Unit 2

Question 1

What is the Declaration of Independence?

Answer 1

It was written by Thomas Jefferson and it was based on the ideas of John Locke who argued for natural rights and equality. The Second Continental Congress issued the document in July 1776.

Question 2

Define checks and balances.

Answer 2

designed to prevent any one branch of government from dominating the others

Question 3

Define federal system.

Answer 3

a system of government where power is divided between national and state governments

Question 4

What is the Bill of Rights?

Answer 4

It is the ten amendments that were added to the Constitution.

Question 5

What is the Old Regime?

Answer 5

It is the social and political system of France.

Question 6

Define estate.

Answer 6

A name for the three social classes of France:

1) the clergy
2) the nobility
3) the rest of the citizens (the middle class and the poor)

Question 7

What is the Estates General?

Answer 7

The Estates General is an assembly of representatives from all three of the estates (social classes).

Question 8

What was the National Assembly?

Answer 8

The National Assembly was a French congress that was established by representatives of the third estate on June 17, 1789 to enact laws and reforms in the name of the French people.

Question 9

What was the Tennis Court Oath?

Answer 9

The oath was a pledge made by the National Assembly in which they vowed to continue meeting until they drew up a new constitution.

Question 10

What was the Great Fear?

Answer 10

The Great Fear was a wave of senseless panic that spread throughout France.

Question 11

What was the Legislative Assembly?

Answer 11

It was a French congress with the power to create laws and approve declarations of war. It was established by the constitution in 1791.

Question 12

Define reason.

Answer 12

enlightened thinkers believed truth could be discovered though reason and logical thinking

Question 13

Define émigrés.

Answer 13

a person who leaves his/her native country for political reasons like the nobles and others who fled France during the peasant uprisings of the French Revolution

Question 14

What was the Reign of Terror?

Answer 14

The Reign of Terror was from 1793-1794 when Maximilien Robespierre ruled France as a dictator executing thousands of political figures and ordinary citizens.

Question 15

Define coup d’etat.

Answer 15

a sudden seizure of political power in a nation

Question 16

Define concordat.

Answer 16

a formal agreement especially between the peace and a government dealing with the control of church affairs

Question 17

What was the Napoleonic Code?

Answer 17

It was a comprehensive and uniform system of laws established for France by Napoleon.

Question 18

What was the Concert of Europe?

Answer 18

It was a series of alliances among European nations in the 19th century, devised by Prince Klemens von Metternich to prevent the outbreak of revolutions.

Question 19

What was the Enlightenment?

Answer 19

The Enlightenment was an 18th century European movement in which thinkers attempted to apply the principles of reason and scientific method to all aspects of society.

Question 20

What were three long term effects of the Enlightenment that helped shape Western civilization?

Answer 20

1) belief in Progress
2) a more secular outlook
3) the importance of the individual

Question 21

How did the Constitution and the Bill of Rights reflect Enlightenment ideas?

Answer 21

They were both advocated by Voltaire, Rousseau, and Locke. The documents expressed optimistic views that reason and reform could prevail and that progress was inevitable.

Question 22

How did Enlightenment ideas contribute to the revolutionary mood in France?

Answer 22

They made the 3rd Estate question their government and using Voltaire and Rousseau’s views they began to demand equality, liberty, and democracy.

Question 23

What effects did the September Massacres have on the government?

Answer 23

The massacres caused the National Conversation to abolish the monarchy and declare France a republic.

Question 24

Explain Napoleon’s coup d’etat to gain power in France.

Answer 24

In November 1799, he had his troops surround the national legislature which drove out its members. The remaining lawmakers voted to have three consuls, one was Napoleon. Napoleon the seized power and became a dictator. He headed the war against Britain, Austria, and Russia forcing them to all sign peace treaties.

Question 25

Describe the three steps, initiated by Klemens von Metternich, that the Congress of Vienna took to restore order in Europe.

Answer 25

1) he eliminated future problems with France by surrounding France with strong countries
2) he restored balance of power so that each country alone, couldn’t be a threat
3) he restored the royal families back to their thrones

Question 26

Who was Thomas Hobbes?

Answer 26

He believed that people should hand over their rights to a ruler in exchange for law and order (social contract).

Question 27

Who was John Locke?

Answer 27

He believed that people had the neutral ability to govern their own affairs and to look after the welfare of society. He favored the idea of self-government.

Question 28

Who was Voltaire?

Answer 28

He fought for tolerance, reason, freedom of religion, and freedom of speech.

Question 29

Who was Montesquieu?

Answer 29

He proposed the idea of separation of powers so that no one group or individual could gain total control of the government.

Question 30

Who was Rousseau?

Answer 30

He believed that a good government was one that was freely formed by the people. He also believed that all people are equal and that titles of nobility should be abolished.

Question 31

Who was Beccaria?

Answer 31

He believed that laws existed to preserve the social order and that an accused person should receive a speedy trial. He believed that further should never be used, degree punishment should be based on the seriousness of the crime, and that capital punishment should be abolished.

Question 32

Who was Mary Wollstonecraft?

Answer 32

She argued that women need education to become virtuous and useful. She urged women to enter the male-dominated fields of medicine and politics.

Question 33

Who was Thomas Jefferson?

Answer 33

He was a political leader who wrote the Declaration of Independence and supported free speech, religious freedom, and other civil liberties. But he was a slave owner, a statesman, inventor, and architect.

Question 34

Who was Louis XVI?

Answer 34

He was the King of France before the French Revolution. He put France into a heavy debt and was an ineffective leader.

Question 35

Who was Marie Antoinette?

Answer 35

She was the Queen of France before the French Revolution and she often gave Louis XVI bad advice and put France into debt.

Question 36

Who was Robespierre?

Answer 36

His rule in France became known as the Reign of Terror because he sent many of his enemies to the guillotine.

Question 37

Who was Klemens von Metternich?

Answer 37

He was the foreign minister of Austria, who was the most influential representative of the Congress of Vienna.