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WH2 Unit 4 Vocab
Scientific Revolution, Absolute Monarchs and Enlightenment
Term | Definition |
---|---|
Centralization | Policy of government to maintain central control |
Divine Right | Belief that a ruler's authority is given by God |
Versailles | Palace built by Louis XIV and added to by later monarchs |
Westernization | Modernization policies undertaken by Peter the Great in Russia |
Democracy | Government in which the citizens hold the final power |
Common Law | Body of laws that developed, case by case, from the rulings of England's royal judges |
Glorious Revolution | Peaceful removal of England's James II from the throne and the recognition of William & Mary as the new monarchs who signed the English Bill of Rights |
Magna Carta | Document guaranteeing basic rights of Englishmen signed in 1215 |
Political Party | A group orgnaized for the purpose of directing the policies of government |
Consitution | The established laws of the United States |
Enlightenment | Period of the mid-18th century that was characterized by the use of reason & scientific methods |
Revolution | A sudden change, as in the overthrow of a ruler of government |
Separation of Powers | Division of government powers among three branches: executive, legislative, and judicial - so that no single branch can become a threat to liberty |
Social Contract | Rousseau's belief that only legitimate government rules by consent of the people. The people can break the "contract" if their interests are not served |
Sovereign | Independent authority and supreme power |
Heliocentric Theory | Sun-centered model of the universe |
Geocentric | Earth-centered model of the universe |
Scientific Method | Logical procedure for gathering and testing ideas by forming a hypothesis and then testing it |
Absolute Monarch | Kings or Queens who held all the power within their states' boundaries |
Peter the Great | Important leader of Russia who started Westernization |
Thirty Years' War | A conflict over religion, territory and power among European ruling families |
Constitutional Monarchy | A government in which laws limit the ruler's power |
Louis XIV | Absolute monarch of France that built Versailles as the symbol of his power |
Thomas Hobbes | Author of Leviathan, and who believed that the best form of government was an absolute monarchy |
Charles I | King of England that attempted to be an absolute monarch, but lost a civil war and his head! |
Oliver Cromwell | Puritan leader that defeated the English king and established himself as Lord Protector |
Galileo | Scientist who proved the heliocentric theory was correct by using a telescope |
Copernicus | Proposed the heliocentric theory, and was later excommunicated by the Catholic Church |
Johan Kepler | Used mathematics to prove the heliocentric theory, as well as that the planets orbit the sun in an ellipse |
William Harvey | Proved that the heart circulates the blood |