Enlightenment Thought
This idea says governments get their power from the agreement of the people they govern.
Social Contract
A system where a king or queen shares power with a constitution and elected representatives.
Constitutional Monarch
This French Enlightenment monarch built and ruled from the lavish Palace of Versailles.
Louis XIV
This philosopher argued for natural rights of life, liberty, and property.
John Locke
This scientist proposed the heliocentric theory placing the sun at the center of the solar system.
Nicolaus Copernicus
A ruler who holds absolute power, often ruling harshly without limits or checks. But these individuals pushed for reforms
Enlightenment Despot
The belief that a monarch’s authority to rule comes directly from God.
Divine Right
This Russian Enlightenment ruler expanded the Winter Palace and promoted arts and education.
Catherine the Great
This Enlightenment thinker believed in separation of powers in government.
Montesquieu
This English scientist developed the laws of motion and universal gravitation.
Isaac Newton
This term refers to the ultimate authority of a state to govern itself without outside interference.
Sovereignty
Louis XIV of France is one of the most famous examples of this form of centralized royal power.
Absolutism
Although she ruled before the Enlightenment, Elizabeth I’s reign strengthened this country, which later became a center of Enlightenment thinkers like John Locke.
England
Clue: This French thinker promoted freedom of speech and religious tolerance.
Voltaire
This scientist used the scientific method to promote experimentation and observation.
Francis Bacon
Enlightenment thinkers believed these universal principles of right and wrong could be discovered through reason.
Natural Laws
Thomas Hobbes and John Locke debated this concept as the foundation of legitimate government authority.
Social Contract
This massive palace complex in France became a symbol of royal absolutism and Enlightenment.
Palace of Versailles
This philosophy emphasized reason, individual rights, and the questioning of traditional authority.
Enlightenment philosophy
This English scientist discovered that blood circulates throughout the body, challenging earlier medical beliefs.
William Harvey
A system of government in which a monarch holds total power over the state.
Absolutism
This major intellectual movement of the 1500s–1700s used observation and experimentation to challenge traditional beliefs about science and nature.
Scientific Revolution
This ruler is known as an enlightened despot for modernizing Prussia’s military, education, and legal system.
Frederick the Great
Elizabeth I’s moderate religious policies reflected early ideas of this Enlightenment value promoting acceptance of different beliefs.
Religious Tolerance
As an Enlightenment figure, Franklin strongly supported this idea that knowledge should be gained through observation and experimentation.
Scientific Method