AP Euro-Lively
Unit4: Absolutism, Constitutionalism, and a New Worldview
Chapters 16-18 Study Guide
Part I Identifying Key Terms
Directions: Part I of the study guide is not required! These terms are provided so that you know who
is important and what concepts to know. While reading, pay attention to these people and terms as they
appear. While preparing for an essay/exam, be sure to know a basic description of each of these as well
as its significance to its historical context.
Part I
Identifying Key Terms
Notable People
Cardinal Richelieu
King Louis XIV of France
Jean-Baptiste Colbert
Peter the Great
King James I of England
King Charles I of England
Oliver Cromwell
King Charles II of England
King James II of England
William and Mary
John Locke
Thomas Hobbes
Nicolaus Copernicus
Tycho Brahe
Johannes Kepler
Galileo
Sir Isaac Newton
Francis Bacon
Rene Descartes
Baron de Montesquieu
Voltaire
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
David Hume
Denis Diderot
Adam Smith
Mary Wollstonecraft
Frederick the Great of Prussia
Catherine the Great of Russia
Maria Theresa of Austria
Joseph II of Austria
Terms and Events
Absolutism
Act of Toleration
English Bill of Rights
Divine Right
Fronde
Glorious Revolution
Intendants
Boyars
Cossacks
Janissaries
Junkers
Bourbon dynasty
Stuart monarchy
Romanov dynasty
Hohenzollern dynasty
Cartesian Dualism
Part II
Deductive method
Empiricism
Hermeticism
Inductive method
Rationalism
Royal Society
Scientific Revolution
Alchemy
Querelles de femmes
Deism
Laissez-faire
Natural law
Natural rights
Neoclassicism
Methodism
Philosophe
Physiocrat
Pietism
Rococo
Salon
Tabula rasa
Tories vs Whigs
Peace of Utrecht
Peace of Paris
Stadholder
Puritans
Enlightenment
Enlightened Despots
Versailles
Constitutionalism
Republicanism
Review Questions
Directions: Check your understanding of this chapter by answering the following questions in AT
LEAST four well written and effective sentences each.
1. What were the common crises and achievements of seventeenth-century European states?
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2. Louis XIV declared his goal was “one king, one law, one faith.” Analyze the methods the
king used to achieve his objective and discuss the extent to which he was successful.
3. Why can it be said that the palace of Versailles was used as a device to ruin the nobility of
France? Was Versailles a palace or a prison?
4. How and why did the constitutional state triumph in the Dutch Republic and England?
5. What were the immediate and long-range causes of the English Civil War of 1642-1649?
What were the results?
6. Why is it said that Locke was the spokesman for the liberal English Revolution of 1689 and
for representative government?
7. What were the reasons for the re-emergence of serfdom in eastern Europe in the early
modern period?
8. What role, if any, did war play in the evolution of absolutism in eastern Europe?
9. Analyze the major ways through which Tsar Peter the Great sought to reform society and its
institutions in order to strengthen Russia and its position in Europe.
10. Contrast the rise of Austria in the late 17th and 18th centuries with the decline of Poland in
the 18th century.
11. Why would the reign of the Great Elector be regarded as “the most crucial constitutional
struggle in Prussian history hundreds of years”? What did he do to increase royal authority?
Who were the losers?
12. Describe the relationship between politics and economics during the wars of the late 17th and
18th centuries. Use at least two specific examples.
13. What was revolutionary in the new attitudes toward the natural world?
14. Contrast the Aristotelian-medieval world-view with that of the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries. In your answer, refer to the contributions of Copernicus, Brahe, Kepler, Galileo,
and Newton?
15. How did the new scientific theory and discoveries alter the concept of God and religion? Did
science, in fact, come to dictate humanity’s concept of God?
16. How did the new worldview affect the way people thought about society and human
relations?
17. Trace the development of arguments for religious toleration during the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries. How did these arguments change over time? What contributed to this
change?
18. Compare and contrast John Locke’s theory of the social contract and Thomas Hobbes’
theory of the social contract. Describe how one of these figures influenced the work of JeanJacques Rousseau.
19. What impact did the Enlightenment have on political developments and monarchical
absolutism?
20. How were Scientific Revolution and Enlightenment ideas made public and popular amongst
the educated classes of Europe in the late 17th and 18th centuries?
21. To what extent did the Enlightenment express optimistic ideas in eighteenth-century
Europe? Illustrate your answer with reference to at least 3 specific individuals and their
works.
22. To what extent were women affected by the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment?
Part III Chronological Awareness
Directions: Place the following events in the correct chronological order. Provide the year of each
event. Since the events are given to you in a sequence that is out of chronological order, please
reorder the events correctly. In the event that one or more of the events listed below do not have a
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AP Euro-Lively
single year in which it took place, provide the appropriate date ranges. Rewrite this list in the
correct chronological order, providing the year of the event, occurrence, or trend.
1. King Louis XIV of France revokes the Edict of Nantes
2. King Charles I of England is executed
3. Glorious Revolution
4. Publication of Diderot’s Encyclopedia
5. Peace of Paris (End of Seven Years War)
6. Galileo appears before the Roman Inquisition
7. Frederick II ascends the throne of Prussia
8. Copernicus publishes On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres
9. Peace of Utrecht
10. Thomas Hobbes publishes Leviathan
Part IV Analyzing Primary Sources
Directions: Read the passage below and answer the questions below the passage.
Source: Henri, Prince of Conde, sword nobleman, pamphlet, Paris, 1614.
The prices of all judicial and financial offices have risen to excessive heights. There is no longer
any reward for virtue, since all power now belongs to favors, alliances, kinship, and money. The
sword nobility is now banished from judicial and financial affairs for lack of money.
1) What is the historical context of the situation described in the passage above?
2) Describe Henri’s point of view, and analyze the significance of one of the following in
determining his’s point of view:
- Henri’s occupation and place in society
- Henri’s purpose for writing
- Henri’s audience
Note: Incomplete study guides will receive a 10 point penalty. This will not be allowed to be made
up via redo. Organize your time and work on your study guide a little bit at a time. Substantially
incomplete study guides will be graded, but considered late, and only allowed to be redone up to 25
points.
Study Guide Grading Rubric. 50 points.
Review Questions (20 points) - 4 questions will be selected at random from those above. Each will
be worth 5 points.
Document Analysis (10 points) – This section is worth 10 points. Points will be deducted for
insufficient and/or inaccurate responses.
Chronology (10 points) - This section is worth 10 point. Points will be deducted for each incorrect
response.
Overall Completion (10 points) - 10 points will be awarded for completion of all questions and
parts.
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