Absolutism to the Fall of Napoleon – Vocabulary

Absolutism to the Fall of Napoleon – Vocabulary

1. 
   Absolute Monarch (G)
   
   • 
     Ruler with complete authority over the government and the lives of the people
     
2. 
   Autocrat (G, RBG)
   
   • 
     A single ruler who has completes authority
     
3. 
   Baron de Montesquieu
   
   • 
     Wrote the Spirit of Laws, which designed a three-branch system of government
     
4. 
   Bourgeoisie (G)
   
   • 
     The middle class
     
5. 
   Catherine the Great
   
   • 
     German born ruler of an efficient, autocratic Russian government; she expanded South to gain warm water ports
     
6. 
   Constitutional Government (G)
   
   • 
     A government whose power is defined and limited by law
     
7. 
   Coup d’etat (RBG)
   
   • 
     A revolt by a small group intended to overthrow the government
     
8. 
   Declaration of the Rights of Man
   
   • 
     French document which was a first step towards writing a constitution
     
9. 
   Divine Right (G, RBG)
   
   • 
     Belief that a ruler’s authority comes directly from God
     
10. 
    English Bill of Rights (RBG)
    
    • 
      A set of acts passed by Parliament to ensure its superiority over the monarchy and guarantee certain rights to citizens
      
11. 
    Enlightened Despot (RBG)
    
    • 
      Absolute ruler who used royal power to reform society
      
12. 
    Enlightenment (RBG)
    
    • 
      The period in the 1700’s in which people rejected traditional ideas and supported a belief in human reason
      
13. 
    Jean-Jacques Rousseau
    
    • 
      Wrote the Social Contract – stressed that man was born free and becomes corrupted
      
14. 
    John Locke
    
    • 
      Wrote Two Treatises of Government, which outlined the Natural Rights of life, liberty, and property
      

15. 
    Limited Monarchy (G)
    
    • 
      Government in which a constitution or legislative body limits the monarch’s powers
      
16. 
    Louis XIV
    
    • 
      Absolute monarch of France referred to as the Sun King
      
17. 
    Maximilien Robespierre
    
    • 
      Chief architect of the Reign of Terror
      
18. 
    Napoleon Bonaparte
    
    • 
      French General who became self-proclaimed Emperor of France
      
19. 
    Napoleonic Code (RBG)
    
    • 
      Legal code of Napoleon that included many Enlightenment ideas
      
20. 
    National Assembly (RBG)
    
    • 
      Group formed mostly by the Third Estate in France in 1789 with the intention of writing a new constitution
      
21. 
    Natural Right(s) (G)
    
    • 
      Right(s) that belongs to all humans from birth
      
22. 
    Parliament (RBG)
    
    • 
      Representative assembly of a country, which is led by a Prime Minister
      
23. 
    Peter the Great
    
    • 
      Russian czar who westernized Russia and centralized royal power
      
24. 
    Reign of Terror
    
    • 
      A period during which French revolutionary courts executed 40,000 people mostly by use of the guillotine
      
25. 
    Social Contract (G)
    
    • 
      Agreement by which people give up their freedom to a powerful government in order to avoid chaos
      
26. 
    Suffrage (G, RBG)
    
    • 
      The right to vote
      
27. 
    Thomas Hobbes
    
    • 
      Wrote the Leviathan, supported absolutism because man is naturally evil and must be controlled by the government
      
28. 
    Voltaire
    
    • 
      Wrote Candide, which defended freedom of speech and thought