Government Test 1 Review

1. Government Test 1 Review

2. Magna Carta

3. Aka, Great Charter. Provided the basis for the principle of limited government. King John signed this by force.

4. English Bill of Rights

5. A document that would later be included in the American Constitution. Set clear limits on what a ruler could and could not do.

6. John Locke

7. Reasoned that in a state of nature, all people were born free, equal, and independent. Believed in “natural laws”: life, liberty, & property. Two Treatise of government.

8. Evolutionary Theory

9. Theory that the state evolved from the family.

10. Petition of Rights

11. Severely limited the king’s power. No longer could the monarch collect taxes w/o Parliament’s consent, imprison people w/o just cause, etc.

12. Thomas Hobbes

13. First to theorize on the social contract. Believed w/o authority to protect people from one another, life was “nasty, brutish, and short.” People surrendered to state to maintain order. Leviathan

14. Montesquieu

15. Introduced the idea of separation of powers (Executive Legislative, Judicial). • The Spirit of Laws

16. Force Theory

17. Theory that the state was born of force – when all the people of an area were brought under the authority of one person or group.

18. Unitary

19. Gives all key powers to the national or central government. Central government has the power to create state, provincial, or other local governments.

20. Federal

21. Divides the power of gov’t between the national government and state or provincial governments. Each level of gov’t has sovereignty in some areas.

22. Democratic

23. Any system of government in which rule is by the people.

24. Parliamentary

25. Form of gov’t in which executive and legislative functions both reside in an elected assembly, or parliament.

26. Confederal

27. A loose union of independent states.

28. Oligarchic

29. Any system of gov’t in which a small group holds power.

30. Presidential

31. A form of democratic gov’t in which a president heads the executive branch.

32. Divine Right Theory

33. Belief that certain people are either descended from gods or chosen by gods to rule.

34. Social Contract Theory

35. By contract, people surrender to the state the power needed to maintain order and the state, in turn, agrees to protect its citizens.

36. 3 Types of Democratic Government

37. Direct, indirect/representative, and republic.

38. Republic

39. Voters are the source of the government’s authority. Elected representatives who are responsible to the people exercise that power.

40. Totalitarian Dictatorship

41. A form of autocratic gov’t where the idea of leaders are glorified and the gov’t seeks to control all aspects of social and economic life.

42. Features of a State? (4 characteristics)

43. Population, territory, government, & sovereignty.

44. Direct Democracy

45. A form of democracy in which the people govern themselves by voting on issues.

46. Indirect/Representative Democracy

47. A form of democracy in which the people elect representatives and give them the responsibility and power to make laws and conduct government.

48. Absolute Monarchy

49. A monarch that has complete and unlimited power to rule his or her people.

50. Rule of Law