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Prologue Vocab
Term | Definition |
---|---|
Government- | (government) the system or form by which a community or other political unit is governed |
Democracy- | a political system in which the supreme power lies in a body of citizens who can elect people to represent them |
Oligarchy- | government by a privileged few |
Aristocracy- | a government in which power is in the hands of a hereditary ruling class or nobility |
Citizens- | Community members who owe loyalty to the government and are entitled to protection from it |
Direct Democracy | a form of democracy in which the people as a whole make direct decisions, rather than have those decisions made for them by elected representatives |
Monarchy- | state ruled over by a single person, as a king or queen |
Philosophers- | a thinker who uses logic and reason to investigate the nature of the universe, human society, and morality |
Plato- | Student of Socrates, wrote The Republic about the perfectly governed society |
Natural laws- | The concept, as stated by John Locke that all people are born with certain rights such as life, liberty and property. |
Republic, 6th-1st century BCE- | A series of kings ruled Rome. Then, in 509 BC, a group of Roman aristocrats over through a harsh king. They set up a new government calling it a republic. |
Senate- | In ancient Rome, the supreme governing body, originally made up only of aristocrats |
Code of Justinian- | The collection of laws that were taken from old Roman law and rewritten so that they could be easily understood. |
Justinian- | Byzantine emperor in the 6th century A.D. who reconquered much of the territory previously ruled by Rome, initiated an ambitious building program , including Hagia Sofia, as well as a new legal code |
Torah- | (Judaism) the scroll of parchment on which the first five books of the Hebrew Scripture is written |
Abraham- | Founder of Judaism who, according to the Bible, led his family from Ur to Canaan in obedience to God's command. |
God | the supernatural being conceived as the perfect and omnipotent and omniscient originator and ruler of the universe |
Judaism | A religion with a belief in one god. It originated with Abraham and the Hebrew people. Yahweh was responsible for the world and everything within it. They preserved their early history in the Old Testament.- |
Bible | The book that contains the writings or scriptures that Christians recognize as the written word of God. |
Moses- (Old | Testament) the Hebrew prophet who led the Israelites from Egypt across the Red sea on a journey known as the Exodus |
Ten Commandments | A set of laws for responsible behavior, which, according to the Bible, were given to Moses by God. |
Prophets | people who are said to receive messages from god to be taught to others |
Jesus of Nazareth | a teacher and prophet born in bethlehem and active in nazareth; his life and sermons form the basis for christianity |
Christianity | - a monotheistic system of beliefs and practices based on the Old Testament and the teachings of Jesus as embodied in the New Testament and emphasizing the role of Jesus as savior |
Islam | - the monotheistic religion of Muslims founded in Arabia in the 7th century and based on the teachings of Muhammad as laid down in the Koran |
Monotheistic Religion | Belief system in which one Supreme Being is revered as creator and arbiter of all that exists in the universe. |
Common law | a system of jurisprudence based on judicial precedents rather than statutory laws |
Magna Carta, 1215 | An English document draw up by nobles under King John which limited the power of the king. It has influenced later constitutional documents in Britain and America. |
English Bill of Rights | King William and Queen Mary accepted this document in 1689. It guaranteed certain rights to English citizens and declared that elections for Parliament would happen frequently. By accepting this document, they supported a limited monarchy, a system in wh |