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Ideas That Questioned Kings: An Enlightenment Gallery worksheet preview

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Ideas That Questioned Kings: An Enlightenment Gallery

Grade 7 civics: six museum labels on Louis XIV, Hobbes, Locke, the English Bill of Rights, Montesquieu and Voltaire show how Enlightenment ideas challenged absolute rule.

Grade 7Social StudiesInteractive · Printable

Aligned toCIV.7.2

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What’s included

  • Single worksheet
  • Auto-graded online
  • 1 C3 Framework standard
  • Printable answer key
  • 10 questions
  • Classroom-ready

Details

Format
Interactive · Printable
Grade
Grade 7
Subject
Social Studies
Question types
Fill in the blank, Multiple choice, Matching, Circle the answer, Sorting, Short answer

About this worksheet

What students practice

  • Students explain natural rights, the social contract and separation of powers using museum labels.
  • Students compare how Hobbes and Locke used the social contract and how each idea related to absolute rule.
  • Students apply Enlightenment ideas to new cases of rulers using power.

How to use

Have students read the gallery wall text and then visit the six cases in order, jotting one word for each idea. Use the timeline section to check which ideas appeared while Louis XIV still ruled.

Curriculum

C3 Framework standard covered

CIV.7.2

Explain Enlightenment ideas such as natural rights, the social contract and separation of powers, and how they challenged absolute rule.

Preview

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Ideas That Questioned Kings: An Enlightenment Gallery

Read six museum labels on natural rights, the social contract and separation of powers.

Walk through the gallery

The museum is made up for this worksheet, but the people, books and dates on its labels are real. Read the wall text and the six case labels. Then answer the questions.

Gallery 4: Ideas That Questioned Kings

1Wall text. In the 1600s many European kings claimed absolute power: the right to make laws, collect taxes and punish people without answering to anyone. During the Enlightenment of the 1600s and 1700s, writers used reason to ask where a government's power comes from and what limits it should have. The objects in this gallery trace that argument.

2Case 1: Portrait of Louis XIV of France (ruled 1643–1715). Louis claimed to rule by divine right, the belief that a king's power comes from God and that he answers only to God. He built the palace of Versailles and ruled without calling France's assembly of representatives. A saying often credited to him is "I am the state," though historians doubt he said it.

3Case 2: First edition of Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes (1651). Hobbes wrote after living through England's civil war. He argued that without government, life would be "nasty, brutish, and short." To escape that, people agree to a social contract: they give up some freedom to a ruler, who in return keeps order. Hobbes thought that ruler should hold very strong power.

4Case 3: Two Treatises of Government by John Locke (1689). Locke wrote that every person is born with natural rights to life, liberty and property. People form governments by their consent to protect those rights. If a government breaks that trust, Locke argued, the people may change it or replace it.

5Case 4: Printed copy of the English Bill of Rights (1689). After Parliament invited William and Mary to take the throne, the new rulers accepted this law. It says the monarch may not suspend laws, raise taxes or keep an army in peacetime without Parliament's consent, and that members of Parliament may debate freely.

6Case 5: The Spirit of the Laws by Montesquieu (1748). This French writer, who admired England's government, divided power into three kinds: making laws, carrying them out and judging cases. He warned that when one person or group holds all three, liberty is lost, so each branch should check the others.

7Case 6: Letters on the English by Voltaire (1733). Voltaire had been jailed in the Bastille, a royal prison in Paris, for poems that mocked France's rulers. Later he lived in England and praised how people there could follow different religions. French officials banned these letters and had copies burned.

1.
Match each writer to the idea his case label describes.
  1. Thomas Hobbes
  2. John Locke
  3. Montesquieu
  4. Voltaire
  1. A. Give up some freedom to a strong ruler in return for order
  2. B. Divide power so each branch checks the others
  3. C. Praise a land where people can follow different religions
  4. D. Protect life, liberty and property, or the people may replace the government
2.
Hobbes and Locke both wrote about a social contract. Which statement best explains how they differed?
  • A. Hobbes stressed order under a strong ruler, while Locke stressed rights the people could defend.
  • B. Hobbes said people need no government, while Locke said they need a strong king.
  • C. Hobbes wrote about France, while Locke wrote about ancient Rome.
  • D. Hobbes trusted the people to replace rulers, while Locke wanted one ruler with total power.
3.
Sort each object by how it relates to absolute rule.
Portrait of Louis XIVLeviathan by HobbesTwo Treatises by LockeEnglish Bill of RightsThe Spirit of the LawsLetters on the English
Supports a ruler with very strong powerChallenges absolute rule
4.
Underline the part of Case 4 that best shows a limit on the ruler's power over money.

After Parliament invited William and Mary to take the throne,the new rulers accepted this law. It saysthe monarch may not suspend laws, raise taxes or keep an army in peacetime without Parliament's consent,members of Parliament may debate freely.

5.
A ruler announces that he alone will write the laws, enforce them and judge anyone accused of breaking them. Which writer's idea most directly argues against this plan?
  • A. Montesquieu's idea of separate, balanced branches
  • B. Hobbes's idea that people need a ruler who keeps order
  • C. Voltaire's praise of religious choice in England
  • D. Louis XIV's idea that a king's power comes from God
6.
A governor takes a farmer's land and gives it to a friend, with no law and no court case. Which of Locke's natural rights does this most directly violate?
  • A. Divine right
  • B. Property
  • C. Liberty
  • D. Life

Put the gallery in time

Use the timeline and the case labels.

Gallery 4 Timeline
DateObject or event
1643–1715Louis XIV rules France
1651Hobbes publishes Leviathan
1689English Bill of Rights
1689Locke publishes Two Treatises
1733Voltaire's Letters on the English
1748Montesquieu's The Spirit of the Laws
7.
Which of these appeared while Louis XIV was still ruling France? Choose all that apply.
  • A. The English Bill of Rights
  • B. The Spirit of the Laws
  • C. Leviathan
  • D. Letters on the English
8.

Montesquieu praised England's government. About how many years had England's Bill of Rights been in place when The Spirit of the Laws was published?   years

9.
Why would French officials most likely ban Voltaire's Letters on the English?
  • A. The letters argued that kings should hold divine right.
  • B. Voltaire asked France to give up Versailles to England.
  • C. The letters praised Louis XIV's palace at Versailles.
  • D. Its praise of English freedoms criticized France's rulers.
10.
Which object in Gallery 4 is the strongest challenge to absolute rule? State your claim, give two pieces of evidence from the labels or the timeline and explain your reasoning. Compare your object with Case 1 or Case 2.

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