions for the government?

• representative democracy

• constitutional monarchy

• direct democracy

• oligarchy