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9th grade · Social Studies · Unit 15 of 16

Absolutism to Enlightenment

Kings, scientists and new ideas about power

What your child practices

Absolute monarchs in France, Spain and Russia, the Scientific Revolution's challenge to old authorities, and Enlightenment thinkers such as Hobbes, Locke, Montesquieu and Rousseau and their ideas about government.

New York State Learning Standards learning standard: 9.9; 9.9c; 9.9d; 9.9e · absolute monarchs in Western Europe and Russia, the Scientific Revolution, and Enlightenment ideas about political power

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Absolute monarchs claimed divine right: the right to rule comes directly from God.
  2. The Scientific Revolution challenged old authorities: Copernicus (Sun-centered), Vesalius (anatomy), Newton (gravity).
  3. Enlightenment thinkers: Hobbes wanted a strong ruler; Locke, natural rights; Montesquieu, separate branches; Rousseau, a social contract.

Example: What is the idea that a monarch’s right to rule comes directly from God? Absolute monarchs said only God could judge them. This idea is called divine right. Answer: divine right

Absolutism to Enlightenment in New York

In the New York State Learning Standards, this is unit 15 of 16 in 9th grade Social Studies, after Ottoman & Ming Empires and before Encounter & the Atlantic World.

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: New York State Education Department (NYSED)

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

    Andreas Vesalius changed medicine by…

    • writing Leviathan
    • studying the human body directly and publishing detailed drawings of it
    • discovering gravity
    • inventing the telescope

  2. Question 2

    Voltaire was an Enlightenment writer best known for defending…

    • the feudal system
    • absolute monarchy
    • freedom of speech and freedom of religion
    • the divine right of kings

  3. Question 3

    Galileo used a telescope to…

    • measure the oceans
    • observe moons orbiting Jupiter, which supported Copernicus
    • discover America
    • prove Earth is the center of everything

  4. Question 4

    Louis XIV of France, the 'Sun King', built the palace of Versailles partly to…

    • store grain for the army
    • train sailors
    • keep powerful nobles close to him and under his control
    • house the pope

  5. Question 5

    Isaac Newton explained that the same force keeps the planets in orbit and makes objects fall. This force is…

    • steam
    • gravity
    • magnetism
    • friction

  6. Question 6

    Source summary: A philosopher writes, 'I think, therefore I am,' and says knowledge should start from careful reasoning. Who was he?

    • Philip II
    • René Descartes
    • Louis XIV
    • Peter the Great

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