Unit 2: Limited and Unlimited Government

Standard 7-2 Goal:I will demonstrate an understanding of the concepts of limited government and

unlimited government as they functioned in Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries.

7-2.1Analyze the characteristics of limited government and unlimited government that evolved

in Europe in the 1600s and 1700s.

7-2.4Explain the effects of the English Civil War and the Glorious Revolution on the power

of the monarchy in England and on limited government.

7-2.2Explain how the Scientific Revolution challenged authority and influenced

Enlightenment philosophers, including the importance of the use of reason, the challenges to the Catholic Church, and the contributions of Galileo and Sir Isaac Newton.

7-2.3Analyze the Enlightenment ideas of John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Montesquieu,

and Voltaire that challenged absolutism and influenced the development of limited government.

Vocabulary1. Limited Government2. Unlimited Government3. Authoritarian4. Tyranny5. Monarch6. Divine Right7. Legislature8. Absolutism9. Magna Carta10. Executive Branch11. Judiciary12. Parliament13. Civil War14. Glorious Revolution15. Scientific Revolution16. Reason17. Scientific Method

18. Heliocentric Theory19. The Enlightenment20. Philosophers21. State of Nature22. Social Contract23. John Locke24. Abolish25. Consent of the governed26. Jean-Jacques Rousseau27. Popular Sovereignty28. Legitimacy29. Baron de Montesquieu30. Separation of Powers31. Checks and Balances32. Voltaire33. Civil Liberties

Unit 2 Study GuideAnswer these questions on your own sheet of paper. Write the number of the paragraph where you found the answer in the space provided.

This will be worth 5 bonus points on your Unit test.

QuestionsParagra

ph Number

1. What are unlimited governments like?2. What is an absolute monarchy?3. How do absolute monarchies use their power?4. How are limited governments different from unlimited

governments?5. What do limited governments do about the rights of the people?6. Why did Great Britain have one of the earliest limited

governments?7. What are three ways government’s power can be limited?8. What were the two sides of the English Civil War?9. Why did the people start fighting when King Charles I arrested

members of parliament?10. How did the execution of King Charles I change the way

people thought about government?11. Why did the monarchy eventually return to Great Britain?12. How did the Glorious Revolution lead to a more limited

government?13. How has the Glorious Revolution had an impact on us

today?14. What process of logical thinking supported by evidence

was used during the Scientific Revolution?15. Who were the major people involved in the Scientific

Revolution?16. Why did the Church attempt to stop the Scientific

Revolution?17. What type of government did the Church act like during

the Scientific Revolution?18. How did the Enlightenment philosophers use reason?19. What is the state of nature?20. What is the social contract?

21. What were the ideas of John Locke?22. What were the ideas of Jean-Jacques Rousseau?23. What were the ideas of Baron de Montesquieu?24. What were the ideas of Voltaire?25. What is popular sovereignty?

Unit 2 Literature: Limited and Unlimited Governments (Standard 7-2.1)

1 There are two main types of governments that exist in the world: limited governments and unlimited governments. In a LIMITED GOVERNMENT, the government’s power is restricted. In an UNLIMITED GOVERNMENT there are no limits on the government’s power and it can do whatever it wants. In the 1600s and 1700s, most governments were unlimited. Leaders of unlimited governments have total power over their people. These governments are almost always AUTHORITARIAN, which means the people have no freedom and the government tells them what to do. Citizens in unlimited governments are expected to be totally obedient to their leaders. These leaders make all the decisions in an unlimited government because the people are not given any power. Many times these governments practice TYRANNY, meaning they completely ignore the rights of the people.

2 One type of unlimited government that was common before and after the era of European expansion was an absolute monarchy. As we said in the last unit, an absolute monarchy is a type of government where the MONARCH (the king or queen) keeps all the power for themselves. Most of these monarchs believed their power came from their DIVINE RIGHT, meaning that they were the monarch because it was God’s will. This also meant that any decisions made by the monarch were also the decisions of God. Examples of absolute monarchies were found in the both France and Russia. In those countries, the government raised taxes at will, got rid of elected LEGISLATURES (people who make laws), and used the military against anyone who disagreed with the monarch.

3 People who supported unlimited governments and thought the ruler should have the power to do anything believed in ABSOLUTISM. Citizens in absolutist

An absolute monarch

governments were expected to do whatever the ruler asked of them without question. These governments also did not guarantee the rights of their citizens.

4 The opposite of an unlimited government is a limited government. As we learned in the last unit, the colonies of Great Britain were based on limited government. In those colonies, the government’s power was restricted by laws and the leaders could not do whatever they wanted. These limited governments were based on the idea that people have RIGHTS (privileges they are born with and have forever) and that the government is supposed to protect those rights instead of fighting against them. People in limited governments are allowed to have some control over the government’s decisions. This control is usually demonstrated by voting.

5 Great Britain had one of the earliest limited governments because of a document called the MAGNA CARTA. The Magna Carta said that the king had to follow the law just like everyone else. Signed by King John II in the year 1215, the Magna Carta would become the inspiration for all future limited governments. It remains a major part of British government, although it has been improved on by later documents such as the English Bill of Rights.

6 There are several ways that a government’s power can be limited. Creating a constitution sets rules on what the government can and cannot do, and usually makes the rights of the people a part of the law. This includes the creation of constitutional monarchies, where the monarch’s power is severely cut back by his or her country’s constitution. Government’s power can be limited by allowing DEMOCRACY, a system of government where the people have the power over the government. Many governments have used “separation of powers” and “checks and balances” to limit government’s power. This type of government is effective because the legislature, the EXECUTIVE BRANCH (the part of government that enforces the law) and the

King John II signs the

Magna Carta

Ways to limit

government’s power

Create a constitutio

Create a democracy

Separation of powers

Checks and

JUDICIARY (the part of government that decides what laws mean) are not all the same person or group.

The English Civil War and the Glorious Revolution (Standard 7-2.4)

7 The English Civil War was the result of the conflict between those who wanted to maintain the traditional type of government with a powerful monarch and those who wanted to more limits on the government’s power.

8 The English Civil War began as a power struggle between King Charles I and PARLIAMENT (the elected British legislature). Parliament wanted the power to make laws, which would take power from the king. Giving Parliament a bigger role in the government built on ideas established by the Magna Carta, but it also challenged the divine right of the British monarch. As previous kings (including his own father) had done when faced with challenges by Parliament, Charles I refused to allow them to meet. In 1629 he locked them out of their meeting place at Westminster, and he kept the door locked for 11 years.

9 But being locked out was not enough to stop Parliament from attempting to limit the king’s power. They continued to argue with the king over raising taxes and allowing men to buy titles and positions of power instead of earning them. When the Charles I began creating taxes without Parliament’s approval, some people protested by refusing to pay them. Even when they were put in jail, these protestors became symbols of defiance by standing up to the king’s power.

10 Charles I felt his only choice was to force Parliament to follow his orders. He had his soldiers arrest the five members of Parliament he thought were his biggest critics. However, his plan backfired. Since Parliament was elected to represent the people, the people of England felt like they had been personally attacked. A CIVIL WAR broke out between the Royalists, who supported the king, and the supporters of Parliament led by Oliver Cromwell and his New Model Army. Eventually the Charles I surrendered, but he quickly escaped. Charles I continued fighting until he was defeated for a second time. Parliament put the captured king on trial. Charles I was charged with “abuse of power” against the Parliament and the people of Great Britain. In other words, he had used his power to

hurt the people rather than protect them. Charles I was found guilty, and he was beheaded in 1649. This event was a major challenge to the idea of an absolute monarchy because it proved people could change a government they didn’t like. It was also a major influence the on a man named John Locke, but we’ll talk about him later.

11 Over the next 40 years Britain’s government would go through many changes. Charles II, the son of the executed king, began trying to regain his family’s throne. Oliver Cromwell, leader of Parliament’s army during the English Civil War, became “Lord Protector” of England. Oliver stopped the return of the monarchy, but in 1658 he died. Richard Cromwell, Oliver’s son, took over as Lord Protector. Richard was a weak leader, and in 1659 he quit. This was a problem because he left Britain with no leader. Many people were afraid that the unstable British government would fall apart. A desperate Parliament turned to Charles II, inviting him to take over as King of England.

12 Charles II ruled England for 24 years. When he died his brother James became king. This change led to a new conflict in Great Britain. This conflict was about religion. James was a Catholic, while most of the people of Great Britain were Protestant. Even though both were types of Christians the Protestants feared James would get rid of the Church of England and force everyone to join the Catholic Church.

13 For help, Parliament turned to William of Orange and his wife Mary. There were two reasons why the people asked William and Mary for their help: They were Protestants like most of the people in Britain, and Mary was James’s oldest child. These two things made sure most people would accept them as the new king and queen. In exchange for Parliament’s support, William and Mary agreed to make Britain’s government more limited.

14 When William brought his army into England in 1688 James decided not to fight another civil war. Instead he fled to France, allowing William and Mary to become king and queen without any bloodshed. The next year, William and Mary signed the English Bill of Rights. This created a more limited government in Britain by allowing Parliament to make laws and protecting the rights of individual citizens. This peaceful change of government and the growth of the people’s power was called the GLORIOUS REVOLUTION.

William and Mary

15 All limited governments that followed were inspired Glorious Revolution, as were the group of important thinkers who would create the ideas that are the basis for almost all limited governments today.

The Scientific Revolution (Standard 7-2.2)16 Governments were not the only that changed because Europeans had

expanded. As people traveled around the world they discovered new technologies and new ideas that few Europeans had ever known about. When they returned to their homes, they brought these new ideas with them, creating a major change in the way people saw their world.

17 This change was called the SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION. It came from discoveries and advances in science and math during the 1500s and 1600s. These scientists began to question the things that most people believed in. This was especially true about the things being taught by the Roman Catholic Church, which was the most powerful Christian church in the world at that time. The scientists did not originally want to prove the Church wrong. Instead, they used REASON (logical thinking supported by evidence) in an attempt to prove what the Church’s teachings were correct.

18 This caused problems between the Church and the scientists. The Church had always taught that the Earth was the center of the universe, and all things circled around it. Since most people in Europe were Christian during this time, most people learned what the Church believed. Anyone who disagreed risked the Church bringing their power against them.

19 But scientists questioned the Church anyway. They used reason and the SCIENTIFIC METHOD. In the scientific method, the scientist starts with a question. They then form a hypothesis about what they think the answer might be, and test that hypothesis by conducting experiments. Once the experiments are completed, the scientist analyzes their data to see if their hypothesis was correct or if they need to create a new one. This process, which is still used by scientists today, led to the greatest discoveries of the Scientific Revolution.

20 Nicolaus Copernicus created the HELIOCENTRIC THEORY, or the discovery that the sun is at the center of our solar system instead of Earth. Galileo Galilei supported the

Copernicus’s heliocentric theory

Sir Isaac Newton

heliocentric theory with his own experiments on motion and his observations of space though his telescope. Motion was the subject for another scientist during this time, Sir Isaac Newton. Newton’s laws of motion and his theory of gravity went against old theories of how the world worked. The discoveries of these scientists have helped us understand the world we live in today.

21 The Roman Catholic Church did not like the scientists’ discoveries. The Church believed the Bible explained everything about how the world worked. The things the Church was teaching were based on faith, while the ideas of the scientists had evidence to back them up. The Church’s power was on the line. It banned the books the scientists wrote. It also attempted to punish he scientists themselves. Galileo was one of the Church’s most famous targets. He was arrested by the Church and put on trial because of his discoveries. In the end, Galileo was forced to give up his ideas, tell people he lied about the things he discovered, and stop teaching anything other than what the Church approved. His punishment was to spend the rest of his life under house arrest or be EXCOMMUNICATED, meaning he would be kicked out of the Church and no longer be considered a Christian.

22 Despite what the scientists went through they would lead the way to new discoveries in science and would be a major influence on other areas of life as well. In the years after the Scientific Revolution people would begin to apply reason to the way society was organized and governments operated. This was another cause of the Enlightenment.

The Enlightenment (Standard 7-2.3)23 As we said in section 1, most people in Europe believed in absolutism, and

not many of them had any rights at all. To go against these ideas, people created the ENLIGHTENMENT. The Enlightenment was a collection of ideas that said government should be limited and people should have protection for their rights. These ideas were a direct challenge to absolutism. Enlightenment PHILOSOPHERS (people who think about the world and come up with new ideas) used reason, just like the scientists did during the Scientific Revolution. The philosophers used reason to explain how government should work.

24 The Enlightenment was based on two main ideas:A. That people lived in the STATE OF NATURE before governments

were created. In the state of nature, everyone took care of one another and treated each other with respect. Good governments were ones that most closely resembled the state of nature.

Galileo Galilei

B. Governments have a SOCIAL CONTRACT with their people. The social contract was supposed to be an agreement between a government and its people. It says what the government will do for the people and what the people will do for the government.

25 All the Enlightenment philosophers used these two ideas, but they were not always used the same way. Every philosopher had a different view on the state of nature and the social contract. They used these different views to explain the way they thought government should be organized.

26 JOHN LOCKE believed the state of nature was a good place. He believed people volunteered to join the social contract because it would make their lives better. According to Locke, the social contact was an agreement between the citizens and their government. The government’s responsibility was protecting the people’s rights. If the government didn’t do this, then the people could alter or ABOLISH (get rid of) their government and create a new one. This created the belief that people must give the government permission to use its power, also called the CONSENT OF THE GOVERNED. Locke developed these ideas because of the things he saw during the English Civil War and the Glorious Revolution.

27 JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU shared Locke’s ideas about the State of Nature. However, Rousseau’s view of the social contract was very different. Rousseau believed that society made people greedy and selfish. He believed government had to protect the “general will´ of the people from this corruption. In other words, it was government’s job to create polices and make decisions based on what was best for the whole group. If there was a conflict between the group and the individual, then the group should always win. In Rousseau’s view, government’s power would be limited to the things the majority of people wanted. Unlike Locke, Rousseau’s ideas were rejected by the American colonists. Governments that wanted to take away the rights of their citizens would use Rousseau’s ideas to justify what they were doing.

28 Locke and Rousseau’s ideas created the foundation for the idea of POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY. Popular Sovereignty means a government’s power and LEGITIMACY (right to rule) are based on what the citizens want. This limits government’s power to only the things that the citizens will allow it to have.

29 BARON DE MONTESQUIEU believed the best way to protect the social contract was to make sure the government could not become too powerful. He spent time studying the way Britain’s government was organized. He used what he learned as the basis for his philosophy. Montesquieu believed there were two ways the government’s power could be limited. The first was the use of SEPARATION OF

POWERS. Instead of one person, such as a king or queen, holding all the power it would be split among different groups. This would prevent any one part of the government from becoming too powerful. It was Montesquieu who came up with the ideas of executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government. His second idea was CHECKS AND BALANCES. Checks and balances made sure that every branch of government could prevent the other two from doing anything harmful or absolutist. These two ideas are main parts of the United States Constitution.

30 VOLTAIRE believed the social contract should protect CIVIL LIBERTIES (the freedoms that all citizens should have like the freedom of speech and religion). Voltaire influenced limited governments to protect citizen’s rights. He wrote many books and plays to demonstrate the importance of reason and improve society. He hated the idea of forcing religious ideas on someone who didn’t want them, so he advocated for separation of church and state. He also wrote that free speech was important so people could share their opinions about their government.

Philosopher

Ideas

Locke

Natural rightsGovernment’s job in a society

What to do about bad governmentsConsent of the governed

Popular Sovereignty

Montesquieu Separation of PowersChecks and Balances

Voltaire Civil libertiesRousseau Protection for the “general will”