Comparison Of Democracy And Absolutism

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During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries there were many different opinions on what form of government was the best. During Enlightenment many thinkers thought that the main priorities should be art and science. There were also many philosophers at the time who spread their ideas through their writing. Two of the more popular forms of government during that time were democracy and absolutism. Democracy is a form of government where citizens vote for representative who helps making decisions. Absolutism is a form of government where there is one person who is usually a monarch does all the ruling. Because there were so many new ideas during this time I think democracy was the best form of government.
Democracy comes from the Greek words demos, meaning “people”, and kratos, meaning “power”. Democracy is when people elect a representative to help lead them and make decisions about their society. There is a more …show more content…

It was practiced by several monarchs during the sixteenth century through the eighteenth century. Absolutism only let one person make the decisions for the society, and whatever they said went. There wasn’t room for news ideas and beliefs during the time when people were doing their own research. Absolutism caused territorial and religious frustration. This caused armies to grow because of conflicts, causing the rulers to raise taxes so that the soldiers could be paid. The high taxes led to more arrests and revolts from the peasants. King Louis XIV was quoted saying “The head alone has the right to deliberate and decide, and the functions of all the other members consist only in carrying out the commands given to them.” He meant that the ruler has the right to make all the decisions and it was the citizen's duty to fulfill the commands. Absolutism only let one person spread their ideas, no matter how unhappy it made everyone

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