Ohio Graduation Test for Social Studies – March 2006
Annotated Item 15
Standard and Benchmark Assessed:
Standard: History
Benchmark: A. Explain connections between the ideas of the Enlightenment and changes in the
relationships between citizens and their governments.
Multiple Choice Question:
Enlightenment philosophers such as John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau challenged the
idea of the divine right of kings. They wrote about a government’s obligations to uphold people’s
rights and how the government should be based on the consent of the governed.
These new ideas encouraged people to
A.
B.
C.
D.
remain firm in their support of absolute monarchs.
look for leaders who would exercise dictatorial powers.
engage in revolutions to establish democratic governments.
call for church leaders to create theocracies and replace the monarchies.
Commentary:
This multiple-choice question asks students to respond to a summary of Enlightenment ideas
about government by identifying how people reacted to the ideas. The answer is C. A number
of revolutions of the late 18th and early 19th centuries were inspired in part by ideas about rights
of the people and consent of the governed. The remaining responses incorrectly suggest that
people were encouraged by the Enlightenment philosophers to support systems of government
that were contrary to the new ideas about the obligations of government. Because the
Enlightenment philosophers were challenging the divine right of kings, people were not
encouraged to support absolute monarchs as stated in Response A. People’s rights and
democratic consent were ideas emphasized by the philosophers. With those ideas in mind
people were not inclined to support dictators as indicated in Response B. Likewise, those same
ideas would not cause people to support theocracies (Response D).
Performance Data:
The percent of public school students selecting answer choice C for question 15 on the March
2006 Ohio Graduation Test was 75%.
Keywords: Enlightenment, government, revolutions
Source: Ohio Department of Education
July 06