Absolutism & Constitutionalism unit test
A test on this unit alone, marked as a percentage and a letter grade — for the test your class is actually sitting, rather than for May. Answer everything, then submit once: seeing the answer to question 3 before attempting question 4 makes the final percentage meaningless.
The Fronde (1648–1653)
Petition of Right (1628)
Bossuet and divine-right theory
Glorious Revolution
English Bill of Rights
Table of Ranks
Peter the Great
Revocation of the Edict of Nantes
Frederick William, the Great Elector
Balance of power
Constitutionalism
Versailles
Short answer 1. Define or explain: John Locke, Two Treatises
3 ptsShort answer 2. Define or explain: Louis XIV
3 ptsShort answer 3. Define or explain: New Model Army
3 ptsShort answer 4. Define or explain: English Civil War
3 ptsFree response
3 ptsSHORT-ANSWER QUESTION 1 (required). Read the summary of the source. A passage from The Blazing World: A New History of Revolutionary England, 1603–1689 (2023) by Jonathan Healey, a British historian, contrasts England at the accession of James I with England at the century's end. Early in the century, he writes, most people farmed, the vast majority were illiterate, famine and bubonic plague were regular scourges, population growth outran the economy — producing unemployment, plummeting wages, and rocketing rents — and fear of witchcraft was at its height. By 1700 a new world had arisen: the economy kept growing though population growth had ended, laborers earned more, famine was gone, towns were reborn as social hubs with coffee houses, theaters, and concert halls, trade anchored a thriving market economy, plague had vanished, executions were rarer, and witch trials were all but over. In politics there were confident Parliaments, a vibrant press, two identifiable parties, and remarkable religious diversity; monarchs drew strength from a growing empire but had to contend with a newly confident public sphere and a politicized middle rank discussing the news over tobacco and coffee.
A. Describe an argument that the author makes in the passage.
B. Describe one piece of evidence from the passage that supports one of the author’s claims.
C. Using a specific example, explain how the changes of the 1600s described by the author contributed to a political development in the period from 1648 to 1750.