| A | B |
|---|
| Magna Carta | Cornerstone of English justice and law, signed by King John in 1215. Asserted the right of citizens to a trial by jury, no imprisonment without a trial, or taxation except by legal means. |
| manorialism | economic system based on the manor, lands including a village and surrounding acreage which were administered by a lord. Developed during the Middle Ages to increase agricultural production. |
| Nazism | Adolf Hitler attempted to unite Germany as a fascist state. He destroyed anything that threatened the unified nation which led to his fixation with purifying the race and insistence on totalitarian rule. |
| Neolithic Agricultural Revolution | Also known as the New Stone Age; during this period people changed from hunting and gathering food to domesticating animals and cultivating land as farmers. |
| parliamentary government | authority is held by a bicameral legislature called Parliament. In Great Britain, it includes a House of Commons and a House of Lords. |
| American Revolution | Beginning with the Declaration of Independence in 1776, American colonists sought to balance the power between government and the people and protect the rights of citizens in a democracy. |
| Glorious Revolution | In 1649, Charles I was executed for ignoring the limitations of power imposed on the English monarch. This brought an end to the English Civil War and marked the start of the Commonwealth, the English republic. |
| French Revolution | French peasants revolted in 1789. Frenchmen sought to limit the powers of the Catholic church, to weaken the power of the noblity and the monarch, and strengthen the political voice of the common man. |
| Russian Revolution | Prompted by labor unrest and a call for better working conditions, personal liberties, and elected representatives. In 1917, czar Nicholas II was murdered and Vladimir Lenin sought control to implement his ideas of socialism. |
| popular sovereignty | the concept that political power rests with the people who can create, alter, and abolish government. People express themselves through voting and free participation in government. |
| Roman Catholic Church | Exerted considerable control over society during the Middle Ages. Priests lived within villages, and in a non-scientific age, they used natural phenomena as signs to explain God's anger with members of the church. The power of the Church prompted some to challenge its doctrines during the protestant Reformation. |
| secularism | the view that the present well-being of mankind should predominate over religious considerations in civil or public affairs |
| separation of powers | the division of a central government into two or more branches, each having its own responsibilities and authorities. |
| social mobility | the ability of individuals to move from one social standing to another. Social standing is based on degrees of wealth, prestige, education, and power. |
| socialism | an economic system in which government owns some factors of production and participates in answering economic questions |
