Types of Government
Democracy in Action
Limited Government
Background and Connection
Enlightenment & Independence
100

In this system, most government power belongs to the central or national government.

Unitary 

100

This is the most common way Americans participate in government.

Voting

100

Everyone, including government leaders, must obey the law.

Rule of Law

100

Which country provided an important foundation for the American concept of limited government?

England

100

What intellectual movement included thinkers such as Locke, Montesquieu, and Rousseau?

Enlightenment

200

In this system, power is divided between the national government and state or regional governments.

Federal

200

Citizens elect people to make government decisions for them.

Representative Democracy

200

A constitution restricts what government leaders are allowed to do.  

Limited

200

What document signed by King John in 1215 was an important early step toward limiting the power of government?

Magna Carta

200

Which Enlightenment thinker argued that people have natural rights and may replace a tyrannical government?

John Locke

300

One person or small group holds supreme government power.

Autocracy

300

Citizens vote directly on laws and issues themselves.

Direct Democracy

300

A ruler can ignore laws, restrict individual rights, and face almost no limits on power.

Unlimited

300

What English document helped change England from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy?

English Bill of Rights

300

Which Enlightenment thinker influenced the idea of separating government power?

Montesquieu

400

A small group of elite people controls the government.

Oligarchy

400

In this type of democracy, the legislature chooses the executive leader.

Parlimentary

400

One branch can stop or limit an action taken by another branch.

Checks and Balances

400

The English Bill of Rights influenced which later American document that also protects individual rights?

U.S. Bill of Rights

400

Which Enlightenment thinker wrote that people agree to give government power (Popular Sovereignty)?

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

500

Religious leaders control the government.

Theocracy

500

In this type of democracy, the executive is chosen separately from the legislature.

Presidential

500

North Korea is a strictly controlled country ruled by an absolute leader named Kim Jong Un. The government holds total power over daily life, deciding what jobs people have, what they read, and what they see on television. Because the government blocks internet access and foreign movies, citizens have very little contact with the outside world. Is this country an example of limited or unlimited government?

Unlimited

500

The Magna Carta established that even government leaders are subject to laws. What principle did this help establish?

Rule of law

500

According to ideas found in the writings of John Locke, what are the three unalienable rights?

Life, Liberty, and Property