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9th grade · Social Studies · Unit 3 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.

Arizona Academic Standards learning standard: HS.C1.2 · 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 Arizona

In the Arizona Academic Standards, this is unit 3 of 9 in 9th grade Social Studies, after Rights & Responsibilities and before Three Branches.

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: Arizona Department of Education

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 First Amendment's establishment clause guards against…

    • a free press
    • free speech
    • a government-run official religion

  2. Question 2

    The Haudenosaunee Great Law of Peace set up…

    • a single hereditary king
    • rule by the army
    • a council of leaders from several nations

  3. Question 3

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

    • Confucius
    • Montesquieu
    • Machiavelli

  4. Question 4

    An authoritarian government…

    • protects a free press
    • shares power with courts
    • holds power without real limits or free elections

  5. Question 5

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

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

  6. Question 6

    In a presidential system,…

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

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