Age of Absolutism & Enlightenment

Absolutism means

• the real power in any state must be religious and exercised by the church.

• ultimate authority rests solely in the hands of a king who rules by divine right.

• subordinate powers have an absolute right to advise the king on conducting the affairs of state.

• no matter how humble, male citizens have an absolute right to participate in politics.

Louis XIV restructured the policy-making machinery of the French government by

• requiring nobles to live at Versailles while excluding them from real political power.

• filling the royal council with his supporters.

• requiring Huguenots convert to Catholicism, leave France or be punished.

• all of these are correct.

Which of the following statements best applies to Peter the Great of Russia?

• Even though he desired to teach Russians western customs, he could only enforce his ideas among the old-fashioned nobles.

• His program of modernization was predominantly technical and aimed at modernizing the military while securing a sea port to make Russia a real military power.

• His respect for eastern governments led to increased powers for the Duma/Russian parliament.

• His traditional, conservative attitude stripped away all previous social gains for women.

Enlightened thinkers based their philosophical beliefs on what two things?

• power and privilege
• money and fame
• good looks and charm
• reason and logic

________ argued for women’s rights in the book, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman.

• Voltaire

• Montesquieu

• Immanuel Kant

• Mary Wollstonecraft

________ believed that an absolute ruler was necessary to maintain order in society because people were naturally greedy and selfish.

• Voltaire

• Montesquieu

• Thomas Hobbes

• Mary Wollstonecraft

__________ defined man’s (people’s) natural rights as “life, liberty, and property.”

• Mary Wollstonecraft

• Cesare Beccaria

• Thomas Hobbes

• John Locke

In his book, On the Spirit of Laws, ________ wrote that separation of powers in government is essential to protecting liberty.

• Cesare Beccaria

• Montesquieu

• John Locke

• Voltaire

________ was a French satirist (writer) who criticized censorship and advocated (argued for) religious toleration.

• Voltaire

• Cesare Beccaria

• Thomas Hobbes

• John Locke

Influential French writer ________ argued that leaders require the “consent of the governed” and government should be guided by the general will.

• Mary Wollstonecraft

• Cesare Beccaria

• Thomas Hobbes

• Jean Jacques Rousseau