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9th grade · Social Studies · Unit 4 of 9

Forms of Government

Democracy, monarchy and more

What your child practices

Democracies, monarchies, oligarchies and authoritarian states, federal, confederal and unitary systems, and the roots of American ideas about limited government.

Alaska content standards learning standard: SS.9-12.6.1; SS.USH.7.6.1 · representative democracy compared with other forms of government around the world

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. In a republic like the US, citizens elect representatives. Consent of the governed means power comes from the people.
  2. In an oligarchy a few rule and ordinary people have little say; in a monarchy a king or queen rules.
  3. Unitary: power in the national government. Confederation: weak center, strong members. Federal: shared. Montesquieu proposed separate branches.

Example: What does a confederation, like the US under the Articles, have? The member states kept most power. The central government was weak. Answer: a weak central government and strong member states

Forms of Government in Alaska

In the Alaska content standards, this is unit 4 of 9 in 9th grade Social Studies, after Media & Democracy and before How the Nation Governs.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Alaska Department of Education and Early Development

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    The idea of separating government powers into branches came largely from…

    • Confucius
    • Machiavelli
    • Montesquieu

  2. Question 2

    Totalitarian governments try to control…

    • nothing
    • only the army
    • nearly every part of public and private life

  3. Question 3

    The English Bill of Rights (1689) influenced the US by…

    • limiting the monarch and protecting some rights
    • creating the presidency
    • ending slavery

  4. Question 4

    A parliamentary system chooses its leader…

    • from the majority in the legislature
    • by a separate national vote
    • by inheritance

  5. Question 5

    In a presidential system,…

    • the legislature picks the president
    • there is no legislature
    • the president is elected separately from the legislature

  6. Question 6

    Popular sovereignty is shown when…

    • a king names his heir
    • a general takes power
    • citizens vote in free and fair elections

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