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Scientific Revolution/ Enlightenment Study Guide

● Enlightenment: Known as the Age of Reason, where people questioned their government.
● Scientific Revolution:Period of Scientific Discovery.
● Heliocentric Model:Model created by Nicholas Copernicus that challenged the church and
stated the the earth orbits the sun, not the other way around.
● Galileo: Scientist who created the telescope and made other innovations in science.
● John Locke: Enlightenment thinker who created many democratic ideas, such as “consent of
the governed,” and Natural Rights.
● Natural Rights: Rights people are born with, life, liberty, and property. Is used in US
government.
● Thomas Hobbes:Enlightenment thinker who thought all people were born naturally selfish and
needed an absolute monarch in order to keep order. Disagreed with most other thinkers of the
time.
● Montesquieu: French Enlightenment thinker who wrote The Spirit of Laws and believed that to
keep one person or group from gaining too much power a government should be separated into
three branches: judicial, legislative, and executive.
● Separation of Powers: Separating government powers to the executive, legislative, and
judicial branch so no one becomes to powerful.

● Rosseau: Enlightenment thinker who believed that people give up some of their rights in a
social contract, in order to have a safe society.

● Social Contract: Agreement between citizens and their government to give up certain rights in
order to have a safe society.
● Enlightened Despot:Absolute monarch that gives their people more rights in exchange
for remaining king/queen.