Question

unit 1 – absolutism & enlightenment
adapted from princeton review’s cracking the ap world history exam
divine right of monarchs – during the high middle ages and through the renaissance and counter - reformation, the church allied itself with strong monarchs. these monarchs came to power by centralizing authority, uniting people under a common banner of nationalism, and ruling with absolute authority. because the vast majority of their populations were christian, the best way to rule was to align oneself with god. monarchs became convinced that god had ordained their right to govern, and that meant that people had a moral and religious obligation to obey them.
james i of england—who ruled from 1603 to 1625—summed it up this way: “the king is from god and the law is from the king.” his statement made clear that an illegal act was an ungodly act. with this logic established—and supposedly sanctified by god—many european monarchs would claim the authority to rule without limits on their power in the 16th and 17th centuries. these absolute monarchs held absolute, or total power over every aspect of society within their states’ boundaries.
louis xiv of france—who ruled from 1643–1715—was also an advocate of the divine right monarchy. during his rule, he worked to centralize the french state. he famously stated, “l’état c’est moi” (i am the state). king louis xiv used taxpayer money to build the palace of versailles, which was a regal, spectacular royal home in the countryside just outside of paris. the imposing size and awe - inspiring grandeur of versailles is an enduring symbol of the system of absolute monarchy.
image: the hall of mirrors in versailles
age of enlightenment – the enlightenment thinkers challenged the belief that kings were divinely appointed by god, and therefore challenged whether kingdoms were the best way to structure society. the enlightenment was a cultural, intellectual movement in late 17th century europe which emphasized reason and individualism rather than tradition. the enlightenment philosophers opposed tradition and dogma (a principle laid down by an authority as incontrovertibly true). the philosophers doubted the truth of these dogmatic traditions (like the notion of divine right) and challenged their very foundations.
social contract – during the 17th century, philosophers and intellectuals began to grapple with the nature of social and political structures, and the idea of the social contract emerged. the social contract held that governments were not formed by divine decree but to meet the social and economic needs of the people being governed. philosophers who supported the social contract theory reasoned that because individuals existed before governments did, governments arose to meet the needs of the people, not the other way around. still, because different philosophers looked at human nature differently, they disagreed about the role of government in the social contract.
thomas hobbes (1588 – 1679) – hobbes wrote leviathan, in which he contended that people by nature were greedy and prone to violent warfare. accordingly, he believed the role of the government under the social contract should be to preserve peace and stability at all costs. hobbes therefore advocated an all - powerful ruler, or leviathan, who would rule in such a heavy - handed way as to suppress the natural war - like tendencies of the people.
while all enlightenment philosophers agreed on the idea of a social contract, many challenged hobbes by offering conflicting understandings of the best way to structure society. ultimately, it was these other philosophers whose ideas became the political foundation for modern democratic societies.

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Answer:

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